The objective of this work is to compare the prophetic book of Habakkuk in the Hebrew Biblical with the Pesher Habakkuk of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The differences, if any will be described and a research of the texts of the Dead Sea Scrolls will be inclusive in this examination and will be analyzed in conjunction with analysis of the Pesher and Biblical Habakkuk. Reference material will consist of five primary and five secondary sources. .

             INTRODUCTION.

             According to Gromacki (nd), there are approximately 900 Dead Sea Scrolls divided into two primary groups, which are .

             (1) The nonbiblical scrolls numbering 670; and .

             (2) The biblical scrolls numbering 200.

             The books of the Hebrew Bible fall into three primary sections, which are:.

             (1) The Torah; .

             (2) The Prophets; and .

             (3) The Writings. (Gromacki, nd; paraphrased) .

             The Qumran community held that the books of the Old Testament were "inspired by God and authoritative." (Gromacki, nd).

             PESHER DEFINED.

             The word 'pesher' is a word from the Hebrew language which means 'interpretation", or "solution" The Qumran community, also known as the pesher community believes that the scriptures in the Old Testament were prophetic in relation to their situation in present times. Lee Campbell states in the work entitled "Matthew's Use of the Old Testament: A Preliminary Analysis" that "Several approaches to scripture analysis may be discovered in first century Hebrew documents including: (1) literalistic; (2) allegorical; (3) midras; and (4) pesher. .

             The word 'pesher' can be defined as: "to explain" (Campbell, 2000) however, in reality "pesher is an application of Old Testament scripture with little or not concern for the context of the passage applied. Pesher may refer either to the commentaries on the Old Testament found amongst the Dead Sea Scrolls or to the interpretive technique typical of these commentaries. Pesher interpreters make the assumption that authors in the Old Testament were in actuality speak to "the contemporary audience".