Dead Sea Scrolls Now Online

After 2000 years, the Dead Sea Scrolls have become available online. The famous manuscripts were discovered in 1947 in desert caves along the Dead Sea. They are believed to have belonged to the Essenes, an ascetic Jewish sect, and are mostly housed in Jerusalem’s Israel Museum. While the originals remain there in a special vault, the museum worked with Google and photographer Ardon Bar-Hama to provide extremely high-quality images of them using ultraviolet-protected flash tubes.

Five of the eight scrolls housed at Israel Museum since 1965 have been digitalized, including the Great Isaiah Scroll, the Temple Scroll and the War Scroll. The Great Isaiah Scroll can be searched by column, chapter and verse, including the famous “and the wolf shall dwell with the lamb.” It is accompanied by an English translation tool and includes an option for users to submit translations of verses in their own languages.

They are online here – http://dss.collections.imj.org.il/