Most of the manuscripts of the Law from Cave IV are aligned with the Proto-Masoretic

type. With the exception of the Writings (whose textual type has not been clearly
determined as yet), the remaining books of the Old Testament are represented among the
scrolls and fragments in a Proto-Masoretic text-type.
THE PROTO-SEPTUAGINT TEXT-TYPE
The Proto-Septuagint text-type is represented at Qumran by manuscripts of Joshua,
Samuel (e.g. 4QSama,b), and Jeremiah (e.g., 4QJera). The text of 4QSamb agrees
systematically with the LXX against the Masoretic Text by a ratio of thirteen to four. In
4QSama the ratio of agreement with the LXX text-type is even higher. The other historical
books (Joshua and Kings), insofar as they are preserved by the fragments, also support the
Proto-Septuagint text-type. A few manuscripts of the Pentateuch from Cave IV also support
this tradition, for example, the Exodus manuscript (4QExa) and the manuscript containing
Deuteronomy 32:43. From the Prophets there is a Jeremiah fragment (4QJerb) that follows
the LXX very closely. In the LXX, Jeremiah is one-eighth shorter than in the Masoretic
Text, and in Jeremiah 10 of this Qumran manuscript four verses are omitted and one
shifted, exactly as it is in the Qumran literature. Hitherto there were no Hebrew manuscripts
supporting the shorter LXX version of Jeremiah.
THE PROTO-SAMARITAN TEXT-TYPE
This is also known among the Dead Sea Scrolls. From Cave IV came a Paleo-Hebrew
manuscript of Exodus52 and one of the Numbers (4QNumb) in “square” script, which give
collateral witness to a Samaritan type of text. The Numbers manuscript is not a consistent
witness to the Samaritan text or even to a Proto-Samaritan type, because it shows striking
contact with the LXX tradition. Some scholars indicate the possibility of a fourth main
manuscript family called “a neutral family,” which stands more or less midway among the
conflicting traditions of the other three families.53 The accompanying chart is an attempt to
show these family histories.

52
52. Published by Patrick W. Skehan, “Exodus in the Samaritan Recension from Qumran,” pp. 182-87.
53
53. Archer, p. 41.

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