The Samuel Scroll

The Samuel scroll is a collection of four manuscript fragments containing parts of the Book of Samuel which were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls.

The Book of Samuel at Qumran

What is commonly known as two books in many Christian Bibles, 1 and 2 Samuel form a single book (Books of Samuel) in the Masoretic text as well as in the manuscripts found at Qumran. Of the four fragments of Samuel found at Qumran, one was discovered in Cave 1 and three more in Cave 4.

1Q Samuel

1Q Samuel (1QSam; 1Q7) was found in Cave 1 and contains remnants of a manuscript that contained parts from 1 Samuel 18 and 2 Samuel 20:6-10, 21:16-18, and 23:9-12. The variants within this text include a missing long stretch in 20:8, as well as some peculiar readings of proper nouns (21:18, 23:9). The text is in Hebrew, written in square script and dates from the Hellenistic-Roman period.

4Q Samuel^a

4Q Samuel^a (4QSam^a; 4Q51) was found in Cave 4 at Qumran, and dates from 50-25 BCE ("Herodian" period). The text is in Hebrew and written in square script. This scroll is the most extensive, and it preserves fragments of 1 Samuel 1 - 2 Samuel 24. It contains many readings that are different from the Masoretic Text but that closely resemble those in the Septuagint. Some examples are as follows:
* 1 Samuel 1:23 in 4QSam^a reads, "only the Lord establish what proceeded out of your mouth", while the Masoretic Text reads, "only the Lord establish his word".
* 1 Samuel 1:24 in 4QSam^a reads, "with a three-year-old ullock Masoretic reads "with three bullocks".
* 1 Samuel 2:17 in 4QSam^a reads, "for they (namely Eli’s sons) dealt contemptuously with the offering of the Lord"; the Masoretic Text reads, "for the men (namely the worshippers or Eli's sons helpers, according to some exegetes) dealt contemptuously with the offering of the Lord".

4Q Samuel^b

4Q Samuel^b (4QSam^b; 4Q52) was found in Cave 4 at Qumran and contains parts of 1 Samuel 16:1-11, 19:10-17, 20:26-21:10, and 23:9-17. It is the oldest of the four manuscripts, dating to the end of the third century/beginning of second century BCE ("Early Hellenistic" period). The text is in Hebrew and written in square script. The orthography is similar to that of the Masoretic Text in the Pentateuch, and shares many readings with both the Septuagint (such as the designation of Samuel as "the seer" in 1 Samuel 9:18,19) and the Masoretic Text (as in 1 Samuel 20:34, "on the second day of the new moon" that reads against the Septuagint's "on the second of the month." The Masoretic Text and Samuel^b imply a two-day feast for the New Moon while the Septuagint tells of a one-day New Moon followed by an ordinary day).

4Q Samuel^c

4Q Samuel^c (4QSam^c; 4Q53), also found in Cave 4 at Qumran, was written by the same scribe who wrote the Rule of the Community, as shown by the orthography and the specific spellings of words such as z'wt ("this"), 'bdkh ("your servant") and wy’wmr ("and he said"). These variants are quite insignificant, however, and do not relate directly to the Masoretic Text (MT) or the Septuagint. One variant that is found in both the scroll and the Septuagint is in 2 Samuel 14:30. The MT ends with the note of the burning of Joab's field, but the Septuagint continues on and recounts how Joab's servants told him about it "with their clothes rent". The scroll reads, " nd the srvants of Joab ame
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