Isaiah 39 — Dead Sea Scrolls
8 verses • 4 variants • Column XXXI of 1QIsaiah-a
Scroll Overview
Summary
Chapter 39 concludes the historical section and First Isaiah with the visit of Babylonian envoys and Isaiah's prophecy of exile — the hinge between First Isaiah (chs. 1–39) and Second Isaiah (chs. 40–66). Only 8 verses with very few variants. This brief chapter sets the stage for everything that follows.
Notable Variants
Verse 6 has Isaiah's prophecy that everything in Hezekiah's treasury will be carried to Babylon — the first explicit prediction of the Babylonian exile in the book. Verse 8 has Hezekiah's ambiguous response. Both are preserved identically.
Scroll Condition
Well preserved; fully legible.
At that time Merodach-baladan son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah, for he had heard that he had been ill and had recovered.
Masoretic (WLC)
מְרֹדַךְ בַּלְאֲדָן
Merodach-baladan
Dead Sea Scroll
מרודך בלאדן
Merodach-baladan
1QIsaiah-a writes מרודך with plene spelling. Merodach-baladan (Marduk-apla-iddina II) was a historical Babylonian king who sought allies against Assyria. The diplomatic context — sending letters and gifts to a recovering Hezekiah — is preserved identically. No impact on meaning.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXXI, line 21
Hezekiah was pleased with them and showed them his treasure house — the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil, his entire armory, and everything found in his storehouses. There was nothing in his palace or in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them.
Masoretic (WLC)
בֵּית נְכֹתוֹ
his treasure house
Dead Sea Scroll
בית נכותו
his treasure house
1QIsaiah-a reads בית נכותו with identical consonants. Hezekiah's fatal error — showing the Babylonian envoys everything in his treasury, armory, and storehouses — is described identically. The verb 'showed them' (hir'am) emphasizes the deliberate, comprehensive nature of the display.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXXI, line 22
Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah and said to him, 'What did these men say, and where did they come from?' Hezekiah said, 'They came to me from a distant land — from Babylon.'
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXXI, line 23
Isaiah said, 'What have they seen in your palace?' Hezekiah answered, 'They have seen everything in my palace. There is nothing in my storehouses that I did not show them.'
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXXI, line 24
Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, 'Hear the word of the LORD of Hosts:
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXXI, line 25
The days are coming when everything in your palace, and everything your fathers have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the LORD.
Masoretic (WLC)
בָּבֶלָה
to Babylon
Dead Sea Scroll
בבלה
to Babylon
1QIsaiah-a reads בבלה identically. The prophecy is devastating in its simplicity: 'Everything in your house... shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left.' This sets the entire theological agenda for Second Isaiah (chs. 40–66), which addresses a community living in the exile Isaiah here predicts. Both traditions preserve this pivotal prophecy identically.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXXI, line 26
Some of your own descendants, your own flesh and blood, will be taken away. They will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.'
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXXI, line 27
Hezekiah said to Isaiah, 'The word of the LORD you have spoken is good.' Then he added, 'There will be peace and security in my days.'
Masoretic (WLC)
טוֹב דְּבַר־יְהוָה
The word of the LORD is good
Dead Sea Scroll
טוב דבר יהוה
The word of the LORD is good
1QIsaiah-a reads טוב דבר יהוה identically. Hezekiah's response — 'The word of the LORD that you have spoken is good' — followed by 'For there will be peace and truth in my days' — is deeply ambiguous. Is this faithful submission to God's word? Or selfish relief that the catastrophe will come after his death? The ambiguity is present in both traditions and may be intentional: the narrator offers no evaluative comment, leaving the reader to judge. This morally complex ending to First Isaiah is preserved identically in the DSS.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXXI, line 28