Were all the deuterocanonical texts found in the Dead Sea Scrolls?

By CopticBot.ai (Coptic Space Inc.) · Last reviewed 2026-10-09

No, not all of the deuterocanonical books were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran.

However, several significant portions were uncovered, which decisively refuted the false claim long promoted by Protestant heretics that these sacred books were late Greek fabrications lacking ancient Semitic roots.

1. Deuterocanonical Texts Found at Qumran

• The Book of Tobit: Five distinct manuscripts of Tobit were discovered in Cave 4 (4Q196–4Q200). Four of these were written in Aramaic and one in Hebrew. Prior to this discovery, complete copies of Tobit were known primarily from the Greek Septuagint and later translations. The discovery confirmed ancient Semitic originals for the text.
• The Wisdom of Sirach (Ecclesiasticus / Ben Sira): Fragments of the original Hebrew text of Sirach were found in Cave 2 (2Q18) and Cave 11 (11Q5 / 11QPs-a), alongside the substantial Hebrew scroll found at the fortress of Masada.
• The Epistle of Jeremiah: A Greek papyrus fragment of the Epistle of Jeremiah (corresponding to Chapter 6 of Baruch in Orthodox Bibles) was discovered in Cave 7 (7Q2).
• Psalm 151: Found in the Great Psalms Scroll (11Q5) in Hebrew. This canonical psalm, which recounts David's victory over Goliath and his anointing by Samuel, had previously been preserved in the Greek Septuagint and Coptic traditions.

2. Deuterocanonical Texts Not Found at Qumran

The remaining deuterocanonical texts were not present among the scrolls recovered from the caves:

• The Book of Judith
• The Wisdom of Solomon
• 1 and 2 Maccabees
• The Book of Baruch (with the exception of the Letter of Jeremiah fragment)
• The Additions to the Book of Daniel (The Prayer of Azariah and the Song of the Three Holy Youths, Susanna, and Bel and the Dragon)
• The Additions to Esther

The Theological Context

The absence of these specific books from the caves at Qumran does not in any way diminish their canonical authority or inspiration. The Dead Sea Scrolls represent the sectarian library of an isolated, apocalyptic Jewish community (widely identified as the Essenes) that abandoned the Jerusalem temple; their collection was never an official or comprehensive canon of the Old Testament.

Following the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 A.D., the rabbinic Jews explicitly rejected the Greek Septuagint—the very translation quoted and used by Christ and His Apostles—partly because it clearly prophesied the Virgin Birth (Isaiah 7:14) and the suffering of the Messiah, and partly to distance themselves from Christianity. In doing so, they cast aside the deuterocanonical books.

During the sixteenth century, the Protestant reformers adopted this truncated rabbinic standard, casting aside the holy, God-inspired deuterocanonical Scriptures and labeling them "Apocrypha." The Church, guided by the Holy Spirit, received the complete Old Testament canon from the Apostles through the sacred tradition and the Septuagint, recognizing all of these books as canonical Scripture.