Isaiah 62 — Dead Sea Scrolls

The scroll spells lo ('not') with waw-aleph (לוא), a standard Qumran orthographic convention. The passionate opening declaration is identical in meaning: 'For Zion's sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until her righteousness goes forth as brightness.'

No meaningful variant. The promise that the nations shall see Zion's righteousness and she shall be called by 'a new name that the mouth of the LORD will bestow' is identical in both texts.

The scroll omits the maqqef. The renaming from 'Forsaken' (Azuvah) to 'Hephzibah' (My Delight Is in Her) and from 'Desolate' (Shemamah) to 'Beulah' (Married) is preserved identically. These symbolic names carry the chapter's theological weight — God's relationship to Zion is characterized as marital delight, not abandonment.

The scroll uses the feminine suffix forms -ki for both 'you' and 'your sons.' The imagery of the builder marrying the land is preserved. Some scholars note that the scroll may read bonaikh ('your builder') rather than banaikh ('your sons') — a single letter difference (waw vs. yod, which are often confused in Qumran scripts) — but the primary reading appears to match MT.

The scroll preserves the same reading of the watchmen on Jerusalem's walls who 'shall never be silent, day or night' and who are charged to 'remind the LORD, take no rest.' The concept of intercessory watchmen who give God no rest until He establishes Jerusalem is identical in both texts. This verse was influential in later Jewish and Christian prayer traditions.

No meaningful variant. God's oath by His right hand and mighty arm — that He will never again give Israel's grain to enemies — is identical in both texts.

No meaningful variant. The doubled imperative 'Go through! Go through!' echoes the 'Build up! Build up!' of 57:14. The command to prepare the way of the people, build up the highway, clear the stones, and raise a signal over the peoples is identical in both texts.

The scroll uses the feminine suffix -ki and spells the participle ba'ah with he. The proclamation 'Behold, your salvation comes; behold, His reward is with Him' echoes Isaiah 40:10 and anticipates Zechariah 9:9 and Matthew 21:5. The scroll confirms this reading without substantive variant.

The scroll uses plene spelling for qodesh ('holiness'). The closing titles for the redeemed — 'The Holy People, The Redeemed of the LORD' — and for the city — 'Sought Out, A City Not Forsaken' — are identical in both texts.