Isaiah 63 — Dead Sea Scrolls

The scroll omits the maqqef. The dramatic opening question — 'Who is this coming from Edom, in crimsoned garments from Bozrah?' — is identical in both texts. The imagery of the blood-stained divine warrior is echoed in Revelation 19:13.

The scroll uses the fuller suffix -kha for 'your garment.' The wordplay between Edom (אדום) and adom ('red') is preserved in both texts — a deliberate pun linking Edom's judgment to the color of blood.

No meaningful variant. The divine warrior's declaration 'I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples no one was with Me' is identical. This imagery of the solitary winepress-treader is echoed in Revelation 14:19-20 and 19:15.

The scroll spells ki as kia per Qumran convention. The declaration that God's day of vengeance and year of redemption are planned in His heart is identical in both texts.

The scroll adds a he to the pronoun hi' ('it/she'), reading hi'ah (היאה). This is a characteristic Qumran scribal practice of adding final he to third-person pronouns. The meaning is identical — God's own wrath sustained Him when no human helper was found.

No meaningful variant. The transition to the historical retrospective begins with the characteristic Hebrew chesed (covenant loyalty/faithful love). The scroll preserves the same reading: 'I will recount the chesed of the LORD, the praises of the LORD, according to all that the LORD has bestowed on us.'

The scroll omits the maqqef and spells hemmah without the final aleph-he of MT. The recollection that God said 'Surely they are My people, children who will not deal falsely' is identical in meaning.

The scroll uses plene spelling for qodsho ('His holiness/His Holy [Spirit]'). The reference to 'His Holy Spirit' (ruach qodsho) is one of only three explicit mentions of the Holy Spirit in the Hebrew Bible (cf. Psalm 51:11). The scroll confirms this reading — it is not a later Masoretic innovation. Paul echoes this verse in Ephesians 4:30 ('do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God').

The scroll uses plene spelling for yizkor ('he remembered'). The reference to the Exodus tradition — God remembering the days of Moses — is identical. The question 'Where is He who brought them up out of the sea with the shepherds of His flock?' follows identically in both texts.

No meaningful variant. The image of God leading Israel through the depths 'like a horse in the wilderness, they did not stumble' is identical in both texts.

No meaningful variant. The summary of the Exodus — 'As a beast goes down into the valley, the Spirit of the LORD gave them rest. So You led Your people, to make for Yourself a glorious name' — is identical in both texts.

No meaningful variant. The communal lament begins: 'Look down from heaven and see, from Your holy and glorious habitation.' The appeal to God's compassion is identical in both texts.

The scroll spells ki as kia. The remarkable address to God as 'our Father' appears twice in this verse: 'For You are our Father, though Abraham does not know us and Israel does not acknowledge us; You, O LORD, are our Father, our Redeemer from of old is Your name.' The scroll confirms this double paternal address without substantive variant.

This is one of the most direct addresses to God as Father in the Hebrew Bible and was clearly part of the pre-Christian Jewish prayer vocabulary.

No meaningful variant. The bold question — why does God cause Israel to wander from His ways and harden their hearts? — is identical in both texts. This verse raises the same theological tension as Romans 9:18.

No meaningful variant. The lament that God's holy people possessed the land only briefly before adversaries trod down the sanctuary is identical in both texts.

The scroll spells lo with waw-aleph and uses a slightly different suffix form for 'You ruled' (mashaltah with he). The meaning is identical — the lament that Israel has become as if God never ruled over them, as if they were never called by His name. This verse sets up the dramatic plea for theophany that opens chapter 64.