Dead Sea Scrolls Bible Translations
Change to Scroll View
<< Previous Chapter: Exodus 20
Book/Chapter View:
Exodus 21
Next Chapter: Exodus 22>>
Translation process is ongoing.
For current status see details

Home

Genesis - 21 Scrolls

Exodus - 18 Scrolls

Leviticus - 12 Scrolls

Numbers - 11 Scrolls

Deuteronomy - 32 Scrolls

Joshua - 2 Scrolls

Judges - 3 Scrolls

Ruth - 4 Scrolls

1 Samuel - 4 Scrolls

2 Samuel - 3 Scrolls

1 Kings - 3 Scrolls

2 Kings - 1 Scroll

2 Chronicles - 1 Scroll

Ezra - 1 Scroll

Job - 4 Scrolls

Psalms - 41 Scrolls

Proverbs - 2 Scrolls

Ecclesiastes - 2 Scrolls

Song of Solomon - 4 Scrolls

Isaiah - 22 Scrolls

Jeremiah - 6 Scrolls

Lamentations - 4 Scrolls

Ezekiel - 4 Scrolls

Daniel - 8 Scrolls

Hosea - 3 Scrolls

Joel - 3 Scrolls

Amos - 4 Scrolls

Obadiah - 2 Scrolls

Jonah - 5 Scrolls

Micah - 4 Scrolls

Nahum - 3 Scrolls

Habakkuk - 3 Scrolls

Zephaniah - 5 Scrolls

Haggai - 3 Scrolls

Zechariah - 5 Scrolls

Malachi - 2 Scrolls

The Translation Process

Frequently Asked Questions

About the Author

Exodus 21 from Scroll 1Q2 Exodus

 1 “Now these are the ordinances which you shall set before them.

If you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years and in the seventh he shall go out free without paying anything.

[..]

4 If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out by himself. 5 But if the servant shall plainly say, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children. I will not go out free;’

 

Exodus 21 from Scroll 2Q2 Exodusa

18 “If men quarrel and one strikes the other with a stone, or with his fist, and he doesn’t die, but is confined to bed; 19 if he rises again and walks around with his staff, then he who struck him shall be cleared: only he shall pay for the loss of his time, and shall provide for his healing until he is thoroughly healed.

20 “If a man strikes his servant or his maid with a rod, and he dies under his hand, he shall surely be punished.

 

Exodus 21 from Scroll 4Q22 PaleoExodusm

But if the servant shall plainly say, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children. I will not go out free;’ then his master shall bring him to God, and shall bring him to the door or to the doorpost, and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall serve him forever.

[..]

13 but not if it is unintentional, but God allows it to happen; then I will appoint you a place where he shall flee. 14 If a man schemes and comes presumptuously on his neighbor to kill him, you shall take him from my altar, that he may die.

[..]

22 “If men fight and hurt a pregnant woman so that she gives birth prematurely, and yet no harm follows, he shall be surely fined as much as the woman’s husband demands and the judges allow.

[..]

24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burning for burning, wound for wound, and bruise for bruise.

26 “If a man strikes his servant’s eye, or his maid’s eye, and destroys it, he shall let him go free for his eye’s sake. 27 If he strikes out his male servant’s tooth, or his female servant’s tooth, he shall let the servant go free for his tooth’s sake.

28 “If a bull gores a man or a woman to death, the bull shall surely be stoned, and its meat shall not be eaten; but the owner of the bull shall not be held responsible. 29 But if the bull had a habit of goring in the past, and this has been testified to its owner, and he has not kept it in, but it has killed a man or a woman, the bull shall be stoned, and its owner shall also be put to death. 30 If a ransom is imposed on him, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatever is imposed. 31 Whether it has gored a son or has gored a daughter, according to this judgment it shall be done to him. 32 If the bull gores a male servant or a female servant, thirty shekels of silver shall be given to their master, and the ox shall be stoned.

How to read these pages:

      The translation to the left is based on the World English Bible. Words in regular black font are words in the scrolls matching the traditional text for that passage.

      Words in italics cannot be seen in the scroll, since the scroll is fragmentary. These words are supplied for readability by the World English Bible translation.

      Words present in the scroll but with some letters unreadable or missing are in blue like this: blue. One Hebrew word often is translated into multiple English words, and when this occurs, all the English words are in blue.

      Words present in the scroll but with spelling differences that do not affect the meaning are in green like this: green. This is common in Hebrew.

      If the scroll is different from the traditional text, words in the traditional text that are missing from the text of the scroll are marked through in red like this: strike-through.

      If the scroll is different from the traditional text, words in the scroll that are not in the traditional text are underlined in red like this: new words.