4Q120: Greek Leviticus and the Divine Name IAO
Fragments of a Greek Leviticus scroll from Qumran Cave 4 preserve portions of chapters 1–5 and write the divine name as the Greek letters IAO rather than Kyrios.
- Artifact date
- 1st century BC
- Findspot
- Qumran Cave 4, West Bank
- Current location
- Israel Antiquities Authority Dead Sea Scrolls collection, Jerusalem
What archaeologists can actually examine
4Q120 consists of papyrus fragments from a Greek translation of Leviticus, preserving portions of chapters 1 through 5. The manuscript's most discussed feature is its representation of the Tetragrammaton with the Greek form IAO. This differs from manuscripts using Kyrios, Hebrew characters, or other scribal treatments of the divine name. The fragments also contribute readings to the early textual history of Greek Leviticus and show that Greek biblical books circulated among the manuscript deposits associated with Qumran. Because only part of one book survives, the manuscript cannot define the practice of the entire Septuagint or every Jewish Greek-speaking community.
An early Greek copy of Leviticus
Papyrus fragments preserve physical witnesses to portions of Leviticus 1–5.
The divine name appears as IAO
Greek letters represent the name instead of the later common substitute Kyrios.
Jewish scribal practice was diverse
Comparison with other manuscripts reveals multiple treatments of the Tetragrammaton.
A fragment cannot define the whole Septuagint
The scroll witnesses one copying tradition for one biblical book at one period.
Follow the evidence from discovery to debate
Move through the find in a deliberate order: establish its provenance, examine the surviving object, place it in time, and then weigh the scholarly interpretation.
How the find came to light
Bedouin and archaeological exploration of Qumran Cave 4 in 1952 produced thousands of manuscript fragments, including pieces of two Greek Leviticus scrolls. Scholars sorted the papyrus fragments, identified overlapping verses, and published 4Q120 as Pap4QLXXLevb. The divine name attracted immediate attention because the copyist wrote IAO in Greek letters within an otherwise Greek biblical text. Conservation and the Leon Levy Digital Library now allow the fragments to be examined at high resolution, while new editions continue to refine joins and readings.
What you are looking at
The manuscript was written in Greek on papyrus in columns whose margins and line lengths can be partly reconstructed. Surviving fragments transmit Leviticus 1–5, especially instructions about sacrifices, priestly handling of offerings, blood, fat, sin, guilt, and restitution. At occurrences corresponding to the Hebrew Tetragrammaton, the scribe used the three Greek letters iota-alpha-omega. This is not a later marginal note but part of the copied line. Broken fibers, missing edges, and isolated scraps mean that much of the original scroll is lost.
Where it belongs in history
Palaeography places 4Q120 in the first century BC, within the late Second Temple period. Greek Scripture served Jewish communities both within and beyond Judea, and its presence near Qumran demonstrates that the manuscript landscape was not exclusively Hebrew or Aramaic. Other Greek biblical manuscripts represent the divine name with Hebrew letters, blank space, or substitute terms such as Kyrios. The variation suggests multiple scribal conventions rather than one uniform stage followed everywhere in the same sequence.
Consensus, questions, and debate
Debate focuses on whether IAO reflects pronunciation, a transliteration inherited from an older Greek translation, or a special scribal convention. Scholars also ask whether Kyrios was original in particular Septuagint books or became common through later Christian copying. One fragmentary Leviticus scroll cannot decide the practice of the entire Greek Bible. Textual critics therefore collate its readings independently from the divine-name question. This record highlights the rare form without turning it into proof of a universal pronunciation or New Testament wording.
The biblical record beside the artifact
The fragments directly transmit Greek text from Leviticus 1–5, including sacrificial laws concerning offerings, blood, fat, priests, and restitution. Their value is textual rather than merely contextual: this is an ancient physical copy of biblical wording. The use of IAO contributes to study of how Jewish scribes pronounced, represented, or protected the divine name in Greek manuscripts. It does not establish how Jesus or New Testament authors pronounced the name or prove that IAO stood in the earliest form of every Greek biblical book.
Leviticus 4:26–35
26And he shall burn all his fat upon the altar, as the fat of the sacrifice of peace offerings: and the priest shall make an atonement for him as concerning his sin, and it shall be forgiven him.
27¶ And if any one of the common people sin through ignorance, while he doeth [somewhat against] any of the commandments of the LORD [concerning things] which ought not to be done, and be guilty;
28Or if his sin, which he hath sinned, come to his knowledge: then he shall bring his offering, a kid of the goats, a female without blemish, for his sin which he hath sinned.
29And he shall lay his hand upon the head of the sin offering, and slay the sin offering in the place of the burnt offering.
30And the priest shall take of the blood thereof with his finger, and put [it] upon the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and shall pour out all the blood thereof at the bottom of the altar.
31And he shall take away all the fat thereof, as the fat is taken away from off the sacrifice of peace offerings; and the priest shall burn [it] upon the altar for a sweet savour unto the LORD; and the priest shall make an atonement for him, and it shall be forgiven him.
32And if he bring a lamb for a sin offering, he shall bring it a female without blemish.
33And he shall lay his hand upon the head of the sin offering, and slay it for a sin offering in the place where they kill the burnt offering.
34And the priest shall take of the blood of the sin offering with his finger, and put [it] upon the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and shall pour out all the blood thereof at the bottom of the altar:
35And he shall take away all the fat thereof, as the fat of the lamb is taken away from the sacrifice of the peace offerings; and the priest shall burn them upon the altar, according to the offerings made by fire unto the LORD: and the priest shall make an atonement for his sin that he hath committed, and it shall be forgiven him.
A responsible historical conclusion
4Q120 places a recognizable Greek form of the divine name inside an ancient copy of Torah. Readers can see that translation did not erase the sacred-name problem; scribes made deliberate visual and linguistic choices each time it appeared. The manuscript also widens the picture of Scripture near Qumran by adding Greek papyrus to famous Hebrew scrolls. Its importance rests in diversity preserved on fragile fibers, not in offering a simple answer for every later Bible or worship tradition. The sacrificial context of the surviving verses matters as well. The divine name appears inside practical instructions about offering and atonement, not as an isolated magical formula, grounding the scribal choice within continuous biblical reading.
Authoritative sources
Institutional catalogs, excavation reports, and academic publications let you examine the evidence beyond this summary.
4Q120 Manuscript Images and Metadata
Israel Antiquities Authority Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital LibraryOfficial manuscript record and high-resolution imaging for the Cave 4 Greek Leviticus fragments.
Journal of Septuagint and Cognate Studies 49
International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate StudiesPeer-reviewed Septuagint scholarship providing textual and historical context for early Greek biblical witnesses.
YHWH's Divine Images: A Cognitive Approach
Society of Biblical Literature PressOpen scholarly monograph discussing 4Q120's IAO form alongside other Qumran divine-name conventions and their diversity.