11QMelchizedek

11QMelchizedek reads Leviticus 25 and Deuteronomy 15:2 together with Isaiah 61 and makes the release of debts the mechanism of the forgiveness of sin. It coins the noun for the release — the Letting-Drop — with a definitional formula, and it has no Christian interest whatsoever.

In plain words

A scroll from Qumran, 11QMelchizedek, reads the laws of release together with Isaiah 61 and makes the cancelling of debts the way sin is forgiven, a century and a half before any Gospel: the strongest outside confirmation in the file, from a text with nothing to gain.

The mechanism

REFERENCE — independent ancient external attestation of the exact mapping, a century and a half before any gospel uses it. State it strongly: this is the one place in the whole file where a reader-supplied reading is confirmed in advance by a text with nothing to gain from confirming it.

Scripture

Leviticus 25; Deuteronomy 15:2; Isaiah 61

How it was checked

• EvidenceT6 PHYSICAL / MANUSCRIPT; Status: COMMITTED; a release
• Letter eraTHE PROPHETS AND THE ROAD 776 BC to 4 BC
• SourcesMANUSCRIPT — 11Q13 (11QMelchizedek), Qumran Cave 11