Isaiah 52 — Dead Sea Scrolls
15 verses • 8 variants • Columns XLII-XLIII of 1QIsaiah-a
Scroll Overview
Summary
Isaiah 52 begins with the call to Zion to awake and put on beautiful garments, includes the famous 'How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news' (v. 7), and culminates in the opening of the Fourth Servant Song (vv. 13-15) — the Suffering Servant passage that continues through chapter 53. The chapter has 15 verses in columns XLII-XLIII.
Notable Variants
Verse 5: a minor variant in 'for nothing.' Verse 7: 'How beautiful on the mountains' reads identically. Verse 13: the Fourth Servant Song opens — 'my servant shall deal wisely' reads identically. Verse 14: the scroll has a significant variant reading 'I anointed' (mashachti) versus the MT's 'marred' (mishchat). Verse 15: 'so shall he sprinkle many nations' — the MT's yazzeh ('sprinkle') is preserved in the scroll.
Scroll Condition
Well preserved. The beginning of the Fourth Servant Song is fully legible — this is the most scrutinized section of the entire scroll.
Awake, awake, put on your strength, O Zion! Put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city! For the uncircumcised and the unclean shall enter you no more.
Masoretic (WLC)
עוּרִי עוּרִי
Awake, awake
Dead Sea Scroll
עורי עורי
Awake, awake
Identical reading. The doubled imperative 'Awake, awake, put on your strength, O Zion' echoes 51:9 and is the same in both traditions.
1QIsaᵃ col. XLII, line 21
Shake yourself from the dust; arise! Take your seat, O Jerusalem. Loose the bonds from your neck, O captive daughter of Zion.
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XLII, line 22
For this is what the LORD says: You were sold for nothing, and you shall be redeemed without money.
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XLII, line 23
For this is what the Lord GOD says: My people went down to Egypt at first to sojourn there, and Assyria oppressed them for nothing.
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XLII, line 24
Now therefore what do I have here, declares the LORD, seeing that my people are taken away for nothing? Their rulers wail, declares the LORD, and continually all the day my name is despised.
Masoretic (WLC)
בְּחִנָּם
for nothing
Dead Sea Scroll
בחנם
for nothing
Identical consonantal text. 'My people were taken away for nothing' — the injustice of exile is stated the same way in both traditions.
1QIsaᵃ col. XLII, line 25
Therefore my people shall know my name. Therefore in that day they shall know that it is I who speak: Here I am.
Masoretic (WLC)
יְדַעוּ
shall know
Dead Sea Scroll
ידעו
shall know
Identical.
1QIsaᵃ col. XLII, line 26
How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of good, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, "Your God reigns!"
Masoretic (WLC)
מַה־נָּאווּ
How beautiful
Dead Sea Scroll
מה נאוו
How beautiful
Identical reading. 'How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace' (quoted in Romans 10:15) — one of the most beloved verses in Isaiah, reading the same in the oldest scroll and the medieval text.
1QIsaᵃ col. XLII, line 27
Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices; together they sing for joy, for eye to eye they see the return of the LORD to Zion.
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XLII, line 28
Break forth together into singing, you ruins of Jerusalem, for the LORD has comforted His people; He has redeemed Jerusalem.
Masoretic (WLC)
יַחְדָּו
together
Dead Sea Scroll
יחדיו
together
Plene spelling with yod. Same word.
1QIsaᵃ col. XLII, line 29
The LORD has bared His holy arm before the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XLIII, line 1
Depart, depart, go out from there! Touch no unclean thing! Go out from the midst of her; purify yourselves, you who bear the vessels of the LORD.
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XLIII, line 2
For you shall not go out in haste, and you shall not go in flight, for the LORD will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.
No significant variant. The scroll reads identically to the MT here.
1QIsaᵃ col. XLIII, line 3
Behold, my servant shall prosper; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exceedingly exalted.
Masoretic (WLC)
יַשְׂכִּיל עַבְדִּי
my servant shall deal wisely
Dead Sea Scroll
ישכיל עבדי
my servant shall deal wisely
The opening of the Fourth Servant Song — 'Behold, my servant shall deal wisely; he shall be exalted and lifted up, and shall be very high' — reads identically in 1QIsaiah-a and the MT. The three verbs of exaltation (yarum, venissa, vegavah me'od) are the same.
This verse is the counterpart to the humiliation described in the verses that follow. The tension between exaltation (v. 13) and disfigurement (v. 14) is preserved in both traditions.
1QIsaᵃ col. XLIII, line 4
As many were astonished at him — his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of men —
Masoretic (WLC)
מִשְׁחַת מֵאִישׁ מַרְאֵהוּ
his appearance was marred beyond that of any man
Dead Sea Scroll
משחתי מאיש מראהו
I anointed his appearance beyond that of any man
This is one of the most debated variants in the entire scroll. The MT reads mishchat ('marred, disfigured') — 'his appearance was so marred beyond human semblance.' 1QIsaiah-a appears to read mashachti ('I anointed') — 'I anointed his appearance beyond any man.'
If the scroll's reading is correct, it transforms the verse from a description of disfigurement to a description of divine anointing — the servant is not marred but consecrated. However, most scholars read the scroll's text as a scribal variant of the same root (sh-ch-t, 'to corrupt/mar') with a first-person suffix, yielding 'I marred his appearance.'
The ambiguity is compounded by the scroll's orthography. The reading remains actively debated. What is clear is that the scroll preserves a textually distinct form here, and its interpretation has significant christological implications.
1QIsaᵃ col. XLIII, line 5
so shall he startle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths because of him, for what had not been told them they shall see, and what they had not heard they shall understand.
Masoretic (WLC)
יַזֶּה
he shall sprinkle
Dead Sea Scroll
יזה
he shall sprinkle
The MT's yazzeh ('he shall sprinkle') has long puzzled translators — 'so shall he sprinkle many nations' implies a priestly act of purification. Some emend to 'startle' (from a different root, n-z-h). 1QIsaiah-a preserves the same consonantal text (yzh), supporting the MT's 'sprinkle' reading.
The scroll thus supports the traditional reading that the servant performs a priestly function for the nations — sprinkling them as a priest sprinkles blood for atonement. 'Kings shall shut their mouths because of him' follows in both texts.
1QIsaᵃ col. XLIII, line 6