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Contents of Daniel



Thanks, Orionites, for the several comments re. the contents of Daniel.
Below is a definitive listing and some comments from my forthcoming article
(bibl. details below).
  May I point out that there is considerable confusion re. the contents of
Biblical books at Qumran, even from the recent Orion postings re. Daniel.
If some need to know if a Biblical passage or verse was found among the
scrolls, I can easily supply this information via e-mail.  But please
address your post privately to me or publically as BIBLICAL MS ENQUIRY, so
I will easily recognize the enquiry, for a very good reason. When the
amount of postings on Orion or IOUDAIOS gets too overwhelming, the delete
button becomes very attractive.
  I should add, for the few who still may not know, that the best authority
on items relating to the Biblical mss is Eugene Ulrich of Notre Dame (Chief
Editor of the Biblical Scrolls).

Peter W. Flint
The Dead Sea Scrolls Institute
Trinity Western University
7600 Glover Road
Langley, BC V2Y 1Y1
E-MAIL ADDRESSES: flint@twu.ca

Information below excerpted from:

Peter W. Flint, 'The Prophet Daniel at Qumran,' in Craig A. Evans and Peter
W. Flint (eds.), <<Eschatology, Messianism, and the Dead Sea Scroll>>
(Studies in the Dead Sea Scrolls and Related Literature 1; Grand Rapids:
Eerdmans, [forthcoming 1996]).

A total of eight Daniel manuscripts were discovered at Qumran.  None of
these is complete due to the ravages of time, the elements and humans, but
between them they preserve a substantial amount of the Book of Daniel.  Two
manuscripts were found in Cave 1, five in Cave 4, and one (written on
papyrus) in Cave 6.  Seven of these manuscripts seem to have contained the
entire book of Daniel in a form very much like that preserved in the
received Masoretic Text, although readings for individual words may differ
on occasion.  Since one scroll (4QDan-e) only preserves material from
Daniel's Prayer in chapter 9, it may originally have contained this prayer
alone.  A full inventory of these scrolls and their contents is given
below.

Manuscripts of the Book of Daniel at Qumran

1QDan-a
  1:10-17
  2:2-6
1QDan-b
  3:22-30
4QDan-a
  1:16-20
  2:9-11, 19-49
  3:1-2
  4:29-30
  5:5-7, 12-14, 16-19
  7:5-7, 25-28
  8:1-5
  10:16-20
  11:13-16
  plus fragment
4QDan-b
  5:10-12, 14-16, 19-22
  6:8-22, 27-29
  7:1-6, 11?, 26-28
  8:1-8, 13-16
  plus fragment
4QDan-c
  10:5-9, 11-16, 21
  11:1-2, 13-17, 25-29
4QDan-d
  3:23-25
  4:5?-9, 12-14
  7:15-19, 21-23?
4QDan-e
  9:12-14, 15-16(?), 17?
pap6QDan
  8:16-17(?), 20-21(?)
  10:8-16
  11:33-36, 38
  plus fragments

Comment:

It is interesting to note that every chapter of Daniel is represented in
these manuscripts, except for Dan 12.  However, this does not mean that the
Book lacked the final chapter at Qumran, since Dan 12:10 is quoted in the
Florilegium (4Q174), which explicitly tells us that "it is written in the
Book of Daniel the Prophet."  The evidence provided by these scrolls shows
us that Daniel was a popular book at Qumran.