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Reproduced by kind permission of the Syndics of Cambridge University Library/Digital Image by James E. Trever

A HINT OF THINGS TO COME. Purchased from an Egyptian antiquities dealer in 1902 by W.L. Nash of England’s Society of Biblical Archaeology, the so-called Nash Papyrus was the earliest known Biblical manuscript for decades. This 3-by-5-inch liturgical text is actually in four pieces containing the Ten Commandments and the Shema‘ (Deuteronomy 6:4). The text draws on versions from both Exodus and Deuteronomy and follows variants found in the Masoretic text as well as the Septuagint. Author Marvin Sweeney tells the story of this small manuscript that was used to date the very first Dead Sea Scrolls.