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4QSama is the Qumran scroll of 1 and 2 Samuel written in c. 200 BC in Hebrew Herodian script. The surviving fragments allow a faithful glimpse of about 60% of the Hebrew Samuel at the dawn of the birth of Christianity.
The book is divided into three sections: 1) Plates showing the handwork of the author in replicating the fragments and restoring the gaps between them. 2) An apparatus giving the variants of the restored text from the traditional Hebrew Bible and the justification for the restoration. 3) A table comparing text breaks in the scroll with those of the Hebrew Bible and the Septuagint.
The book is a source work for the upcoming revised critical edition of the Hebrew Bible, viz. Biblia Hebraica Quinta. New translations of the books of 1 and 2 Samuel will use it as source or include notes to its variant readings at page bottom or in the margins. Furthermore, it may serve as textbook for students of Hebrew and Greek in their coursework on Samuel and/or Dead Sea Scroll compositions.
About the author
Andrew Fincke received his ALM from Harvard University Extension School in 1987 with the thesis
The Biblical Background of Jewish Handwashing. He is currently at work restoring the remaining gaps of 4QSama. He is the author of
4QSama, Columns I-IV (
Revue de Qumran 76, 2001, 549-606).
