The Languages of Qumran: Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek
Join Museum of the Bible, in person or via Zoom, for our speaker series focusing on topics related to Dead Sea Scrolls: The Exhibition.
In this lecture, Dr. Schiffman and Dr. Duke will discuss the content of the Dead Sea Scrolls with a focus on the languages and literature represented in the Qumran library, in which texts were written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and even Greek. This multi-language collection demonstrates a dynamic time of cultural interaction, with scrolls dating to the Hellenistic, Hasmonean, and Roman eras in the land of Israel.
Tickets include museum admission, but do not include admission to Dead Sea Scrolls: The Exhibition. Guests who attend this lecture will receive 10% off the price of the other lectures. The discount code will be included in your receipt.
Mar 22, 2026 - Mar 22, 2026
2:30 PM - 4:30 PM EDT
Scholars Initiative Conference Room, Floor 5R
General in Person $39.99
Members in Person $22.99
Students in Person $29.99
General Virtual $19.99
Members and Students Virtual $14.99
In Person Event
Virtual Event
Speakers
Dr. Bobby Duke
Dr. Robert "Bobby" Duke (University of California, Los Angeles) serves as the chief curatorial officer and as the director of the Scholars Initiative at Museum of the Bible. He formerly served as a professor in the Honors College and is also a former dean of the School of Theology at Azusa Pacific University. He is the author of The Social Location of the Visions of Amram (Peter Lang) and Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic Dictionary (Zondervan).
Bobby earned both his PhD and MA in Near Eastern Languages and Cultures from UCLA, as well as an MA in Hebrew Bible from Jerusalem University College and a theology degree from Multnomah University. He was also the recipient of a fellowship from the W. F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research in Jerusalem to work on his dissertation, which focused on Aramaic documents from Qumran. His scholarly writing—especially Dead Sea Scrolls research—is widely respected. Before beginning graduate studies at Hebrew University and UCLA, Duke taught 6th and 7th grade in Southern California. From 2009–2012, he also chaired the Service-Learning and Biblical Studies workshop at the annual Society of Biblical Literature meeting.
Dr. Lawrence Schiffman
Lawrence H. Schiffman is the Judge Abraham Lieberman Professor of Hebrew and Judaic Studies at New York University and director of the Global Network for Advanced Research in Jewish Studies. He has served as the chair of the Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies at New York University and Ethel and Irvin A. Edelman Professor of Hebrew and Judaic Studies. Between 2011 and 2014, he served as vice provost for Undergraduate Education and professor of Judaic Studies at Yeshiva University.
He received his BA, MA, and PhD degrees from the Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies at Brandeis University. He is a specialist in the Dead Sea Scrolls, Judaism in late antiquity, the history of Jewish law, and Talmudic literature. His publications include Who Was a Jew? Rabbinic Perspectives on the Jewish-Christian Schism (1985); From Text to Tradition: A History of Second Temple and Rabbinic Judaism (1991); and Reclaiming the Dead Sea Scrolls (1995); The Courtyards of the House of the Lord: Studies on the Temple Scroll (2008); Qumran and Jerusalem: Studies in the Dead Sea Scrolls and the History of Judaism (2010); and more than 200 articles on the Dead Sea Scrolls and Rabbinic Judaism. In 2006, he was the recipient of the National Foundation for Jewish Culture Scholarship Award. He coedited the Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls (Oxford, 2000) and the award-winning Outside the Bible: Ancient Jewish Writings Related to Scripture.