Dead Sea scrolls

The Dead Sea Scrolls comprise roughly 850 documents, including texts from the Hebrew Bible, discovered between 1947 and 1956 in eleven caves in and around the Wadi Qumran (near the ruins of the ancient settlement of Khirbet Qumran, on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea). The texts are of great significance in a religious context (as well as a political context), as they are practically the only remaining Biblical documents dating from before AD 100.

References

• Edward M. Cook, Solving the Mysteries of the Dead Sea Scrolls: New Light on the Bible, Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1994
• Frank Moore Cross, The Ancient Library of Qumran, 3rd ed., Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1995. ISBN 0800628071
• Norman Golb, Who Wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls? The Search for the Secret of Qumran, New York: Scribner, 1995
• Barbara Thiering, Jesus and the Riddle of the Dead Sea Scrolls, New York: Harper Collins, 1992
• Geza Vermes, The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English, London: Penguin, 1998. ISBN 0140245014 (good translation, but complete only in the sense that he includes translations of complete texts, but neglects fragmentary scrolls and more especially does not include biblical texts.)

Other sources

• Michael Wise, Martin Abegg, Jr, and Edward Cook, The Dead Sea Scrolls: A New Translation, (1996), HarperSanFrancisco paperback 1999, ISBN 0060692014, (contains the non-biblical portion of the scrolls)
• Martin Abegg, Jr, Peter Flint, and Eugene Ulrich, The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible: The Oldest Known Bible Translated for the First Time into English, (1999) HarperSanFrancisco paperback 2002, ISBN 0060600640, (contains the biblical portion of the scrolls)
• Dead Sea Scrolls Study Vol 1: 1Q1-4Q273, Vol. 2: 4Q274-11Q31, (compact disc), Logos Research Systems, Inc., ASIN: B0002DQY7S (contains the non-biblical portion of the scrolls with Hebrew and Aramaic transcriptions in parallel with English translations)
• Hershel Shanks, editor, Understanding the Dead Sea Scrolls: A Reader From the Biblical Archaeology Review, Vintage Press reprint 1993, ISBN 0679744452
• Lawrence H. Schiffman, Reclaiming the Dead Sea Scrolls: their True Meaning for Judaism and Christianity, Anchor Bible Reference Library (Doubleday) 1995, ISBN 0385481217, (examines the scrolls as Jewish, suggesting Sadducee rather than Essene origin)
• Hershel Shanks, The Mystery and Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls, Vintage Press 1999, ISBN 0679780890 (recommended introduction to their discovery and history of their scholarship)