A LIBRARIAN’S ORIENTATION
What this book explores
A translated collection of biblical and nonbiblical writings from the Dead Sea Scrolls, opening a window onto the diversity of Jewish texts and communities in the Second Temple period.
READ THE SOURCES
Reading this edition
Second Temple Jewish · Translated scrolls anthology
- Why this edition?
- A substantial revised translation of biblical and nonbiblical scrolls that gives readers direct access to a range of surviving Second Temple writings.
- How is it translated or presented?
- Scholarly English translations of fragmentary Hebrew and Aramaic texts, organized and introduced by Wise, Abegg, and Cook.
- Where might I begin?
- Read the introduction and one community text before sampling other genres; keep the editors' notes beside the translation.
- What should I know?
- The scrolls do not speak for all Jews of the period, and scholarly reconstructions of the fragments and their communities remain contested.
Good starting place if…
You want to encounter Second Temple writings directly while seeing that the scrolls are a collection rather than one book or one Jewish voice.
Know before you begin…
The surviving scrolls are fragmentary and their origins and interpretation are debated. This edited English collection cannot represent all Second Temple Judaism.