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Courtesy of James VanderKam

An ancient repair. These fragments of the Book of Jubilees found among the Dead Sea Scrolls were patched together in antiquity. After the original scroll was damaged, its damaged section was recopied. Then the new sheet of leather was sewn into its place at the beginning of the scroll. Remains of the thread still remain, connecting the sections written by two different scribes about 75 years apart.

Jubilees was important, perhaps authoritative for the Essenes, the sect associated with Qumran. At least 15 different Hebrew copies were found in five Dead Sea Scroll caves. The fragments support the accuracy of later ancient translators who translated Jubilees into Greek before 200 A.D. and then into Ethiopic and Latin as early as 500 A.D. The later versions generally agree with the Hebrew fragments from the Dead Sea caves.