Definition

1. Proper noun:
   • A collection of ancient Jewish religious manuscripts: The Dead Sea Scrolls are a group of ancient Hebrew and Aramaic texts discovered in caves near the Dead Sea. They contain some of the oldest known copies of books from the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) and other writings related to Jewish religious life and thought from around the 3rd century BCE to the 1st century CE.

Usage

• The term "Dead Sea Scrolls" is always used in the plural form and typically capitalized. It refers to the entire collection of manuscripts as a singular historical find.
• Example: "The Dead Sea Scrolls are considered one of the most important archaeological discoveries of the 20th century."
• Example: "Scholars study the Dead Sea Scrolls to understand the development of biblical texts."

Advanced Usage

• "the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls": Refers to the historical event of their finding between 1947 and 1956.
  • The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls revolutionized biblical scholarship.
• "a fragment from the Dead Sea Scrolls": Refers to an individual piece of the larger collection.
  • This museum displays a fragment from the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Variants and Related Words

• Qumran Caves: The specific location near the Dead Sea where the scrolls were found. Often used in an archaeological context.
  • The scrolls were hidden in the Qumran Caves.
• Qumran Community: A term used by scholars to refer to the Jewish sect, often identified as the Essenes, believed to have written and preserved the scrolls.
  • The rules of the Qumran Community are detailed in some of the scrolls.

Synonyms

• Ancient manuscripts: A general term for old handwritten documents.
• Biblical scrolls: Manuscripts containing texts from the Bible.

Related Phrases

• "The Isaiah Scroll": The name of one of the most complete and famous scrolls from the collection, containing the Book of Isaiah.
  • The Great Isaiah Scroll is a highlight of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
• "The Community Rule": The title of one of the major non-biblical texts found among the scrolls, outlining the laws of the sect.
  • The Community Rule provides insight into the sect's daily life.

Related Idioms

(There are no common idioms that use the specific term "Dead Sea Scrolls." It is a proper noun referring to a specific historical artifact.)

Noun

1. (Old Testament) a collection of written scrolls (containing nearly all of the Old Testament) found in a cave near the Dead Sea in the late 1940s
   • the Dead Sea Scrolls provide information about Judaism and the Bible around the time of Jesus