Barthélemy’s chaînon manquant: An Assessment of the Minor Prophets Fragment from Nahal Hever

Abstract

The fragments of the XII Minor Prophets discovered at Naḥal Ḥever in 1952 (8ḤevXIIgr) were interpreted by Dominique Bartélemy as a recension, within a Jewish context, of the older version of the LXX, in an attempt to conform the text of the LXX more closely to a Jewish textual tradition similar to the “Proto-Masoretic” text. This article summarizes the theories regarding these fragments and highlights some points that require further investigation for a better understanding of biblical textual fluidity.