“Question & Answer”

Question:

At what points has the text of Isaiah been corrected by reference to the Isaiah scroll, which was among the first of the finds in the Dead Sea Caves?

Answer:
A thousand years older than any copies of Isaiah that had hitherto been known, this has necessitated minor correction at thirteen points: 3:24 (Insertion of the word “Shame”); 14:4 (“Insolent fury” replaces “Golden City”); 14:30 (“I” replaces “He”); 15:9 (“Dibon” twice replaces “Dimon”); 21:8 (“he who saw” replaces a Lion”); 23:2 (“your messengers passed over the sea” replaces “who passed over the sea, they replenished you”); 33:8 (“witnesses” replaces “cities”); 45:2 (“the mountains” replaces “the swellings”); 45:8 (“that salvation may sprout forth” replaces “that they may bring forth salvation”); 49:24 (“tyrant” replaces “righteous man”); 51:19 (“who will comfort you?” replaces “how may I comfort you?”); 56:12 (“us” replaces “Me”); 60:19 (addition of “by night”). In each case the corruption had resulted from a copy list’s error in the days when all books had to be written out by hand. In each case, the corrected text makes better sense than the version previously known.