The headings of the psalms in the Dead Sea scrolls

Abstract

This article studies the headings of the Psalms in the Dead Sea Scrolls, especially in relationship to the headings in the Masoretic Text and in the Septuagint. Special attention is given to those manuscripts that contain a substantial number of headings, such as 4QPsa, 4QPsb, 4QPsc, 4QPse, 11QPsa, 11QPsc, 11QPsd, He/Se4 and MasPsa. Special attention is also given to those Psalms where important variants occur in the headings, such as Psalms 33, 71, 91, 100, 104, 105, 123, 126, 130, 135, 144, 148 and 150. The results tend to demonstrate affinity with the Septuagint in only a limited number of instances, such as Psalm 33, 104 and perhaps 91. It does not seem as if the headings at Qumran have any special significance for the headings in the Septuagint. The results also indicate stability in the Hebrew headings (Masoretic text and Qumran) in the first three books of the Psalter. It is also clear that the situation with regard to 11QPsa is not different from the other headings from the corresponding sections of the Psalter.