Unrolling the Dead Sea Psalms Scrolls

Archaeological excavations in the Judaean Desert between 1949 and 1965 yielded numerous scrolls, forty-four of which are Psalms manuscripts that incorporate Psalms. These scrolls offer important insights into the Psalms in the later Second Temple period and their finalization as a collection. This article focuses on the discovery of the Psalms scrolls and the caves where they were found, along with five phases of research on the Psalms scrolls and some reflections on the development of the Book of Psalms. It argues that three editions of the Psalms were in circulation in the late Second Temple period and emphasizes the importance of the biblical scrolls from the Judaean Desert as a key resource for Oxford Hebrew Bible, the first Critical Edition of the Hebrew Bible, and for Biblia Qumranica.