Job

Sources

• Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library (Israel Antiquities Authority) (opens in a new tab)

  Explore the archive by manuscript, site, and language

• Wikipedia, list of manuscripts from Qumran Cave 11 (opens in a new tab)

Objections & responses

The Aramaic Job targum from Qumran ends early and differs from the Hebrew in places. A translation isn’t evidence for the stability of the Hebrew text.

The targum is evidence that Job was valued and read, which is what it is cited for. For textual stability the Hebrew fragments (4QJob-a and 4QpaleoJob) are the relevant witnesses, and they align with the Masoretic tradition. The targum’s differences and early ending are interesting for the history of interpretation and should not be counted toward the stability claim.

Appears under 1 claim in this case

• The Dead Sea Scrolls show the Old Testament text was copied with remarkable stability across about a thousand years, alongside a documented plurality of text forms.