Isaiah, Chapter 16 (Great Isaiah Scroll, 1QIsa-a)
Introduction
Isaiah 16 from the Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsaa), the complete copy of Isaiah found in Cave 1 at Qumran in 1947 and now in the Shrine of the Book, Israel Museum, Jerusalem. Copied around 125 BCE, it is roughly a thousand years older than the Leningrad Codex, the oldest complete Masoretic manuscript. This chapter stands in col. XIII (13), col. XIV (14) of the scroll's 54 columns.
- Scan: each section is shown with the actual column of the scroll that carries it, cropped from the Israel Museum / Google Art Project photograph of the whole scroll published on Wikimedia Commons (public domain). The column for every verse comes from the transcription itself, which records the column and line of each word.
- Hebrew: the scroll's own text, verbatim from the ETCBC dss Text-Fabric dataset (Jacobs, Naaijer and Roorda, from Martin G. Abegg Jr.'s transcription; CC BY-NC 4.0). This is not the Masoretic text: 1QIsaa uses a fuller spelling (for example לוא for לא, כיא for כי) and differs from the Masoretic text in a number of readings. No vowel points exist in the scroll and none are added. Marks: ⟨x⟩ letters the scribe added above the line, [x] modern reconstruction of text lost to damage, {{x}} letters cancelled by an ancient scribe, ⟪x⟫ an ancient correction, a dot under a letter (x̣) an uncertain reading, ···· four dots written in place of the divine name (Tetrapuncta).
- English: the King James Version (1611, public domain), verbatim from bible-api.com. The KJV translates the Masoretic text, so where the scroll reads differently the English will not match the Hebrew shown; the scroll's reading can be checked on the column image.
How was this verified? (Provenance)
1שלחו כרמשל ארץ מסלה מדברה אל הר בת ציון 2והי{{…}}א כעופ נודד קן משלח תהינה בנות מואב מעברת לארנון 3הביו עצה עשו פלילה שיתי כליל צלך בתוך צהרים סתרי נדחים נודד אל תגלי 4יגורו בכ נדחי מואב הוי סתר למו מפני שודד כי אפס המוץ כלה שד תמ ר̣ו̣מס מן הארץ 5והו̣כן בחסד כסא וישב עליו באמת באוהל⟨ו⟩ דויד שופט ודורש משפט̣ ומהר צדק 6שמענו גאון מואב גאה מואד גאתו וגאונו̣ ועברתו לכן בדיו 7ולכן לוא ייליל מואב למואב כלה ייליל לאשישי קיר חרשת תהגו אכ נכאים
1Send ye the lamb to the ruler of the land from Sela to the wilderness, unto the mount of the daughter of Zion. 2For it shall be, that, as a wandering bird cast out of the nest, so the daughters of Moab shall be at the fords of Arnon. 3Take counsel, execute judgment; make thy shadow as the night in the midst of the noonday; hide the outcasts; bewray not him that wandereth. 4Let mine outcasts dwell with thee, Moab; be thou a covert to them from the face of the spoiler: for the extortioner is at an end, the spoiler ceaseth, the oppressors are consumed out of the land. 5And in mercy shall the throne be established: and he shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of David, judging, and seeking judgment, and hasting righteousness. 6We have heard of the pride of Moab; he is very proud: even of his haughtiness, and his pride, and his wrath: but his lies shall not be so. 7Therefore shall Moab howl for Moab, every one shall howl: for the foundations of Kir-hareseth shall ye mourn; surely they are stricken.
8כי שדמות חשבון אמללה גפן שבמה 9ארזיך דמעתי חשבון ואלעלה כיא {{ל}}על קיצך ועל קצירך̣ הידד נפל 10ונ⟨א⟩סף שמחה וגיל מן הכרמל ובכרמים לוא ירננו ולוא ירועע יין ביקבים לוא ידרוך הדורך הידד השבתי 11על כן מע̣י למואב ככנור יהמו וקרבי לקיר חרש 12יהיה כי נראה כי בא מואב על הבמה ובא אל מקדש⟨י⟩ו להתפלל ולוא י[ו]כל 13זה הדבר אשר דבר יהוה אל מואב מאז 14ועתה דבר יה̣וה לאמור בשלוש שנים כשני שכ̣יר ונקלה כבוד מואב בכול ⟪ה⟫המון הרב ושאר מעט מ⟨ז⟩{{צ}}ער ולוא כבוד
8For the fields of Heshbon languish, and the vine of Sibmah: the lords of the heathen have broken down the principal plants thereof, they are come even unto Jazer, they wandered through the wilderness: her branches are stretched out, they are gone over the sea. 9Therefore I will bewail with the weeping of Jazer the vine of Sibmah: I will water thee with my tears, O Heshbon, and Elealeh: for the shouting for thy summer fruits and for thy harvest is fallen. 10And gladness is taken away, and joy out of the plentiful field; and in the vineyards there shall be no singing, neither shall there be shouting: the treaders shall tread out no wine in their presses; I have made their vintage shouting to cease. 11Wherefore my bowels shall sound like an harp for Moab, and mine inward parts for Kir-haresh. 12And it shall come to pass, when it is seen that Moab is weary on the high place, that he shall come to his sanctuary to pray; but he shall not prevail. 13This is the word that the LORD hath spoken concerning Moab since that time. 14But now the LORD hath spoken, saying, Within three years, as the years of an hireling, and the glory of Moab shall be contemned, with all that great multitude; and the remnant shall be very small and feeble.
Cite
Source & Cross-References
- Source text: Great Isaiah Scroll 1QIsa-a: Israel Museum / Google Art Project photograph (Wikimedia Commons, PD) + ETCBC dss transcription (Abegg; CC BY-NC 4.0) + KJV (bible-api.com) — view original
- Critical edition: ETCBC Dead Sea Scrolls transcription (Abegg data, CC BY-NC 4.0)
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