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Journey of a Passage

Judges 6:6–12

The prophet's speech missing at Qumran

In the Masoretic Text, Israel cries out, and a prophet rebukes them (6:7–10) before the angel comes to Gideon. A Dead Sea Scroll, 4QJudg-a, moves straight from 6:6 to 6:11. Many scholars think the speech is a later addition; others think the scroll left it out.

Disputed addition: some witnesses include it, some do not

The family tree

Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.

✓ includes the disputed words · ✕ does not include them · ❝ quotes part of them · ⓘ reports on manuscripts · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives

  • Same line, through lost copies
  • Translation
Hebrew
  1. Original JudgesUnknown (debated)
  2. 4QJudg-a (4Q49)2nd half of the 1st century BCDescends, through lost copies, from Original Judges
  3. Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from Original Judges
Greek
  1. Septuagint (library text: Giguet's French)Translated c. 2nd century BCTranslated from a Hebrew text of the 2nd century BC
Latin
  1. Jerome's Vulgatec. AD 400Translated from Hebrew texts of Jerome's day
English
  1. King James Bible1611Translated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

Explanations

Later insertion
6:7–10 is a Deuteronomistic sermon added to the story; 4Q49 preserves an earlier, shorter text.
Omission
The scribe skipped it, or the scroll was an excerpt or liturgical copy.
Signs in the text
6:6 and 6:7 both mention Israel crying out; the speech has no narrative link to what follows.

Every witness, in order

  1. Unknown (debated)

    Original Judges

    – No copy survives

    No original survives.

  2. Translated c. 2nd century BC

    Septuagint (library text: Giguet's French)

    ✓ Contains this passage (the disputed words)Translated from a Hebrew text of the 2nd century BC

    How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.

    Et les fils d'Israël crièrent au Seigneur… Et le Seigneur envoya un prophète (6:7–8)

    And the sons of Israel cried to the Lord… And the Lord sent a prophet

    Has 6:7–10. One Greek text via Giguet's French; Greek A and B not checked separately.

  3. 2nd half of the 1st century BC

    4QJudg-a (4Q49)

    ✕ Passage not in this witness (the disputed words)Descends, through lost copies, from Original Judges

    How the site knows this: Reported in scholarship; not checked by the site.

    As published by Julio Trebolle Barrera, one fragment preserves parts of 6:2–6 followed directly by 6:11–13; verses 7–10 are not there. Many letters on the fragment are damaged or restored; the extent of the gap is reconstructed from line lengths. Reading not transcribed here.

    Source: J. Trebolle Barrera, "4QJudg-a" and "4QJudg-b," DJD XIV (1995); R. Rezetko, "The Qumran Scrolls of the Book of Judges," Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 13 (2013) ↗

  4. c. AD 400

    Jerome's Vulgate

    ✓ Contains this passage (the disputed words)Translated from Hebrew texts of Jerome's day

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).

    Et clamavit ad Dominum postulans auxilium contra Madianitas (6:7)

    Has 6:7–10.

  5. AD 1008

    Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)

    ✓ Contains this passage (the disputed words)Descends, through lost copies, from Original Judges

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.

    וַיְהִי כִּי־זָעֲקוּ בְנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶל־יְהוָה עַל אֹדוֹת מִדְיָן (6:7)

    And when the children of Israel cried to the LORD because of Midian

    Has 6:7–10.

  6. 1611

    King James Bible

    ✓ Contains this passage (the disputed words)Translated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).

    the LORD sent a prophet unto the children of Israel (6:8)

    Follows the Hebrew.

What changed, and why

This is a genuine ancient Hebrew variant preserved on a physical manuscript. What is reconstructed is the exact line arrangement, not the absence itself, which falls on the join between preserved text of 6:6 and 6:11.

What the evidence shows

Sources

Related lessons

  • Gideon's Calling and the Missing Qumran Speech →Midianite raiders on camels strip the land. Israel cries out, and a prophet rebukes them, in the standard Hebrew text; a Dead Sea Scroll lacks that speech. An angel finds Gideon threshing wheat in a winepress and calls him "mighty man of valour." He tears down his father's Baal altar and asks for the sign of the fleece.
  • Journey of a Passage: Ancient Judges Texts →A guide to the passages in Judges where ancient copies and translations differ, or where the difference is between two compositions rather than two copies. Each has its own passage page with the witnesses laid out side by side.
  • How Judges Came to Us →Who wrote Judges, and when? Where does it sit in Jewish and Christian Bibles? What do the Dead Sea Scrolls preserve, and why does the Greek Bible have two forms of the book? The history of Judges from its setting to your Bible.