Dead Sea Scrolls

Abstract

The Dead Sea Scrolls are ancient Jewish manuscripts that have been discovered around the shore of the Dead Sea. They range in size from large scrolls and nearly complete documents to fragmentary scraps of just a few letters. They have been located in eleven caves at Qumran, at Masada, and in caves from the Bar Kokhba era. Chronologically they span the last several centuries bce to the second century ce and so have profound value for the study of ancient Judaism and the background of early Christianity. (This bibliography does not include the material from Wadi el-Daliyeh and Khirbet Mird.) The most extensive collection of documents was found at Qumran on the western shore of the Dead Sea, south of Jerusalem. Most of the more than nine hundred separate manuscripts from this site are actually only fragmentary remains of ancient books that can be divided into three, roughly equal categories: (1) Bible manuscripts of all books of the Hebrew Bible, except for the book of Esther, have been identified at Qumran, (2) apocrypha and pseudepigrapha, books known to have circulated in the Second Temple period among all Jewish groups, and (3) sectarian materials peculiar to the Jewish inhabitants of Qumran, who separated themselves from the mainstream Jewish groups and from the Jerusalem Temple. Their texts outline their beliefs, rules on how to enter their closed sect, and their regimens and rituals. Adjacent to the caves are remains of a Jewish site inhabited for several centuries, until its destruction by the Romans in 68 ce. The scrolls in the caves have been regarded by most scholars as the library of those who occupied that site. Masada was a fortress south of En Gedi on the Dead Sea and was used as a rebel stronghold during the Great Revolt against the Romans (66–73 ce), until destroyed by the Roman legions. The scrolls recovered from this site include parts of fifteen biblical and apocryphal books widely known during Second Temple times. The Judaean Desert climate also has preserved documents from the Bar Kokhba Revolt (132–135 ce) in refuge caves for victims of the war, located primarily north of Masada and south of Qumran, at Wadi Murabba’at, Naḥal Ḥever, and other sites. The documents include letters from Bar Kokhba to his military commanders, and archives of people who fled to the caves with their personal effects.

Celebrating Victory from the Sea of Reeds to the Eschatological Battle Field: Miriam’s Timbrels and Dances in Exodus 15 and Beyond

“…Abegg (1994: 91) also suggests restoring “chief priest” (as in 1QM 2:1 (= 4Q494 4); 15:4; 16:13; 18:5; 19:11), instead of “priest of renown” (as in Vermes 1992b: 88). Once again, a number of scholars agree (Bockmuehl 1992: 158–59; Schiffman 1994: 346; García Martínez and Tigchelaar 1998: 642–43; Wise, Abegg Jr., and Cook 1996: 293).…”

“…Others have accepted Abegg’s proposal. Schiffman (1994: 346) translates “the Prince of the Congregation will kill him … with drums and with dances.” Vander-Kam and Flint (2002: 342) read, with some restoration: “The Prince of the Congregation, the Branch of David, will have him put to death. And all Israel will come out with timbrels and dancers.” In view of the probable influence of Exodus 15:20, it probably would be better to restore the text to read, “And all the women went out with timbrels and dancing.” The men, under the direction of the high priest, will be busy disposing of the corpses of the slain, which is required, given the purity concerns of Deuteronomy 21:23.…”

Compact and Filter-Free Luminescence Biosensor for Mobile in Vitro Diagnoses

“…To explore LUCID's potential for clinical application, we identified effective yet feasible cervical cancer screening as an unmet need in point-of-care settings. Cervical cancer incurs high incidence and mortality rates in many resource-limited countries 28 which often lack robust early screening infrastructures. We reasoned that the portable LUCID system could effectively triage suspicious or high-risk cases.…”

Further exploration of the structure-activity relationship of imidazoquinolines; identification of potent C7-substituted imidazoquinolines

“…Toll-like Receptors (TLRs) are a validated target for developing new immunostimulatory drugs. 1,2 TLRs are a part of the innate immune system, called pattern recognition receptors (PRRs), that help prime the adaptive immune system. 3 PRRs detect pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs), which are conserved features common to many pathogenic microorganisms and viruses, but are not expressed by the host organism (e.g.…”

“…flagellin, lipopolysaccharides, bacterial DNA, and viral RNA). 4 In humans, there are 10 TLRs (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10), which can broadly be separated into endosomal (TLR3,7,8 and 9) and cell surface receptors (TLR1,2,4,5,6 and 10). 4 The endosomal TLRs are natively activated by nucleic acid constructs not normally found or tightly controlled in the host, including double stranded RNA (TLR3), single stranded RNA (TLR7/8) and unmethylated CpG oligodeoxynucleotides (TLR9).…”