Isaiah, Chapter 47 (Great Isaiah Scroll, 1QIsa-a)
Introduction
Isaiah 47 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. XXXIX (39), col. XL (40) 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)
1רדי ושבי על עפר בתולת בת בבל שבי על הארץ אין כסא בת כשדיים כיא לוא תוסיפי וקראו לך רכה וענוגה 2קחי רחים וטחני קמח גלי צמתך חשופי שוליך גלי שוק עבורי נהרות 3תגלה ערותך גמ תראה חרפתך נקם אקח ולוא אפגע אדם 4גאלנו יהוה צבאות שמו קדוש ישראל 5שבי דממה וב⟨ו⟩אי בחושך בת כשדיים כיא לוא תוסיפי וקראו לך גבורת ממלכות 6קצפתי על עמי וחללתי נחלתי ואתנם בידך לוא שמתי להמה רחמים על זקן הכבדתי עולך מואדה 7ותואמרי לעולם אהיה גבורת עוד לוא שמתי אלה על לבכי לוא זכרתי אחרונה 8ועתה שמעי זואת עודנה היושבת לבטח האומרה בלבבה אני ואפסי עוד לוא אשב ע̣למנה ולוא אראה שכול
1Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground: there is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate. 2Take the millstones, and grind meal: uncover thy locks, make bare the leg, uncover the thigh, pass over the rivers. 3Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and I will not meet thee as a man. 4As for our redeemer, the LORD of hosts is his name, the Holy One of Israel. 5Sit thou silent, and get thee into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called, The lady of kingdoms. 6I was wroth with my people, I have polluted mine inheritance, and given them into thine hand: thou didst shew them no mercy; upon the ancient hast thou very heavily laid thy yoke. 7And thou saidst, I shall be a lady for ever: so that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart, neither didst remember the latter end of it. 8Therefore hear now this, thou that art given to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children:
9ותבואינה לך שתי אלה רגע ביום אחד שכול ואלמנה כתוממ באו עליך ברוב כשפיך בעצמת חובריך מואדה 10ותבטחי בדעתך אמרתי אין רואני חכמתך ודעתך היאה שובבתך ותואמרי בלבבך אני ואפסי עוד 11ובאה עליך רעה ולוא תדעי שחרה ותפול עליך הויה לוא תוכלי לכפרה ותבוא עליך פתאום שאה ולוא תדעי 12⟨ו⟩עמודינא בחובריך וברוב כשפיך באשר יגעתי מנעוריך ועד היום 13כרוב עצתך יעמודו נא ויושיעוך חוברי שמים והחוזים בכוכבים מודעים לחרד̣ים מאשר יבוא עליהמה 14הנה היו כקש אש שרפתם לוא הצילו את נפשם מיד להבה אין גחלת לחוממ אור לשבת נגדו 15כן היו לך אשר יגעתי סוחריך מנעוריך איש לעברו תעו אין מושיעך
9But these two things shall come to thee in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood: they shall come upon thee in their perfection for the multitude of thy sorceries, and for the great abundance of thine enchantments. 10For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness: thou hast said, None seeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee; and thou hast said in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me. 11Therefore shall evil come upon thee; thou shalt not know from whence it riseth: and mischief shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put if off: and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know. 12Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries, wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth; if so be thou shalt be able to profit, if so be thou mayest prevail. 13Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee. 14Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame: there shall not be a coal to warm at, nor fire to sit before it. 15Thus shall they be unto thee with whom thou hast laboured, even thy merchants, from thy youth: they shall wander every one to his quarter; none shall save thee.
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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