Isaiah 48 — Dead Sea Scrolls
22 verses • 7 variants • Columns XXXIX-XL of 1QIsaiah-a
Scroll Overview
Summary
Isaiah 48 rebukes Israel for stubbornness while promising deliverance from Babylon. The chapter has 22 verses in columns XXXIX-XL. Several moderate variants appear, particularly in suffix forms and verb conjugations.
Notable Variants
Verse 6: a possible variant in the verb form 'you have heard.' Verse 10: the scroll reads 'I have tested you in the furnace of affliction' with a possible variant in the preposition. Verse 17: 'I am the LORD your God who teaches you to profit' — identical. Verse 20: 'Go out from Babylon!' — identical in both traditions.
Scroll Condition
Well preserved. Minor wear at column edges but fully legible.
Hear this, house of Jacob, you who are called by the name of Israel and who came from the waters of Judah — who swear by the name of the LORD and invoke the God of Israel, but not in truth or in righteousness.
Masoretic (WLC)
יִשְׂרָאֵל
Israel
Dead Sea Scroll
ישראל
Israel
Identical consonantal text.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXXIX, line 22
For they call themselves after the holy city and lean on the God of Israel — the LORD of Hosts is His name.
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXXIX, line 23
The former things I declared long ago; they went out from my mouth and I announced them. Then suddenly I acted, and they came to pass.
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXXIX, line 24
Because I knew how stubborn you are — your neck is an iron sinew, your forehead is bronze —
Masoretic (WLC)
בַּרְזֶל
iron
Dead Sea Scroll
ברזל
iron
Identical. 'Your neck is an iron sinew' — same in both.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXXIX, line 25
therefore I declared it to you long ago; before it happened I announced it to you, lest you say, 'My idol did this, my carved image and my cast image commanded it.'
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXXIX, line 26
You have heard — now look at all this! Will you not acknowledge it? From now on I announce new things to you, hidden things you have not known.
Masoretic (WLC)
שָׁמַעְתָּ
you have heard
Dead Sea Scroll
שמעתה
you have heard
1QIsaiah-a adds a he to the verb ending — a common Qumran feature for the second-person masculine perfect. Same meaning: 'You have heard; now see all this.'
1QIsaᵃ col. XXXIX, line 27
They are created now, not long ago; before today you have not heard of them, lest you say, 'I already knew that.'
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XXXIX, line 28
You have neither heard nor known; from of old your ear has not been opened. For I knew you would act utterly treacherously; you have been called a rebel from the womb.
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XL, line 1
For the sake of my name I defer my anger; for the sake of my praise I hold it back from you, so as not to cut you off.
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XL, line 2
Look — I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.
Masoretic (WLC)
בְּכוּר
in the furnace of
Dead Sea Scroll
בכור
in the furnace of
The MT reads bekhur ('in the furnace of') with the meaning of a refining furnace. 1QIsaiah-a reads identically. 'I have tested you in the furnace of affliction' — the metaphor of Israel's suffering as a refining process is preserved in both.
1QIsaᵃ col. XL, line 3
For my own sake, for my own sake, I act — for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XL, line 4
Listen to me, Jacob, and Israel, whom I called: I am He; I am the first, and I am the last.
Masoretic (WLC)
שְׁמַע
hear
Dead Sea Scroll
שמע
hear
Identical.
1QIsaᵃ col. XL, line 5
My hand laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand spread out the heavens. When I call to them, they stand together.
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XL, line 6
Assemble, all of you, and listen. Which of them declared these things? The LORD loves him — he will carry out His purpose against Babylon, and his arm will be against the Chaldeans.
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XL, line 7
I, even I, have spoken; indeed I have called him. I have brought him, and he will succeed.
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XL, line 8
Come near to me and hear this: From the beginning I have not spoken in secret; from the time it came to be, I was there. And now the Lord GOD has sent me, and His Spirit.
Masoretic (WLC)
דַּרְכּוֹ
his way
Dead Sea Scroll
דרכו
his way
Identical consonantal text.
1QIsaᵃ col. XL, line 9
This is what the LORD says — your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am the LORD your God, who teaches you for your benefit, who leads you in the way you should go.
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XL, line 10
If only you had paid attention to my commands! Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea.
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XL, line 11
Your offspring would have been like the sand, your descendants like its grains. Their name would never have been cut off or destroyed from before me.
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XL, line 12
Go out from Babylon! Flee from the Chaldeans! With a shout of joy declare it, proclaim it, send it out to the ends of the earth. Say, 'The LORD has redeemed His servant Jacob!'
Masoretic (WLC)
צְאוּ מִבָּבֶל
Go out from Babylon!
Dead Sea Scroll
צאו מבבל
Go out from Babylon!
Identical reading. The dramatic command 'Go out from Babylon! Flee from the Chaldeans!' is the same in both traditions — confirming this call to exodus was part of the pre-Christian text.
1QIsaᵃ col. XL, line 13
They did not thirst when He led them through the deserts. He made water flow from the rock for them; He split the rock, and water gushed out.
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XL, line 14
"There is no peace," says the LORD, "for the wicked."
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XL, line 15