Israeli museum to exhibit Dead Sea scroll

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Sections of the ancient Dead Sea scrolls that call for nations to "beat their swords into ploughshares" will be put on display in Jerusalem this week to be seen by the public for the first time in more than 40 years.

About five metres (15 feet) of the Isaiah Scroll, one of the world's oldest texts from about 120 BC, will be taken out of its dark, temperature-controlled chamber at the Israel Museum for an exhibit honouring Israel's 60th anniversary.

U.S. President George W. Bush, who is on a three-day visit to Israel to mark the anniversary, will be one of the first to view the scrolls during a ceremony at the museum on Thursday.

"The Great Isaiah Scroll is the most important cultural treasure of the Jewish nation and one of the most important archaeological discoveries of the 20th century," said Adolfo Roitman, curator of the Dead Sea scrolls.

The scroll was discovered in 1947 in a cave in an area called Qumran off the northwest shores of the Dead Sea. It was one of 220 biblical scrolls found near Qumran and the only one containing an entire book from the bible, the museum said.

The entire Isaiah Scroll is about 8 metres (24 feet) long. It was last displayed in 1967 and has been kept since in storage for long-term preservation.

One section of the exhibit features Isaiah's message of peace: "They shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more."

The Dead Sea scrolls are a collection of hundreds of manuscripts about 2,000 years old. Their discovery was a turning point in the study of the ancient Jewish people and shed light on the origins of Christianity.

(Writing by Ari Rabinovitch; edited by Richard Meares)