Book Review of The Dead Sea Scrolls Translated: The Qumran Texts in English (Paperback) by F. Garcia Martinez (Editor) W. G. E. Watson (Translator)

Due to its superior alphanumeric notational system “The Dead Sea Scrolls Translated: The Qumran Texts in English (Paperback) by F. Garcia Martinez (Editor), W. G. E. Watson (Translator)” is a must for every researcher of these texts. As one of the editors of the cross references for “The Comprehensive New Testament,” I greatly appreciated the superior alphanumeric notational system in this book. The notational system incorporates previously used systems and creates the most universal identification in existence for the Dead Sea Scrolls. Each work is also accompanied by reference information identifying the cave where it was found.

The Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS) consist of about 800 scrolls of which 225 are copies of various biblical books and approximately 300 manuscripts texts that are by and large did not survive preservation over two millenia. The scrolls were discovered between 1947 and 1956 in eleven caves in the Wadi Qumran area on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea. According to carbon dating, the documents were written prior to the 1st century C.E. The 200 longest and most important surviving manuscripts are contained in the “The Dead Sea Scrolls Translated.”

The Dead Sea Scrolls contain parallels to the Gospels and the book of Revelation – including references to the Messiah and the fishermen, the New Jerusalem, and the Apocalypse. The administrative hierarchy outlined in the Dead Sea Scrolls has parallels to the one outlined in the New Testament including the Messiah, Overseers, and similarities between the office of Maskil and Apostle (compare the use of the word Maskil in Daniel 12:3 to Acts 26:18). Dead Sea Scroll 4Q Enoch (4Q204[4QENAR]) COL I 16-18 and Jude 1:14-15 are direct parallels.