Scripture

Dead Sea Scroll Count

See also Manuscript Evidence for the Bible

The Dead Sea Scrolls (350 B.C. to 65 A.D.) show that it was already clear, before the birth of Christ, which documents were Scripture. The entirety of the Old Testament, apart from Esther, is preserved just from the Dead Sea Scrolls. However, two other documents are extraordinarily well-preserved as well, showing that GOD divinely preserved them as Scripture also, 1 Enoch and Jubilees. There were 25 copies of 1 Enoch among the Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS), making it the 3rd-best preserved example of Scripture among the DSS, and of Jubilees a total of 21 copies were preserved, making it the 6th-best-preserved example of Scripture among the Scrolls.

The Dead Sea Scrolls provide remarkable, supernatural preservation by God of His Word that cannot be explained through pure chance, showing what books were considered Scriptural before the coming of Christ. That 1 Enoch and Jubilees were so remarkably well-preserved among the Scrolls is itself telling of how GOD views them. Extra-Biblical books are bolded, showing that 1 Enoch and Jubilees were unusually well-preserved even compared to the most prominent books in the Bible.

Book	No. Found	Book	No. Found	Book	No. Found
Psalms	39	Numbers	11	1 & 2 Samuel	4
Deuteronomy	33	Minor Prophets	10	Judges	4
1 Enoch	25	Daniel	8	Song of Solomon	4
Genesis	24	Jeremiah	6	Ruth	4
Isaiah	22	Ezekiel	6	Lamentations	4
Jubilees	21	Job	6	Sirach	3
Exodus	18	Tobit	5	Ecclesiastes	2
Leviticus	17	1 & 2 Kings	4	Joshua	2

1 Enoch, A Clear Case for Scriptural Authority

1 Enoch is clearly quoted from in the books of Jude and 2 Peter. As such, to deny that it is Scripture would mean denying that recognized books of the Bible are Scripture. Jude 1:14-15 is a verbatim quote of 1 Enoch 2:1.

“ Jude 1:14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,
15 ¶ To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.

1 Enoch 2:1 Behold, he comes with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon them, and destroy the wicked, and reprove all the carnal for everything which the sinful and ungodly have done, and committed against him.

2 Peter 2:4 For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;
5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;
6 And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly;
7 ¶ And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked:
8 (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;)
9 The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:

”