now this is quite a discovery fragments
of a biblical scroll along with other
relics have been found in desert caves
in israel
dozens of pieces of parchment were
written in greek
with just the name of god appearing in
hebrew with more here's david campinali
deep in the judean desert close to the
dead sea
are caves once used by second century
jewish rebels
they'd gone into hiding following a
failed revolt against roman rule
barely accessible except by abseiling
down to them
dozens died here but hidden with them
were biblical treasures
the like of which israel has not seen in
over half a century
that is until now israeli archaeologists
working to prevent caves in the area
from being looted filmed the moment of
their discovery
amazing amazing one says three lines
this is exciting they'd found ancient
verses from the books of the prophet
zechariah and nahum in the hebrew bible
likely written down in the centuries
either side of the birth of christ
the israeli authorities said the
scriptures were of immeasurable worth
for humanity
for the first time in over 60 years we
have fragments that
of a biblical book that were discovered
in an archaeological excavation
it's important also because this is the
first time where
when such fragments are found in an
excavation and
brought straight here to our laboratory
the parchment had been written in greek
the language adopted after the conquest
of judea by alexander the great
the name of god though exclusively
appears in hebrew
written at a time when the jews are
returning from babylonian captivity
zechariah writes of what is to come from
the rebuilding of the temple
and jerusalem to a coming messianic king
so the book of zechariah has two figures
a priest and the king
who work together to bring about a new
holy state
and therefore it's a very important book
which is quoted in the new testament
searches of the cliffs and caves in the
judean desert
have yielded a treasure trove of fines
over decades
the archaeologists involved say they
hope to keep going
with the hope of more discoveries to
come david campinali bbc news