The Israel Museum in Jerusalem opened an exhibition on 23/2, displaying the entire length of the Great Isaiah Scroll for the first time since 1968, with the participation of President Isaac Herzog.

This is the oldest, nearly complete Hebrew Bible text ever discovered. The 7-meter-long scroll, comprising 17 stitched-together pieces of parchment, is displayed in a Belgian-made glass case, housed in a room with controlled temperature and humidity.

Visitors admire the Great Isaiah Scroll at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. Photo: TOI

The museum limits each viewing session to 25 visitors. They observe each piece of parchment with its stains, stitches, and faded letters that have existed for thousands of years.

"We respect the scroll, doing our utmost not to harm it, preserving it for future generations", said exhibition curator Hagit Maoz.

According to experts, the Isaiah Scroll dates back to approximately 125 BCE, with its content generally matching the Book of Isaiah in the Hebrew Bible, differing only in a few points related to spelling and some individual words.

The Great Isaiah Scroll is displayed at the Israel Museum, Jerusalem. Photo: TOI

The scroll was hidden in a cave in the Judean Desert in the 2nd century until its discovery in 1947 alongside the Dead Sea Scrolls.

The Isaiah Scroll was initially sold to an antiquities dealer before its transfer to the Syrian Orthodox Church in Jerusalem. In 1954, Archbishop Athanasius Yeshue Samuel brought the scroll to New York for sale. Israel secretly acquired the manuscript.

The Israel Museum fully displayed the scroll when it opened in 1965, but curators realized it needed better preservation conditions. Since then, the museum has only displayed a replica.

(According to Times of Israel, Jerusalem Post, AP)