Library / Dead Sea Scrolls

Great Isaiah Scroll

1QIsaiah-a — The oldest complete manuscript of any biblical book

1,292 verses 590 variants documented 30 theologically significant c. 125 BCE

About This Scroll

Discovered in 1947 in Qumran Cave 1, the Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsaiah-a) is the oldest complete manuscript of any book of the Hebrew Bible. Written approximately 125 BCE on 17 sheets of parchment across 54 columns, it preserves the text of Isaiah roughly 1,000 years before the Leningrad Codex (1008 CE) — the manuscript behind TCR's standard rendering.

What you see below is a verse-by-verse comparison: where does the scroll agree with the medieval Masoretic tradition, and where does it differ? Most differences are orthographic (spelling conventions). But some variants are theologically significant — and a few have changed how modern translators render the text. Every variant is documented. Nothing is hidden.

Chapter 1 31 verses
21 variants
Chapter 2 22 verses
9 variants
Chapter 3 26 verses
12 variants
Chapter 4 6 verses
3 variants
Chapter 5 30 verses
15 variants
Chapter 6 13 verses
1 theological 9 variants
Chapter 7 25 verses
2 theological 12 variants
Chapter 8 22 verses
2 theological 11 variants
Chapter 9 21 verses
1 theological 14 variants
Chapter 10 34 verses
14 variants
Chapter 11 16 verses
4 theological 15 variants
Chapter 12 6 verses
2 variants
Chapter 13 22 verses
10 variants
Chapter 14 32 verses
1 theological 1 major 11 variants
Chapter 15 9 verses
4 variants
Chapter 16 14 verses
5 variants
Chapter 17 14 verses
5 variants
Chapter 18 7 verses
1 variant
Chapter 19 25 verses
1 major 8 variants
Chapter 20 6 verses
2 variants
Chapter 21 17 verses
6 variants
Chapter 22 25 verses
1 theological 8 variants
Chapter 23 18 verses
6 variants
Chapter 24 23 verses
8 variants
Chapter 25 12 verses
1 theological 4 variants
Chapter 26 21 verses
1 theological 5 variants
Chapter 27 13 verses
5 variants
Chapter 28 29 verses
1 theological 11 variants
Chapter 29 24 verses
1 theological 8 variants
Chapter 30 33 verses
10 variants
Chapter 31 9 verses
3 variants
Chapter 32 20 verses
6 variants
Chapter 33 24 verses
7 variants
Chapter 34 17 verses
1 major 6 variants
Chapter 35 10 verses
6 variants
Chapter 36 22 verses
6 variants
Chapter 37 38 verses
9 variants
Chapter 38 22 verses
9 variants
Chapter 39 8 verses
4 variants
Chapter 40 31 verses
2 major 16 variants
Chapter 41 29 verses
9 variants
Chapter 42 25 verses
9 variants
Chapter 43 28 verses
7 variants
Chapter 44 28 verses
8 variants
Chapter 45 25 verses
1 theological 1 major 8 variants
Chapter 46 13 verses
2 variants
Chapter 47 15 verses
5 variants
Chapter 48 22 verses
7 variants
Chapter 49 26 verses
1 theological 8 variants
Chapter 50 11 verses
4 variants
Chapter 51 23 verses
7 variants
Chapter 52 15 verses
2 theological 1 major 8 variants
Chapter 53 12 verses
2 theological 4 major 12 variants
Chapter 54 17 verses
8 variants
Chapter 55 13 verses
1 theological 6 variants
Chapter 56 12 verses
11 variants
Chapter 57 21 verses
13 variants
Chapter 58 14 verses
12 variants
Chapter 59 21 verses
1 theological 14 variants
Chapter 60 22 verses
18 variants
Chapter 61 11 verses
2 theological 9 variants
Chapter 62 12 verses
9 variants
Chapter 63 19 verses
1 major 17 variants
Chapter 64 12 verses
1 theological 11 variants
Chapter 65 25 verses
2 theological 21 variants
Chapter 66 24 verses
1 theological 1 major 21 variants