Isaiah, Chapter 55 (Great Isaiah Scroll, 1QIsa-a)
Introduction
Isaiah 55 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. XLV (45), col. XLVI (46) 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)
1הוי כול צמא לכו למים ואשר אין לו כסף לכו שבורו בלוא כסף ובלוא מחיר יין וחלב 2למה תשקולו כסף בלוא לחם ויגיעכ̣ם בלוא שבעה שמעו שמעוא אלי ואכולו טוב ותתענג בדשן נפשכם 3הטו אוזנכמה ולכו אלי ושמעו ותחי{{ה}} נפשכםה ואכרות לכמה ברית עולם חסדי דויד הנאמנים 4הנה עד לאומים נתתיהו נגיד ומצוה לאומים 5הנה גוי לוא תדע תקרא וגוי לוא ידעכה אליכה ירוץ למען יהוה אלוהיך ו⟨ל⟩קדוש ישראל כיא פארך 6דרושו יהוה בהמצאו קראוהי בהיותו קרוב 7יעזב רשע דרכו ואיש און מחשבותיו וישוב אל יהוה וירחמהו ואל אלוהינו כיא ירבה לסלוח
1Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. 2Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. 3Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. 4Behold, I have given him for a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people. 5Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, and nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee because of the LORD thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for he hath glorified thee. 6Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: 7Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
8כיא לוא מח̣שבותי מחשבותיכם ולוא דרכיכמה דרכי נואמ יהוה 9כיא כגובה שמים מארץ כן גבהו דרכי מדרכיכמה ומחשבותי ממחשבותיכמה 10כיא כאשר ירד הגשם והשלג מן השמים ושמה לוא ישוב כיא אמ הרוה את הארץ והולידה̣ והצמיחה ונתן זרע לזורע ולחם לאכול 11כן יהיה דברי אש̣ר̣ יצא מפי לוא ישוב אלי ריקם כיא אמ עשה את אשר חפצתי והצליח את אשר שלחתיו 12כיא בשמחה תצאו ובשלום תלכו ההרים והגבעות יפצחו לפניכמה רונה ו̣כול עצי השדה ימחוא כפ 13תחת הנעצוץ יעלה בראוש ותחת הסרפוד יעלה אדס והיו ליהוה לאות ולשמ עולם לוא יכרת
8For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. 9For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. 10For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: 11So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. 12For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. 13Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the LORD for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.
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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