Great Isaiah Scroll Back on Public Display IFCJ Canada | February 27, 2026 Photo: Ardon Bar Hama/The Israel Museum In 1947, Bedouin shepherds found the Great Isaiah Scroll, the 2,100-year-old book from the Scriptures. Israel bought it in 1954 before displaying it in the Israel Museum in 1965. However, the curators realized that the ancient scroll needed better conditions for preservation in 1968. Visitors were only able to see a replica of the scroll – until now. The Times of Israel reports that the scroll has been put back on display at the museum for a limited time: The artifact is being showcased in a special eight-meter-long (26-foot-long) glass case manufactured in Belgium, which allows visitors to admire every inch of the scroll — its vellum sheets with millennia-old stitches and stains, holes and fading letters. All of those features are signs of how much the object was used and cared for before it was deposited in a cave in the Judean Desert in the 2nd century CE, where it was left until its discovery in modern times. “There are moments when we stand before an object, small or large, a fragment of parchment bearing ancient handwriting, and suddenly we understand that not everything begins with us,” Herzog said. “There is continuity, there is tradition, there are roots; a long chain of generations, a story written and passed down, generation upon generation, throughout most of our people’s history.” The scroll is believed to date from around 125 B.C.E. and is made of 17 sheets stitched together, measuring over seven meters. The special exhibit was inaugurated by President Issac Herzog. According to museum rules, only 25 people are allowed in the room to view it at a time. The text reads exactly as the book of Isaiah, save for a couple of spelling differences. President Herzog said that the scroll tells two stories; the story of the prophet Isaiah, which has influenced the spiritual lives of millions of people, and the story of its discovery and journey. The exhibit is in honour of the museum’s 60th anniversary and will be running until June 6. “Comfort, comfort my people” (Isaiah 40:1).
