Scholars debate what Dead Sea Scrolls reveal about the Hebrew Bible text

Nearly all 15,000 Dead Sea Scroll fragments from more than 580 documents found in Qumran Cave 4 have now been transcribed, transliterated, translated, and published or nearly published. Many Biblical fragments preserve readings that deviate from the standard Masoretic Text, the earliest complete edition of which dates 1,000 years after the scrolls themselves. Scholars face a substantive question: whether insights from the scrolls should prompt revision of the Masoretic Text as the basis for scholarly editions and Bible translations. The scrolls have demonstrated the relative stability of the Masoretic Text overall, though significant differences exist between them. Ronald S. Hendel of UC Berkeley argues scholars should combine the best readings from each tradition to reconstruct a more original Hebrew Bible. James A. Sanders, founder of the Ancient Biblical Manuscript Center in Claremont, California, contends scholars should keep each tradition separate. The scrolls did not locate a single original Bible predating all others, nor did they include lost Biblical books, but their variants have prompted scholars to reconsider readings in other ancient manuscripts and to weigh how textual differences should inform future scholarship and translation work.

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Source: Biblical Archaeology Society — https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-topics/bible-versions-and-translations/the-masoretic-text-and-the-dead-sea-scrolls/