COLUMN 12 – THE GREAT ISAIAH SCROLL FROM QUMRAN (1QISAA): ORTHOGRAPHIC AND SCRIBAL FEATURES, ANALYSIS, AND TRANSLATION

Abstract This study presents a philological, orthographic, paleographic, and textual-critical analysis of Column 12 of the Great Isaiah Scroll from Qumran (1QIsaa), corresponding primarily to Isaiah 14:1–29. Special attention is devoted to scribal practices, orthographic variation, editorial corrections, spacing phenomena, lacunae, retraced letters, and material restoration visible within the manuscript. The analysis compares the Qumran readings with the Masoretic tradition and examines several significant lexical and semantic divergences preserved in the scroll. The study further investigates the relationship between physical deterioration and textual transmission, demonstrating that the manuscript underwent multiple stages of repair, correction, and editorial intervention during its prolonged use. Variants involving expanded suffixes, fuller spellings, omitted consonants, and secondary insertions are analyzed within the broader linguistic framework of Qumran Hebrew and Second Temple scribal culture. Particular emphasis is placed upon the interaction between codicology, paleography, textual criticism, and material philology. The evidence preserved in Column 12 strongly confirms that the Great Isaiah Scroll functioned not merely as a static textual witness, but as a living manuscript continuously used, repaired, interpreted, and preserved within the scribal culture of ancient Judaism. Keywords Great Isaiah Scroll; 1QIsaa; Dead Sea Scrolls; Qumran; Isaiah 14; Biblical Hebrew; Qumran Hebrew; Hebrew philology; textual criticism; orthography; paleography; codicology; scribal practices; scribal corrections; lacunae; manuscript repair; Masoretic Text; Second Temple Judaism; material philology; manuscript transmission; Isaiah Scroll; Hebrew manuscripts; textual plurality; ancient scribes; biblical studies