The Samuel Scroll

The variants within this text include a missing long stretch in 20:8, as well as some peculiar readings of proper nouns (21:18, 23:9).

4Q Samuelc (4QSamc; 4Q53), also found in Cave 4 at Qumran, was written by the same scribe who wrote the Rule of the Community, as shown by the orthography and the specific spellings of words such as z'wt ("this"), 'bdkh ("your servant") and wy’wmr ("and he said").

The scroll reads, "[and the s]ervants of Joab [came] to him, with [their clothes] rent [and said 'the ser]vants of Absalom [have set] the field on fire'."

While both the Septuagint and Josephus' writings attributed only four cubits and a span (possibly about 6 feet 6 inches (198 cm) to Goliath's height, the Masoretic Text recorded Goliath's height as six cubits (possibly about 9 feet 6 inches (290 cm).

The Septuagint writes, "καὶ ἐξῆλθεν ἀνὴρ δυνατὸς ἐκ τῆς παρατάξεως τῶν ἀλλοφύλων Γολιὰθ ὄνομα αὐτῶν ἐκ Γέθ, ὕψος αὐτοῦ τεσσάρων πήχεων καὶ σπιθαμῆς·" The translation of this verse reads, "And there went forth a mighty man out of the army of the Philistines, Goliath, by name, out of Geth, his height [was] four cubits and a span.".

[8] According to the Masoretic Text (MT) and Septuagint (LXX), Saul returns home and a month following, Nahash the Ammonite declares that he will only make a treaty with the people of Jabesh-gilead if he can gouge out everyone's right eye.

"However, 4QSama, which was copied in around 50 BCE,[9] includes a passage missing from the MT and LXX that describes similar treatment of the Gadites and Reubenites, which is considered to clarify the text.

"Thus, the Samuel scroll found at Qumran includes a passage missing from the traditional Masoretic Text and Septuagint.

The editors believe that the passage was accidentally omitted by a scribe copying a manuscript in which the word “Nahash” marked the end of two successive paragraphs, such that after copying the first paragraph, he turned back to the manuscript, mistakenly took the second appearance of "Nahash" for the point at which he left off, and continued on from that point.

Therefore, the harsh behaviour and brutal punishment of the Ammonite Nahash has been illuminated by the additional excerpt in 4QSama, allowing its readers to comprehend the text by explaining the book's complicated history.

Additionally, this fragment was included by Josephus in his Antiquities of the Jews, who may have adopted these writings from texts similar to 4QSama.