The Great Isaiah Scroll, the oldest nearly complete manuscript of the Hebrew Bible, is now on display at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem for the first time in its entirety since 1968.

Axar.az, citing Times of Israel, reports that over 2,100 years old and stretching more than seven meters (23 feet), the scroll is showcased in a climate-controlled room, with visitor access limited to 25 people at a time to ensure its preservation. The exhibition, titled “A Voice from the Desert – The Great Isaiah Scroll”, opened on February 23, 2026, in the presence of President Isaac Herzog.

Discovered in 1947 near Qumran alongside other Dead Sea Scrolls, the manuscript was initially sold to an antiquities dealer, later acquired by the Syrian Orthodox Archbishop in Jerusalem, and finally purchased anonymously by Israel in 1954. The scroll consists of 17 vellum sheets stitched together and dates to approximately 125 BCE. Its text closely mirrors the canonical Book of Isaiah, with minor variations in spelling and individual words. The scroll was originally displayed at the inauguration of the Israel Museum in 1965, but curators later decided to preserve it under stricter conditions, with an accurate replica displayed for decades.

The exhibition highlights not only the text of the scroll but also its historical journey, showing the vellum sheets’ stitches, stains, holes, and fading letters — signs of its use and care before being hidden in a cave in the Judean Desert. Complementary artifacts, including pottery and cloths used to store the scrolls and historical reproductions, illustrate the broader context of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Curators emphasized the scroll’s influence on both Jewish and Christian traditions, noting that passages from Isaiah are cited in the New Testament and have become part of modern Jewish and Israeli cultural ethos.

President Herzog reflected on the scroll’s significance, describing it as telling two intertwined stories: the narrative within the text and the story of its own survival and transmission across generations. The exhibition is part of the Israel Museum’s 60th anniversary celebrations and will run until June 6, 2026, with visitors required to reserve a time slot to view the scroll.