Isaiah 64 — Dead Sea Scrolls
12 verses • 11 variants • 1QIsaᵃ column XLIX
Scroll Overview
Summary
Isaiah 64 contains 12 verses (following the Hebrew versification; the English shifts by one verse from the Hebrew starting at 63:19/64:1) in column XLIX of 1QIsaiah-a. This chapter continues the communal lament that began in 63:15, with a plea for theophany (v. 1), a confession of universal sinfulness (vv. 5-7), and an appeal based on the potter-clay relationship (v. 8). The variants are predominantly minor, with one notable reading in the 'eye has not seen' passage (v. 4) quoted by Paul in 1 Corinthians 2:9.
Notable Variants
Verse 4 (English v. 4) contains the famous 'eye has not seen, ear has not heard' passage quoted in 1 Corinthians 2:9, and the scroll preserves a reading very close to MT. Verse 8 has the potter-clay metaphor with stable text. Verse 11 (English v. 11) contains the lament over the destroyed Temple with no substantive variant.
Scroll Condition
Column XLIX is in good condition with full legibility throughout.
Oh, that You would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains would quake at Your presence!
Masoretic (WLC)
לוּא־קָרַעְתָּ שָׁמַיִם יָרַדְתָּ
Oh that You would rend the heavens and come down!
Dead Sea Scroll
לוא קרעתה שמים ירדתה
Oh that You would rend the heavens and come down!
The scroll uses the fuller suffix form -tah for both verbs. Note: in the Hebrew versification this is 63:19b, but in the English it is 64:1. The dramatic plea for theophany — 'Oh that You would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at Your presence!' — is identical in both texts.
1QIsaᵃ col. XLIX, line 20
As fire kindles brushwood, as fire causes water to boil — come, to make Your name known to Your adversaries, that the nations may tremble at Your presence!
Masoretic (WLC)
כִּקְדֹחַ אֵשׁ
as fire kindles
Dead Sea Scroll
כקדוח אש
as fire kindles
The scroll uses plene spelling for qedoach ('kindling') with waw. The fire imagery — as when fire kindles brushwood, as fire causes water to boil — is identical in both texts.
1QIsaᵃ col. XLIX, line 21
When You did awesome things we did not expect, You came down; the mountains quaked at Your presence.
No significant variant. The recollection of past theophanies — 'When You did awesome things that we did not expect, You came down, the mountains quaked at Your presence' — is identical in both texts.
1QIsaᵃ col. XLIX, line 22
From of old no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen a God besides You, who acts on behalf of those who wait for Him.
Masoretic (WLC)
עַיִן לֹא־רָאָתָה אֱלֹהִים זוּלָתְךָ יַעֲשֶׂה לִמְחַכֵּה־לוֹ
No eye has seen a God besides You, who acts for those who wait for Him
Dead Sea Scroll
עין לוא ראתה אלוהים זולתכה יעשה למחכה לו
No eye has seen a God besides You, who acts for those who wait for Him
The scroll spells lo with waw-aleph and uses fuller suffix forms, but the substantive reading is identical. This verse is quoted (loosely) by Paul in 1 Corinthians 2:9: 'What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him.' Paul's quotation expands significantly beyond the Hebrew — he appears to combine Isaiah 64:4 with Isaiah 65:17 and possibly extra-biblical tradition.
The scroll's confirmation that the Hebrew text read the same as MT is significant for establishing the base text from which Paul was working (likely via the LXX, which also expands the verse).
1QIsaᵃ col. XLIX, line 23
You meet the one who joyfully does righteousness, those who remember You in Your ways. But You were angry, and we sinned; in our sins we have continued long. Can we still be saved?
Masoretic (WLC)
פָּגַעְתָּ אֶת־שָׂשׂ וְעֹשֵׂה צֶדֶק
You meet him who joyfully works righteousness
Dead Sea Scroll
פגעתה את שש ועושה צדק
You meet him who joyfully works righteousness
The scroll uses fuller suffix -tah and plene spelling for oseh ('one who does'). The verse contains the powerful confession that follows: 'Behold, You were angry and we sinned; in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved?'
1QIsaᵃ col. XLIX, line 24
We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all wither like a leaf, and our iniquities carry us away like the wind.
Masoretic (WLC)
וַנָּמֹק
and we melt away
Dead Sea Scroll
ונמוק
and we melt away
The scroll uses plene spelling for namog ('we melt/fade'). The confession that 'we have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment; we all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities like the wind carry us away' is identical in meaning. This is one of the most searching confessions of human sinfulness in the Hebrew Bible.
1QIsaᵃ col. XLIX, line 25
There is no one who calls on Your name, who rouses himself to take hold of You. For You have hidden Your face from us and have delivered us into the hand of our iniquities.
Masoretic (WLC)
וְאֵין־קוֹרֵא בְשִׁמְךָ
there is no one who calls upon Your name
Dead Sea Scroll
ואין קורא בשמכה
there is no one who calls upon Your name
The scroll uses fuller suffix -kha. The lament continues: 'No one calls on Your name, no one rouses himself to take hold of You; for You have hidden Your face from us and delivered us into the hand of our iniquities.'
1QIsaᵃ col. XLIX, line 26
But now, LORD, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You are our potter. We are all the work of Your hand.
Masoretic (WLC)
אַתָּה יְהוָה אָבִינוּ אֲנַחְנוּ הַחֹמֶר
But now, O LORD, You are our Father; we are the clay
Dead Sea Scroll
אתה יהוה אבינו אנחנו החומר
But now, O LORD, You are our Father; we are the clay
The scroll uses plene spelling for chomer ('clay'). The potter-clay metaphor is identical: 'You are our Father; we are the clay and You are our potter; we are all the work of Your hand.' This is the second direct address to God as Father in this lament (cf. 63:16). The metaphor is echoed by Paul in Romans 9:20-21.
1QIsaᵃ col. XLIX, line 27
Do not be angry beyond measure, LORD, and do not remember iniquity forever. Behold — please look — we are all Your people!
Masoretic (WLC)
אַל־תִּקְצֹף יְהוָה עַד־מְאֹד
Do not be exceedingly angry, O LORD
Dead Sea Scroll
אל תקצוף יהוה עד מאוד
Do not be exceedingly angry, O LORD
The scroll uses plene spelling for tiqtsof ('be angry') and me'od ('exceedingly'). The plea not to remember iniquity forever is identical in both texts.
1QIsaᵃ col. L, line 1
Your holy cities have become a wilderness; Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.
Masoretic (WLC)
עָרֶיךָ הַקֹּדֶשׁ הָיוּ מִדְבָּר
Your holy cities have become a wilderness
Dead Sea Scroll
עריכה הקודש היו מדבר
Your holy cities have become a wilderness
The scroll uses fuller suffix -kha and plene spelling for qodesh. The lament over Zion and Jerusalem becoming a wilderness and desolation is identical in meaning.
1QIsaᵃ col. L, line 2
Our holy and beautiful house, where our fathers praised You, has been burned with fire, and all our treasured places lie in ruins.
Masoretic (WLC)
בֵּית קָדְשֵׁנוּ וְתִפְאַרְתֵּנוּ
our holy and beautiful house
Dead Sea Scroll
בית קודשנו ותפארתנו
our holy and beautiful house
The scroll uses plene spelling for qodshenu ('our holiness'). The lament over the Temple — 'Our holy and beautiful house, where our fathers praised You, has been burned by fire, and all our pleasant places have become ruins' — is identical in meaning. This may refer to the Babylonian destruction of 586 BCE or may be a literary/eschatological construction.
1QIsaᵃ col. L, line 3
After all this, will You restrain Yourself, LORD? Will You keep silent and afflict us beyond measure?
Masoretic (WLC)
הַעַל־אֵלֶּה תִתְאַפַּק יְהוָה
After all this, will You restrain Yourself, O LORD?
Dead Sea Scroll
העל אלה תתאפק יהוה
After all this, will You restrain Yourself, O LORD?
No meaningful variant. The closing question of the lament — 'Will You keep silent and afflict us so severely?' — is identical in both texts. The chapter ends with a raw, unresolved plea, setting up God's response in chapters 65-66.
1QIsaᵃ col. L, line 4