Qumran version of the text of one biblical passage (Isa 42:1–9)

Isa 42:1-9)The article focuses on the interpretation of several of the most important variants of the text of Isaiah 42:1-9, which are contained in the Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsa a ) discovered at Qumran.This manuscript is the oldest evidence of the Hebrew text of the biblical book of Isaiah, dating from the second half of the second century B.C.The article demonstrates that in most cases the reason for the appearance of discrepancies was the editorial activity of the scribe of the scroll.In particular, the textual variants hnh ('behold') in Isa 42:1 and lw yzq ('will not cry out') in Isa 42:2 arose from a desire to replace words of little use and obsolescence with synonyms used in the Hebrew language of the late first millennium B.C.The variant mpw ('his judgement') in Isa 42:1 is exegetical.By attaching to the word mp ('judgement') the letter vav, denoting the pronoun suffix of the 3 masc.sing., the scribe-editor apparently pursued the purpose of clarifying the biblical text by emphasising the significance of the figure of the Servant of the Lord as the eschatological judge.The variant ynylw ('they will pass on (the Law) as an inheritance') in Isa 42:4 probably represents a conjecture undertaken by the scribe, as a result of which the image of the Servant of Yahweh was reinterpreted in eschatological terms and came to be seen as a prophet-legislator by whose laws the Gentiles would live in the coming age.