Pre-Maccabean Literature from the Qumran Library and the Hebrew Bible

In 11 caves in the vicinity of Khirbet Qumran, a treasure of ancient Jewish literature was found. The Qumran library provides new insights into the religion and culture of Ancient Judaism. The Dead Sea Scrolls in general and the Qumran manuscripts in particular are among the most important collections of ancient manuscripts ever found. With regard to its significance for the understanding of the Hebrew Bible, the Qumran library has mostly been analyzed in three respects: 1) The text critical analysis of the biblical manuscripts from Qumran provide new insights into the textual history of biblical books.' 2) The exegetical and paratextual literature (otherwise called parabiblical literature) from the Qumran library documents the interpretative history of biblical books in Hellenistic times.2 3) The Hebrew and Aramaic of the