A Reconsideration of Manuscripts Classified as Scrolls of the Twelve Minor Prophets (XII)

Abstract

There are substantially fewer mss. of “The Twelve” in Qumran than usually assumed. Moreover, none of the mss. transmitting the complete collection of the XII is earlier than the first century BCE. The formation of a single collection including the twelve prophetic books is later than often claimed, and the question of whether the anthology of the XII originated in Jerusalem or Alexandria remains open.