In late 1946 or early 1947, three Bedouin teenagers were tending their goats and sheep near the ancient settlement of Qumran, located on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea in what is now known as the West Bank. One of these young shepherds tossed a rock into an opening on the side of a cliff and was surprised to hear a shattering sound. He and his companions later entered the cave and stumbled across a collection of large clay jars, seven of which contained scrolls with writing on them. The teenagers took the seven scrolls to a nearby town where they were sold for a small sum to a local antiquities dealer. Word of the find spread, and Bedouins and archaeologists eventually unearthed tens of thousands of additional scroll fragments from 10 nearby caves; together they make up between 800 and 900 manuscripts. It soon became clear that this was one of the greatest archaeological discoveries ever made. 

1946 年末或 1947 年初，三个贝都因少年在库姆兰古代定居点附近放羊，该定居点位于死海西北岸，即现在的约旦河西岸。其中一名年轻牧羊人将一块石头扔进悬崖边上的一个洞口，然后惊讶地听到一声破碎的声音。后来，他和同伴们进入洞穴，偶然发现了一些大陶罐，其中七个陶罐里有写满文字的卷轴。少年们把这七个卷轴带到了附近的一个小镇，花了一点钱卖给了当地的古董商。这一发现的消息不胫而走，贝都因人和考古学家最终在附近的 10 个洞穴中又发掘出了数以万计的卷轴碎片；这些卷轴碎片加在一起大约有 800 到 900 份手稿。人们很快就意识到，这是有史以来最伟大的考古发现之一。

The origin of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which were written around 2,000 years ago between 150 BCE and 70 CE, is still the subject of scholarly debate even today. According to the prevailing theory, they are the work of a population that inhabited the area until Roman troops destroyed the settlement around 70 CE. The area was known as Judea at that time, and the people are thought to have belonged to a group called the Essenes, a devout Jewish sect. 

死海古卷成书于约 2000 年前的公元前 150 年至公元前 70 年之间，其起源至今仍是学术界争论的话题。根据流行的理论，它们是居住在该地区的居民的作品，直到公元前 70 年左右罗马军队摧毁了他们的定居点。该地区在当时被称为犹地亚，人们认为他们属于一个名为埃森尼的团体，这是一个虔诚的犹太教派。

The majority of the texts on the Dead Sea Scrolls are in Hebrew, with some fragments written in an ancient version of its alphabet thought to have fallen out of use in the fifth century BCE. But there are other languages as well. Some scrolls are in Aramaic, the language spoken by many inhabitants of the region from the sixth century BCE to the siege of Jerusalem in 70 CE. In addition, several texts feature translations of the Hebrew Bible into Greek. 

死海古卷中的大部分文字都是希伯来文，其中一些片段是用一种古老的希伯来文字母书写的，据说这种字母在公元前五世纪就已停止使用。但也有其他语言。有些卷轴使用阿拉姆语，这是公元前 6 世纪到公元 70 年耶路撒冷被围攻期间该地区许多居民使用的语言。此外，还有一些经卷将希伯来文圣经翻译成希腊文。

The Dead Sea Scrolls include fragments from every book of the Old Testament of the Bible except for the Book of Esther. The only entire book of the Hebrew Bible preserved among the manuscripts from Qumran is Isaiah; this copy, dated to the first century BCE, is considered the earliest biblical manuscript still in existence. Along with biblical texts, the scrolls include documents about sectarian regulations and religious writings that do not appear in the Old Testament. 

死海古卷包括《圣经》旧约中除《以斯帖记》以外每本书的片段。在库姆兰的手稿中，唯一保存下来的希伯来圣经全书是《以赛亚书》；这一副本的年代为公元前一世纪，被认为是现存最早的圣经手稿。除了圣经文本外，卷轴还包括有关教派规章的文件和《旧约》中没有出现的宗教著作。

The writing on the Dead Sea Scrolls is mostly in black or occasionally red ink, and the scrolls themselves are nearly all made of either parchment (animal skin) or an early form of paper called 'papyrus'. The only exception is the scroll numbered 3Q15, which was created out of a combination of copper and tin. Known as the Copper Scroll, this curious document features letters chiselled onto metal – perhaps, as some have theorized, to better withstand the passage of time. One of the most intriguing manuscripts from Qumran, this is a sort of ancient treasure map that lists dozens of gold and silver caches. Using an unconventional vocabulary and odd spelling, it describes 64 underground hiding places that supposedly contain riches buried for safekeeping. None of these hoards have been recovered, possibly because the Romans pillaged Judea during the first century CE. According to various hypotheses, the treasure belonged to local people, or was rescued from the Second Temple before its destruction or never existed to begin with. 

死海古卷上的文字大多使用黑色墨水，偶尔也使用红色墨水，古卷本身几乎全部由羊皮纸（兽皮）或一种称为 “纸莎草 ”的早期纸张制成。唯一的例外是编号为 3Q15 的卷轴，它是用铜和锡混合制成的。这份奇特的文件被称为 “铜卷轴”，其特点是将字母凿刻在金属上--也许正如一些人推测的那样，是为了更好地抵御时间的流逝。这是库姆兰最引人入胜的手稿之一，也是一种古代藏宝图，上面列出了数十个金银藏匿处。它使用了非常规的词汇和奇怪的拼写，描述了 64 个地下藏宝地点，据说这些地方埋藏着用于保管的财富。可能是由于罗马人在公元一世纪掠夺了犹太地区的缘故，这些囤积的金银都没有被找到。根据不同的假设，这些宝藏属于当地人，或者是在第二圣殿被毁之前被抢救出来的，或者从一开始就不存在。

Some of the Dead Sea Scrolls have been on interesting journeys. In 1948, a Syrian Orthodox archbishop known as Mar Samuel acquired four of the original seven scrolls from a Jerusalem shoemaker and part-time antiquity dealer, paying less than $100 for them. He then travelled to the United States and unsuccessfully offered them to a number of universities, including Yale. Finally, in 1954, he placed an advertisement in the business newspaper The Wall Street Journal – under the category 'Miscellaneous Items for Sale' – that read: 'Biblical Manuscripts dating back to at least 200 B.C. are for sale. This would be an ideal gift to an educational or religious institution by an individual or group.' Fortunately, Israeli archaeologist and statesman Yigael Yadin negotiated their purchase and brought the scrolls back to Jerusalem, where they remain to this day. 

一些死海古卷经历了有趣的旅程。1948 年，一位名叫 Mar Samuel 的叙利亚东正教大主教从耶路撒冷的一位鞋匠和兼职古董商那里购得了最初七卷古卷中的四卷，当时只花了不到 100 美元。随后，他前往美国，向包括耶鲁大学在内的多所大学提供这些卷轴，但未获成功。最后，1954 年，他在商业报纸《华尔街日报》的 “待售杂项 ”栏目下刊登了一则广告："出售至少可追溯到公元前 200 年的《圣经》手稿。这将是个人或团体赠送给教育或宗教机构的理想礼物。幸运的是，以色列考古学家和政治家伊盖尔-亚丁（Yigael Yadin）通过谈判买下了这些手稿，并将它们带回耶路撒冷，一直保存至今。

In 2017, researchers from the University of Haifa restored and deciphered one of the last untranslated scrolls. The university's Eshbal Ratson and Jonathan Ben-Dov spent one year reassembling the 60 fragments that make up the scroll. Deciphered from a band of coded text on parchment, the find provides insight into the community of people who wrote it and the 364-day calendar they would have used. The scroll names celebrations that indicate shifts in seasons and details two yearly religious events known from another Dead Sea Scroll. Only one more known scroll remains untranslated. 

2017 年，海法大学的研究人员修复并破译了最后一批未翻译的卷轴之一。该大学的埃什巴尔-拉特森（Eshbal Ratson）和乔纳森-本-多夫（Jonathan Ben-Dov）花了一年时间重新组装了组成卷轴的 60 块碎片。通过破译羊皮纸上的一段编码文字，他们了解了书写卷轴的人群以及他们可能使用的 364 天历法。卷轴中列出了表示季节更替的庆祝活动名称，并详细介绍了另一卷死海卷轴中已知的两个年度宗教活动。目前已知的卷轴中只有一卷尚未翻译。