14 DAY TRIAL // Google has been working on it for a few years, it's been about one year since work started in earnest, but it has finally done it, it has put the Dead Sea Scrolls online.
Now, for the first time ever, scholars and regular people will be able to analyze the scrolls in great detail and read their translation in English.
"It’s taken 24 centuries, the work of archaeologists, scholars and historians, and the advent of the Internet to make the Dead Sea Scrolls accessible to anyone in the world," Google wrote.
"Today, as the new year approaches on the Hebrew calendar, we’re celebrating the launch of the Dead Sea Scrolls online; a project of The Israel Museum, Jerusalem powered by Google technology," it announced.
The digital gallery is a major milestone in what has been a controversial process.
While some of the scrolls were published several years after they were discovered, between 1947 and 1956, many of the smaller fragments were published much later. Even now, there are some portions that have not been published.
That said, Google along with the Israel Museum, are making available only five scrolls at this time. There are close to 1,000 texts part of what is called the "Dead Sea Scrolls" collection.
The website which houses the five scrolls offers scans taken at up to 1,200 megapixels, providing great detail.
But you can also find out more about the scrolls, there are English translations for each verse so you can understand what they say even if you don't speak Hebrew or if you can't make out what's written.
You can also do a Google search for any text from the scrolls and you may get a link to the scanned scrolls and the portion that contains the text you were looking for.