Dead Sea Scrolls Available Online Today

Finally, some relief for hard-working temple builders and budding apocalyptic Habakkuk interpreters.

After 2,000 years, the Dead Sea Scrolls have become available online. The famous manuscripts were discovered, over the last century, in desert caves along the Dead Sea. They are believed to have belonged to the Essenes, an ascetic Jewish sect, and are mostly housed in Jerusalem’s Israel Museum. While the originals remain there in a special vault, the museum worked with Google and photographer Ardon Bar-Hama to provide extremely high-quality images of them using ultraviolet-protected flash tubes. Anyone interested in learning more about the good old days (the 1st and 2nd century AD) can now view the Temple, War, Community Rule, Great Isaiah, and Commentary of Habakkuk scrolls here. The collection comes with English translations and a search function.