Apologetics Library

Great Isaiah Scroll

What it isThe whole book of Isaiah in Hebrew, written in 54 columns on 17 sheets of parchment sewn into one scroll12
Date2nd or 1st century BC. The Israel Museum gives about 125 BC in one place and about 100 BC in another. Britannica gives about 100-75 BC. Radiocarbon tests point most likely to 250-103 BC.1345
Found1947, by Bedouin of the Ta’amra tribe, in a cave near Qumran later named Cave 16
SizeAbout 7.3 meters (24 feet) long1
Where it is nowThe Israel Museum, Jerusalem (accession no. HU 95.57/27). The original is usually kept in storage; visitors to the Shrine of the Book see a full-size facsimile.17
See it onlineThe Israel Museum’s digital edition, with a translation tool

The Great Isaiah Scroll is a complete copy of Isaiah made more than a century before Jesus was born. It’s about 1,000 years older than the great medieval Hebrew manuscripts. The Israel Museum says it “generally conforms” to the traditional Hebrew text, which shows how carefully Isaiah was copied.

What it shows

Isaiah was copied with care for 1,000 years. Before 1947, the oldest Hebrew copies of Isaiah were medieval manuscripts, such as the Aleppo Codex from about AD 930 and the Leningrad Codex from AD 1008.3 This scroll is about 1,000 years older, and the Israel Museum describes it as one that “generally conforms to the Masoretic or traditional version.”1

Isaiah 53 was there before Jesus. The scroll holds all 66 chapters, including the “suffering servant” passage of Isaiah 53 that the early Christians read as a prophecy of Jesus (Acts 8:32-35).1 That passage can’t have been written or reworded by Christians. It existed, in Hebrew, more than a century before his birth.

Isaiah was already one book. Some modern scholars think Isaiah grew over time from several collections. The Israel Museum notes that by the time this copy was made, “the book was already regarded as a single composition.”1

What it doesn’t show

It isn’t identical, letter for letter. The Israel Museum counts “well over 2,600” variants, “ranging from a single letter, sometimes one or more words, to complete variant verse or verses.”1 They include different spellings, scribal slips, and corrections. For example, the second half of Isaiah 2:9 and all of 2:10 are missing.1 Translators weigh some of its readings. In Isaiah 53:11 it reads “he will see light,” where the traditional text has “he will see.”8

Not every Dead Sea Scroll matches this closely. A second Isaiah scroll from the same cave, 1QIsa-b, is even closer to the traditional text.3 Other biblical scrolls from Qumran show more differences.9

It doesn’t settle who wrote Isaiah or when. It shows what the book looked like in the 2nd century BC. Questions about its authorship are a separate debate.1

Why it matters

It answers a common objection to the Old Testament: that a text copied by hand for centuries must have drifted far from the original. For Isaiah, we can check, and the drift is small. Has the Bible been changed over time? takes the question across the whole Bible.

Questions people ask

How does the Great Isaiah Scroll compare to the Masoretic Text?

The Masoretic Text is the traditional Hebrew text preserved by Jewish scribes. The scroll “generally conforms” to it.1 Its 2,600-plus differences range from spellings and single letters to a few words or whole verses.1

Does the Great Isaiah Scroll include Isaiah 53?

Yes. Its 54 columns hold all 66 chapters of Isaiah, including chapter 53.1

Where can I see the Great Isaiah Scroll?

Online, in the Israel Museum’s digital edition. In Jerusalem, the Shrine of the Book normally shows a facsimile.7 The original went on display in full from February 24 to October 3, 2026, for the first time since 1968.10 The display closed on February 28 because of the war and reopened on May 15.11

By Casey Case · Sources last checked October 11, 2026

Sources

  1. Israel Museum, Digital Dead Sea Scrolls, page on the Great Isaiah Scroll, text by A. Roitman, accessed Oct. 11, 2026. Gives “ca. 125 BCE,” the 54 columns, the length (734 cm), the accession number, and the comparison with the traditional text. ↩︎
  2. University of Hamburg, Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures, Dead Sea Scrolls project, accessed Oct. 11, 2026. Gives the 17 sheets of parchment. ↩︎
  3. “Biblical literature: The Qumran texts and other scrolls,” Encyclopaedia Britannica, accessed Oct. 11, 2026. Gives “about 100-75 BCE,” the Aleppo and Leningrad codices, and 1QIsa-b. ↩︎
  4. Israel Museum, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20210104172806/Shrine”>https://www.imj.org.il/en/wings/shrine-book/dead-sea-scrolls”>Shrine of the Book: the Dead Sea Scrolls, archived January 4, 2021. Says the scroll was “written around 100 BCE.” ↩︎
  5. A. J. Timothy Jull, Douglas J. Donahue, Magen Broshi, and Emanuel Tov, “Radiocarbon Dating of Scrolls and Linen Fragments from the Judean Desert,” Radiocarbon 37 (1995). ↩︎
  6. Israel Museum, Digital Dead Sea Scrolls, the discovery, accessed Oct. 11, 2026. ↩︎
  7. Israel Museum, Great Isaiah Scroll exhibition notes (PDF), 2026. Says the original was “taken down for storage in 1968” and visitors see “a facsimile of the full scroll.” ↩︎
  8. Text & Canon Institute, on Isaiah 53:11 in the Dead Sea Scrolls, 2022. ↩︎
  9. Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library, “Introduction,” Israel Antiquities Authority, accessed Oct. 11, 2026. ↩︎
  10. Israel Museum, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20260901110733/exhibition”>https://www.imj.org.il/en/exhibitions/voice-desert”>exhibition page, archived September 1, 2026. ↩︎
  11. Ynet News, report on the reopening, May 14, 2026. ↩︎