Isaiah, Chapter 9 (Great Isaiah Scroll, 1QIsa-a)
Introduction
Isaiah 9 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. VIII (8), col. IX (9) 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.
Numbering: The scroll and the Masoretic text number KJV 9:1 as 8:23 and KJV 9:2-21 as 9:1-20. The Hebrew here is re-numbered to the KJV so the verses line up; no text is added or removed.
How was this verified? (Provenance)
1כ⟨י⟩לו מעופפ לאשר מוצק לה כעת הרישון הקל ארץ זבולון והארץ נפתלי והאחרון הכביד דרך הים עבר הירדן גליל הגואים 2העמ ההולכים בחושך ראו אור גדול יושבי בארץ צלמות אור נגה עליהם 3הרביתה הגוי לוא הגדלתה השמחה שמחו לפניך כשמחת בקציר כאשר יגילו בחלקם שלל 4כי את עול{{ו}}סבלו ואת מטה שכמו שבט הנוגש בו ו̣החתת כיום מדים 5כי כול סאון סאן ברעש ושמלה מגוללה בדמים והיתה לשרפה מאכלת אש 6כי ילד יולד לנו בן נתן לנו ותהי⟨י⟩המשורה על שכמו וקרא שמו פלא יועץ אל גבור אבי עד שר השלום 7למרבה המש⟨ו̣⟩רה ולשלום אין קץ על כסה דויד ועל ממלכתו להכין אותו ולסעדו̣ במשפט ובצדקה מעתה ועד עולם קנאת יהוה צבאות תעשה זאות̣
1Nevertheless the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation, when at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward did more grievously afflict her by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations. 2The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined. 3Thou hast multiplied the nation, and not increased the joy: they joy before thee according to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil. 4For thou hast broken the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian. 5For every battle of the warrior is with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood; but this shall be with burning and fuel of fire. 6For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. 7Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.
8דבר שלח יהוה בי⟨ע⟩קוב ונפל בישראל 9וירע̣ו העם כלו אפרים ויושב̣י̣ שמרון בגאוה ובגדל לבב לאמור 10לבנים נפלו וגזית נבנ̣ה שקמים גדעו וארזים נחליף 11וישגב יה̣[וה]את צרי רציאן עליו ואת אויביו יסכסך 12ארם מקדם ופלש̣[תיים מא]חור ויאכלו̣ את ישראל בכול פה ובכול ז⟨ו⟩ות̣ לוא שב אפו ועוד ידיו נטויה 13והעם לוא שב על ⟨ה⟩מכהו ואת יהוה צבאות לוא דרשו 14ויכרת יהוה מישראל ראש וזנב כפה ואגמן ביום אחד
8The Lord sent a word into Jacob, and it hath lighted upon Israel. 9And all the people shall know, even Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria, that say in the pride and stoutness of heart, 10The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones: the sycomores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars. 11Therefore the LORD shall set up the adversaries of Rezin against him, and join his enemies together; 12The Syrians before, and the Philistines behind; and they shall devour Israel with open mouth. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. 13For the people turneth not unto him that smiteth them, neither do they seek the LORD of hosts. 14Therefore the LORD will cut off from Israel head and tail, branch and rush, in one day.
15זקן ונשא פנים הוא הר⟨ו⟩אש ונביא מורה שקר הוא הזנב 16ויהיו מאשרי העם הזה מתעים ומאשריו מבלעים 17על כן על בחוריו לוא יחמ⟨ו⟩ל אדוני ואת יתומיו ואת אלמנותיו לוא ירחם כי כולו חנפ ומרע וכול פה דבר נבלה בכול זואת לוא שב אפו ועוד ידיו נטויה 18כי בערה כאש רשעה שמיר ושית ת⟨ו⟩אכל ותצת בסבכי היער ויתאבכו גיאות עשן 19מעברת יהוה צבאות נתעם הארץ ויהיו העמ כמאכלת אש איש אל אחיו לוא יחמולו 20ויגזר על ימין ורעב ויאכל ועל שמאול ולוא שבעו איש בשר זרועו 21ויאכל מנשה את אפרים ואפרים את מנשה יחדו המה על יהודה ובכול זואת לוא שב אפו ועוד ידיו נטויה
15The ancient and honourable, he is the head; and the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail. 16For the leaders of this people cause them to err; and they that are led of them are destroyed. 17Therefore the Lord shall have no joy in their young men, neither shall have mercy on their fatherless and widows: for every one is an hypocrite and an evildoer, and every mouth speaketh folly. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. 18For wickedness burneth as the fire: it shall devour the briers and thorns, and shall kindle in the thickets of the forest, and they shall mount up like the lifting up of smoke. 19Through the wrath of the LORD of hosts is the land darkened, and the people shall be as the fuel of the fire: no man shall spare his brother. 20And he shall snatch on the right hand, and be hungry; and he shall eat on the left hand, and they shall not be satisfied: they shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm: 21Manasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh: and they together shall be against Judah. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
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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