1QSamuel–A Pre-canonical Shorter Recension of 2Samuel

1QSamuel preserves a shorter ending of 2Samuel. Of the eight appendices attached to 2Samuel (20:23–24:25), the scroll contained either three or five, dependent on the (reconstructed) height of the columns. The scroll definitively omits the story of the census, a post-Chronicles insertion into 2Samuel. Also 21:1–14 and 23:1–7 are texts from the Hellenistic period. A comparison of 2Sam 21:1–14 and 1Sam 22:6–23 (the killing of the priests of Nob) suggests a late date also for the latter text, a dating supported by a suggested archaeological identification for the site of Nob.