Dozens of new fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls dating from the time
of Christ and before are being published for the first time, according
to a report in Live Science.Some of the new fragments are from the Book of Nehemiah, which has not featured previously in the findings from Qumran in the Judean Desert, near the Dead Sea.
There are also fragments from Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Samuel, Ruth and other books of the Hebrew Bible.
Live Science was told by a scholar that new scroll fragments are still being found and the Israel Antiquities Authority believes there are still more scrolls to be found in the Judean Desert.
The Nehemiah fragment tells of how he visited Jerusalem after it had been destroyed by the Babylonians. Finding its gates "consumed by fire", he started to rebuild them.
There is also a fragment from Leviticus where God promises to reward the people of Israel if the Sabbath is observed and the Ten Commandments obeyed. It reads: "I will grant peace in the land, and you shall lie down untroubled by anyone; and I will exterminate vicious beasts from the land, and no sword shall cross your land. I will look with favour upon you, and make you fertile and multiply you."
The new material is being published in two books.
Gleanings from the Caves: Dead Sea Scrolls and Artefacts from the Schøyen Collection includes 10 biblical and five non-biblical Dead Sea Scroll fragments along with a 10-page essay by Martin Schoyen about how he has tracked down and acquired the fragments and other artifacts since 1994.
A second book, Dead Sea Scrolls Fragments in the Museum Collection, contains 13 previously unpublished fragments and also a non-biblical fragment.