Isaiah Scroll Returns to Display

Why this is here: The Isaiah Scroll, discovered over 2,100 years ago, is the oldest complete biblical manuscript ever found—predating previously known texts by roughly a millennium.

The Israel Museum in Jerusalem reopened an exhibit featuring the complete Isaiah Scroll, one of the Dead Sea Scrolls, to the public on Friday. The museum removed all items from display on February 28, when fighting began during “Roaring Lion,” to ensure their safety. The scroll, over 2,100 years old, contains all 66 chapters of the Book of Isaiah.

Discovered between 1947 and 1956 in the Qumran caves near the Dead Sea, the Dead Sea Scrolls represent a major archaeological find. The Isaiah Scroll dates to roughly 125 BCE, making it about one thousand years older than previously known complete manuscripts of the Hebrew Bible. The museum displays the 7.17-meter scroll within a climate-controlled, 8-meter-long display case imported from Belgium.

Visitors will experience a multi-sensory journey beginning with a recreation of Qumran Cave 1. Access to the scroll is limited to 25 people at a time for seven minutes, and photography is prohibited. Researchers continue to study the fragments of other scrolls still being analyzed, and not all of the Dead Sea Scrolls have been fully translated.