Portion of Dead Sea Scrolls

The story of how the Israelites developed as a people is found in

the first five books of the Bible or Torah. The Torah

contains the basic laws of the Jewish religion and traces the history

of the Israelites through the 1200s B.C.

The Hebrew Bible is the largest and most varied

collection of literature from the ancient world. It contains

nearly two thousand years of writings, ranging from stories to

law codes to collections of poetry and prose.

The Hebrew Bible is made up of three major sections.

The first section of the Hebrew Bible contains the legends of

the first Hebrews, the tradition of the exodus from Egypt

and the many laws and teachings that make up the convenant (or agreement)

between God and the Israelites. The second section is the Prophets.

This section contains the history of Israel from the settlement period

to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians. It is also

filled with the poetic and powerful teachings of the prophets.

The Writings is the last part of the Hebrew Bible. It contains

wise sayings, poetry and philosophy.

The Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in 1947 by a young shepherd.

These were copies of portions of the Hebrew Bible written around the

year 100 B.C. Would you like to take a tour of

the caves where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered?

Portion of Hebrew Bible