The Hymns of Qumran: Translation and Commentary (Society of Biblical Literature: Dissertation Series, No. 50)

Among the scrolls discovered in a cave near Khirbet Qumran in 1947 by the Taamira Bedouin was the scroll which came to be known as "Hodayot," or Thanksgiving Psalms. This scroll, with several others, came into the possession of E. L. Sukenik in 1947 when the Bedouin were looking for buyers. Sukenik, like Brownlee, Trever, Burrows, and Albright, early recognized the importance of these scrolls and their great antiquity. Although in the early tumultuous days when the discovery of the scrolls was announced there were numerous scholars who were doubtful of their authenticity. The "Hodayot" scroll was one of several nonbiblical manuscripts discovered at Qumran which were previously unknown. It contains a number of psalm-like compositions prefaced, where the scroll has not deteriorated, by the phrase "I thank thee, Lord" or "Blessed art thou." From the first of these phrases the scroll received its name, "Hodayot," or Thanksgiving Psalms. The name has stuck, and is generally descriptive of the contents, despite the fact that these thanksgiving psalms are rather different than their Old Testament counterparts.