ENGLISH

I am professor in Biblical and Jewish Studies at Evangelical Lutheran University College, Oslo. From 1992 I was a member of the international team publishing the Dead Sea Scrolls. 2003-2007 I headed the Nordic Network in Qumran Studies. At the moment I am leading a group of scholars who will publish Dead Sea scrolls and artifacts in the Norwegian-based Schøyen Collection. Here you will find news of my research and some of my articles in Dead Sea Scrolls and biblical studies. I can be contacted at telgvin@gmail.com

GABRIEL INSCRIPTION
By September 2011 I made a new translation of the Gabriel Inscription, a text highly relevant for understanding the New Testament and early Jewish eschatological expectations. My arguments for this translation appeared in Semitica 54/2012. Elgvin, Semitica 54 (2012), 221-232
Photo by permission from Dr. David and Jemima Jezelsohn, Zürich; Bruce Zuckerman, Kenneth Zuckerman, and Marilyn Lundberg.
Gabriel Inscription, English

NEWS FROM THE SCHØYEN COLLECTION -update 22.05.2012-
(which will be published in Gleanings from the Caves at T&T Clark). Together with Esther Eshel I am working on fragments from 29 scrolls (+ scraps of four more), twenty of these so far unpublished. 21 are biblical, some sectarian, five apocryphal or Enochic (including a fragment from an unknown Enoch-related text and two ‘new’ copies of 1 Enoch). Most of the fragments were found by the Bedouin in Cave 4, while 2-4 likely derive from Bar Kokhba caves. Some small fragments from Wadi el-Daliyeh will be edited by Jan Dusek. During the last SBL International Congress in London I showed images of a new copy of a sectarian biblical commentary plus a strange unidentifed fragment of four lines. Some of the biblical fragments show new light on the textual and literary development of books in the Hebrew Bible. A ‘new’ fragment of 1QSamuel suggests that this scroll preserved a shorter ending of 2 Sam 21–24 that contained only five of the eight appendices to the canonical 2 Samuel. The collection includes the first known fragment of Nehemiah, as well as fragments with interesting textual variants of books such as Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, 1 Samuel, the Twelve, Ruth, and Proverbs. The fragments were recently rephotographed by Bruce Zuckerman and his team, and we are now scrutinizing the new images. Early December Esther Eshel and I worked together on the material here in Norway, and agreed on problematic readings and identifications. After publication of Gleanings from the Caves the images will be available for scholars through Inscriptifact. The photograph features a Tobit fragment, published by Hallermayer and myself as part of 4QpapTobit a, but recently reclassified as a new papyrus copy of Tobit, 4Q196a.
Artifacts from the Judean Desert such as a scroll jar, a palm fiber pen, a bronze altar and inkwell (perhaps found in Nahal Hever) will also be presented in the forthcoming volume. Jan Gunneweg, Ira Rabin, and Steve Pfann have been studying these artifacts and will contribute to the forthcoming volume. Israeli textile expert Naama Sukenik recently studied the Temple Scroll wrapper with its linen cord and is comparing it with other textiles from Qumran.
www.schoyencollection.com/dsscrollsIntro.html
www.schoyencollection.com/HebrewAramaic.html
1QSb Rule of Benedictions (see under 4.6)

NEW EDITION OF DJD 1 AND PUBLIC FUNDING OF OUR RESEARCH
Volume 1 of Discoveries in the Judeaen Desert will appear in a reworked edition, sixty years after its first publication. Together with Årstein Justnes (University of Agder, Kristiansand) I am leading a team of Nordic, French and Israeli scholars who will be responsible for this project. The edition will be part of a new series with Brill publishers, and is scheduled for publication in 2015. The scholars involved will gather in Kristiansand by mid-August to start working together on the new text editions.
The Norwegian Research Council and University of Agder have given us a generous four-year funding for the DJD 1 and Schøyen projects. By late April seven younger scholars applied  for a post-doc position in our research network, which is entitled ‘Biblical’ Texts Older than the Bible: New Texts, New Publications, New Approaches.

ARTICLES

The World of Jesus and the Early Church, edited by C.A. Evans, was published by Hendrickson in November 2011. It includes articles on scripture interpretation, archaeology, and identity in Jewish and early Christian communities. My article on the heavenly temple draws lines from the Hebrew Bible and Qumran writings to Hebrews and the Revelation of John. Heavenly temple, Hebrews, Revelation

This article elaborates the motif of the heavenly temple and God’s angelic entourage in the Hebrew Bible and Qumran writings, a tradition treasured especially by priests and Levites: “Temple Mysticism and the Temple of Men.” In The Dead Sea Scrolls: Text and Context (STDJ 90; C. Hempel, ed.; Leiden: Brill: 2010), 227-42. Heavenly and earthly sanctuary

A review article on the scrolls and biblical scholarship, where I in particular engage with the debate on the status of authoritative Jewish writings in the late second temple period. Svensk Exegetisk Årsbok 73 (2008). Scrolls and Biblical Scholarship

In this article I elaborate the Jewish background of the Revelation of John, an apocalyptic and ‘militant’ voice among the New Testament writings. I suggest that John of Patmos may be a Levite with knowledge of temple tradition who had experienced the Romans’ crushing of the Jewish revolt: “Priests on Earth as in Heaven. Jewish Light on the Book of Revelation.” In Echoes From the Caves. Qumran and the New Testament (STDJ 85; F. Garcia Martinez, ed.; Leiden: Brill, 2009), 257-78. Jewish context of Revelation

An increasing number of scholars argue that Isaiah 53 originally did not portray an individual suffering for others. In this popular article I show that the servant songs of Isaiah 50 and 53 were interpreted on an individual both in later texts of the Hebrew Bible and in Qumran writings (Mishkan 43/2005). mishkan Isaiah 53

A popular article on the interpretation of the biblical law on the culprit who is hanged on the tre to die (Deut 21:22-23) in early Jewish texts including the New Testament [Themelios 22 (1997), 14-21]. themelios messiah

This short article, “The Yahad is More Than the Qumran,” is possibly the best seven pages I have written [in Enoch and Qumran Origins. New Light on a Forgotten Connection (G. Boccacini, ed.; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2005), 273-9]. These ideas were later elaborated by Alison Schofield in her dissertation From Qumran to the Yahad, cf. also John Collins’ recent Beyond the Qumran Community. Yahad more than Qumran

A scanned version of my 1997/98 dissertation from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, “An Analysis of 4QInstruction,” can be found here: http://4reid.no/4QInstruction The image shows the second largest fragment of the scroll 4Q416, one of eight copies of this catechetic pre-Essene writing.