Isaiah 29 — Dead Sea Scrolls
24 verses • 8 variants • Columns XXIII–XXIV of 1QIsaiah-a
Scroll Overview
Summary
Chapter 29 addresses 'Ariel' (Jerusalem as God's altar-hearth) with judgment and eventual restoration. The 24 verses contain mostly orthographic variants. The potter-and-clay passage (v. 16) is a key theological text.
Notable Variants
Verse 1 has the enigmatic 'Ariel' designation. Verse 13 — 'this people honors me with their lips but their heart is far from me' — is quoted by Jesus in Matthew 15:8-9. Verse 16 has the potter/clay reversal.
Scroll Condition
Well preserved; fully legible.
Woe to Ariel, Ariel, the city where David encamped! Let year follow year; let the festivals run their cycle.
Masoretic (WLC)
אֲרִיאֵל
Ariel
Dead Sea Scroll
אריאל
Ariel
1QIsaiah-a writes אריאל identically. The name Ariel means either 'lion of God' or 'altar-hearth of God' (the word ariel in Ezekiel 43:15-16 refers to the altar). Isaiah uses the term to identify Jerusalem as the city of David's encampment — simultaneously sacred and vulnerable. Both traditions preserve this complex wordplay.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXIII, line 25
Yet I will bring distress upon Ariel, and there will be mourning and lamentation, and she will become to me like a true altar hearth.
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXIII, line 26
I will encamp against you on every side; I will besiege you with towers and raise siege works against you.
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXIII, line 27
You will be brought low; from the ground you will speak, and from the dust your words will come muffled. Your voice will rise from the earth like a ghost's, and your speech will whisper from the dust.
Masoretic (WLC)
וְשָׁפַלְתְּ
and you will be humbled
Dead Sea Scroll
ושפלת
and you will be humbled
Identical consonantal text. Jerusalem brought low, speaking from the dust like a ghost's whisper — the reversal of the proud city. No impact on meaning.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXIII, line 28
But the horde of your enemies will become like fine dust, and the mob of the ruthless like driven chaff. It will happen in an instant, suddenly —
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXIV, line 1
the LORD of Hosts will intervene with thunder, earthquake, and a great roar, with whirlwind, tempest, and a flame of devouring fire.
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXIV, line 2
Then the horde of all the nations waging war against Ariel — all who attack her, her stronghold, and all who distress her — will be like a dream, a vision in the night.
Masoretic (WLC)
הֶחָזוֹן
the vision
Dead Sea Scroll
החזון
the vision
Identical consonantal text. The vision becomes like words of a sealed book — prophetic obscurity for those who refuse to understand. No impact on meaning.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXIV, line 3
As when a hungry man dreams he is eating but wakes with his stomach empty, or a thirsty man dreams he is drinking but wakes faint, his throat still parched — so will it be with the horde of all the nations that wage war against Mount Zion.
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXIV, line 4
Stupify yourselves and be stunned! Blind yourselves and be blind! They are drunk, but not with wine; they stagger, but not from strong drink.
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXIV, line 5
For the LORD has poured over you a spirit of deep sleep. He has shut your eyes — the prophets; He has covered your heads — the seers.
Masoretic (WLC)
תַּרְדֵּמָה
deep sleep
Dead Sea Scroll
תרדמה
deep sleep
Identical consonantal text. The tardemah ('deep sleep') is the same word used for Adam's sleep in Genesis 2:21 and Abraham's in Genesis 15:12. God pours out this stupor on the prophets. No impact on meaning.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXIV, line 6
The entire vision has become for you like the words of a sealed scroll. When it is handed to one who can read, saying, 'Please read this,' he replies, 'I cannot — it is sealed.'
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXIV, line 7
And when the scroll is handed to one who cannot read, saying, 'Please read this,' he replies, 'I do not know how to read.'
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXIV, line 8
The Lord says: 'Because this people draw near with their mouths and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, and their worship of me is based on rules taught by men —'
Masoretic (WLC)
בְּפִיו וּבִשְׂפָתָיו כִּבְּדוּנִי וְלִבּוֹ רִחַק מִמֶּנִּי
with their mouth and with their lips they honor me, but their heart is far from me
Dead Sea Scroll
בפיהו ובשפתיו כבדוני ולבו רחק ממני
with his mouth and with his lips honors me, but his heart is far from me
1QIsaiah-a reads בפיהו (with his mouth, singular) where the MT has בְּפִיו (with his mouth). The difference is a fuller spelling of the same pronoun. Jesus quotes this passage in Matthew 15:8-9 and Mark 7:6 as a rebuke of the Pharisees' externalism. The DSS confirm the pre-Christian form: lip-service worship with a distant heart. Both traditions preserve the devastating contrast between external religious performance and internal spiritual reality.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXIV, line 9
therefore I will again do extraordinary things with this people — extraordinary and astounding. The wisdom of their wise will perish, and the discernment of their discerning will vanish.
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXIV, line 10
Woe to those who go to great depths to hide their plans from the LORD, whose deeds are done in darkness, who say, 'Who sees us? Who knows us?'
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXIV, line 11
How you turn things upside down! Shall the potter be regarded as the clay? Shall what is made say of its maker, 'He did not make me'? Shall what is formed say of the one who formed it, 'He has no understanding'?
Masoretic (WLC)
הַיֹּצֵר
the potter
Dead Sea Scroll
היוצר
the potter
1QIsaiah-a writes היוצר with a plene vav. The potter/clay reversal — 'Shall the thing formed say to the one who formed it, He did not make me?' — is a foundational text for divine sovereignty. Paul draws on this in Romans 9:20-21. Both traditions preserve the same challenge to human presumption.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXIV, line 12
Is it not just a little while longer before Lebanon becomes a fruitful garden, and the fruitful garden is counted as a forest?
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXIV, line 13
On that day the deaf will hear the words of the scroll, and out of gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind will see.
Masoretic (WLC)
הַחֵרְשִׁים
the deaf
Dead Sea Scroll
החרשים
the deaf
Identical consonantal text. The eschatological reversal — deaf hearing, blind seeing — is preserved identically. These images become programmatic in Isaiah 35 and in Jesus' answer to John the Baptist (Matthew 11:5). No impact on meaning.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXIV, line 14
The humble will increase their joy in the LORD, and the poorest among people will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXIV, line 15
For the ruthless will come to nothing, the scoffer will vanish, and all who watch for a chance to do evil will be cut off —
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXIV, line 16
those who condemn a person with a single word, who set traps for the one who seeks justice at the gate, and who push the righteous aside with empty claims.
Masoretic (WLC)
עָרִיצִים
ruthless ones
Dead Sea Scroll
עריצים
ruthless ones
Identical consonantal text. The tyrant (arits) brought to nothing — the oppressor eliminated — is described identically. No impact on meaning.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXIV, line 17
Therefore this is what the LORD says — He who redeemed Abraham — concerning the house of Jacob: 'Jacob will no longer be ashamed, nor will his face grow pale,
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXIV, line 18
for when he sees his children, the work of my hands, in his midst, they will sanctify my name. They will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob and stand in awe of the God of Israel.
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXIV, line 19
Those who err in spirit will gain understanding, and those who grumble will accept instruction.
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXIV, line 20