Isaiah, Chapter 21 (Great Isaiah Scroll, 1QIsa-a)
Introduction
Isaiah 21 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. XVI (16), col. XVII (17) 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)
1משא דבר ים כספות בנגב לחלף ממדבר בא מארץ ⟨נוראה⟩ {{רחוקה}} 2חזות קשה היגד לי הבוגד בוגד והשודד שודד עלי עילם צירי מדי כול אנחתה השבתי 3על כן מלאו̣ מתני חלחלה צירים אחז̣וני כצירי יולדה נעויתי משמ̣ו̣ע נבהלתי מראות 4תועה ולבבי פלצות בעת⟨ת⟩ני את נשף השקי שמ לי לחרדה 5ערוך השלחן צופה הצפית אכול שתה קומו השרים משחו מגן 6כי כה אמר אלי אדוני לך העמד המצפה אשר יראה ויגיד 7וראה רכב צמד איש פר̣שים ר⟨ו⟩כב חמור רוכב גמל והקשב קשב רב קשב 8ויקרא הראה על מצפה אדוני אנוכי עומד תמיד יוממ ועל משמרתי אנוכי נצב כול הלילות 9והנה זה בא רוכב איש צמד̣ פרשים ויעני ויואמר נפלה נפלה בבל וכול פסילי אלוהיה שברו לאר̣ץ
1The burden of the desert of the sea. As whirlwinds in the south pass through; so it cometh from the desert, from a terrible land. 2A grievous vision is declared unto me; the treacherous dealer dealeth treacherously, and the spoiler spoileth. Go up, O Elam: besiege, O Media; all the sighing thereof have I made to cease. 3Therefore are my loins filled with pain: pangs have taken hold upon me, as the pangs of a woman that travaileth: I was bowed down at the hearing of it; I was dismayed at the seeing of it. 4My heart panted, fearfulness affrighted me: the night of my pleasure hath he turned into fear unto me. 5Prepare the table, watch in the watchtower, eat, drink: arise, ye princes, and anoint the shield. 6For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Go, set a watchman, let him declare what he seeth. 7And he saw a chariot with a couple of horsemen, a chariot of asses, and a chariot of camels; and he hearkened diligently with much heed: 8And he cried, A lion: My lord, I stand continually upon the watchtower in the daytime, and I am set in my ward whole nights: 9And, behold, here cometh a chariot of men, with a couple of horsemen. And he answered and said, Babylon is fallen, is fallen; and all the graven images of her gods he hath broken unto the ground.
10מדשתי ובן גדרי אשר שמעתי מאת יהוה צבאות אלוהי ישראל הגדתי לכם 11משא דומה אלי קרא משעיר שומר מה מליל שומר מה מליל 12אמר שומר אתה בוקר וגמ לילה אמ תבעון בעו שובו אתיו 13משא בערב ביער בערב תלינו אורחות דודנים 14לקראת צמא האתיו מים יושבי ארצ תימא בלחם קדמו נודד 15כי מפני ⟨ה⟩רבות נדד מפני חרב נ⟨טו⟩שה ומפני קשת דרוכה ומפני כבוד מלחמה 16כי כה אמר̣ יהוה אלי בעוד שלוש שנים כשנ̣י שכיר יכלה כבוד קדר 17ושאר מספר קשת גבורי ⟨בני⟩ קדר ימעטו כי יהוה אלוהי ישראל דבר
10O my threshing, and the corn of my floor: that which I have heard of the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, have I declared unto you. 11The burden of Dumah. He calleth to me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night? 12The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night: if ye will enquire, enquire ye: return, come. 13The burden upon Arabia. In the forest in Arabia shall ye lodge, O ye travelling companies of Dedanim. 14The inhabitants of the land of Tema brought water to him that was thirsty, they prevented with their bread him that fled. 15For they fled from the swords, from the drawn sword, and from the bent bow, and from the grievousness of war. 16For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Within a year, according to the years of an hireling, and all the glory of Kedar shall fail: 17And the residue of the number of archers, the mighty men of the children of Kedar, shall be diminished: for the LORD God of Israel hath spoken it.
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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