BIBLE HISTORY DAILY

Caves and Contents (Cave 11)

THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS AND WHY THEY MATTER

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Caves and Contents

Cave 11

Discovered by Bedouin in February 1956, Cave 11 contained Biblical and apocryphal texts but its most notable manuscript was the Temple Scroll, the longest of the Dead Sea Scrolls and apparently an additional book of the Torah. The Temple Scroll was not recovered by scholars until 1967.

Further Reading:

11Q2: Paleo-Hebrew vs. Old Hebrew: The Long and the Short of It, Biblical Archaeology Review 23:02, March/April 1997, By Frank Moore Cross

11Q18-19: Is the Temple Scroll a Sixth Book of the Torah—Lost for 2,500 Years?, Biblical Archaeology Review 13:06, Nov/Dec 1987, By Hartmut Stegemann and The Temple Scroll—The Longest and Most Recently Discovered Dead Sea Scroll, Biblical Archaeology Review 10:05, Sep/Oct 1984, By Yigael Yadin

 
Contents found in Cave 11:

11Q1: Paleo-Leviticus
11Q2: Leviticus
11Q3: Deuteronomy
11Q4: Ezekiel
11Q4-9: Psalms
11Q10: Targum of Job
11Q11: Apocryphal Psalms
11Q12: Jubilees
11Q13: Melchizedek
11Q14: Berakhot
11Q15-16: Hymns
11Q17: Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice
11Q18-19: The Temple Scroll
11Q21: Hebrew text
11Q22-28: unclassified
11Q29: Serekh ha-Yahad related
11Q30: unclassified
11Q31: unclassified
XQ1-4: Phylacteries
XQ5: fragments
XQ6: offering

Sources

Vermes, Geza. The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English. New York: Penguin Press, 1997.

Schiffman, Lawrence and VanderKam, James. The Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Vol. 2. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.