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and the relative paucity of scribal intervention (less than once every 20 lines).^723 Accord-
ing to this conceptualisation most ήκριβωμένα were proto-Rabbinic texts and may there-
fore represent scrolls that were produced in the circles of the Jerusalem Temple.^724 Tov
assigns this social connection to most of the scrolls that have been recovered from Ma-
sada, Murabba‘at, Naḥal Ḥever and^ Wadi Sdeir,^725 while only a small number of the texts
from Qumran display such exactitude in replication.^726


The majority of the biblical scrolls from Qumran therefore become categorised as κοινά
or φαυλότερα type texts.^727 While it seems clear based on the evidence from Masada that
some ήκριβωμένα scrolls were very close, if not identical, to what would become the me-
dieval MT, it would appear that not all ήκριβωμένα type scrolls were so carefully aligned.
According to Tov’s list of ‘de luxe’ biblical scrolls at Qumran, a close affiliation with the
MT can be expected, but not necessarily required, of ‘de luxe’ scrolls. This would seem
to be a point of difference between those large format scrolls designated as ‘de luxe’ by
723
See E. Tov, Scribal Practices and Approaches, 126-27, and also E. Tov, "Biblical Texts from the
Judaean Desert," 159-60. 724
This is true, according to Tov, for the great majority of scrolls found in non-Qumran sites in the Judaean
Desert. In the wider context there are, of course, exceptions. For example, 4QSama fits all other criteria
other than a closeness to the MT. Similarly, 4QpaleoExodm has a text closer to the proto-Samaritan type,
while displaying all of the other qualities that would define it as a 725 ήκριβωμένα scroll.
726 See E. Tov, "Biblical Texts from the Judaean Desert," 158.
At Qumran, only 4QDeutg preserves a significant amount of text that does not deviate at all from the
medieval MT. This scroll also preserves a large lower margin. 4QGenb is very close to the MT, and pre-
serves a large upper margin, and contains ca. 40 lines of text per column. Tov classifies a total of seven
Torah scrolls from Qumran as ‘de luxe’ scrolls or, in the language of the present study, ήκριβωμένα type
texts. 727
See E. Tov, "The Biblical Text in Ancient Synagogues," 186-90, for the suggestion that most of the
scrolls from Qumran were of a lower production value, in terms of their adherence to the model text kept in
the temple at Jerusalem, than those from the other find-sites along the western shore of the Dead Sea. That
is, from the perspective of those aligned with the text that was affiliated with the temple, the majority of the
Qumran scrolls were prepared with a diminished level of adherence to that ‘correct’ text.

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