Qumran

Fragments of at least four (and possibly five or six) Jeremiah scrolls have been found at Qumran. The Qumran evidence for Jeremiah is of critical importance because it confirms the existence of a Hebrew Vorlage corresponding to the LXX (see Allen, Jeremiah, 7–8; Tov, Textual Criticism, 324–27), as well as the existence of the MT form of the book by the early second century bc.

2Q13 (2QJer), an MT fragment, is the latest of the fragments; it dates to the first century ad. The fragment contains portions of Jer 42:7–11, 14; 43:8–11; 44:1–3, 12–14; 46:27–47:7; 48:7, 25–39, 43–45; and 49:1. 4Q70 (4QJera) also is an MT text, but it dates to around 200 bc, making it the oldest extant copy of the book of Jeremiah. It contains fragments of Jer 7:1–2, 15–19; 7:28–9:2; 9:7–15; 10:9–14, 23; 11:3–6, 19–20; 12:3–7, 13–16; 12:17–13:7, 22, 27; 14:4–7; 15:1–2; 17:8–26; 18:15–19:1; 20:14–18; 21:1; 22:3–16; and 26:10 (Lundbom, Jeremiah, 62; Allen, Jeremiah, 8). 4Q71 (4QJerb) belongs to the LXX type. It dates to the mid-second century bc and contains Jer 9:22–10:18 (Lundbom, Jeremiah, 63; Allen, Jeremiah, 7–8). Two other Cave 4 fragments containing Jer 43:2–10 MT (50:2–9 LXX) and Jer 50:4–6 MT (27:4–6 LXX), respectively, also conform to the LXX. Tov identifies these fragments as belonging to three different scrolls: 4QJerb, 4QJerd, and 4QJere (see Tov, “Three Fragments of Jeremiah,” 531–41; DJD 15, 145–207). The final Jeremiah fragment from Qumran is 4Q72 (4QJerc) MT, which dates to the late first century bc or early first century ad. It contains Jer 4:5, 13–16; 8:1–3; 8:21–9:5; 10:12–13; 19:8–9; 20:2–5, 7–9, 13–15; 21:7–10; 22:4–6, 10–28; 25:7–8, 15–17, 24–26; 26:10–13; 27:1–3, 13–15; 30:6–9; 30:17–31:14; 31:19–26; and 33:16–20 (Lundbom, Jeremiah, 63; Allen, Jeremiah, 8).

The Qumran evidence confirms the long-held suspicion that in some instances, such as the book of Jeremiah, the LXX translates from a Hebrew Vorlage that is different from the MT. In the case of Jeremiah, it appears that behind the LXX stands a distinctive Egyptian edition, which was shorter and had a briefer history than the presumably Babylonian MT edition (Lundbom, Jeremiah, 58). The fact that both editions of the book were in use at Qumran also testifies to the remarkable diversity and fluidity of biblical texts as late as the first century ad.