What is "pesher"

n. An interpretive commentary on scripture, especially one in Hebrew.

Pesher (; , pl. pesharim from a Hebrew word meaning "interpretation" in the sense of "solution") is an interpretive commentary on scripture, especially one in Hebrew. It became known from one group of texts, numbering some hundreds, among the Dead Sea Scrolls.

The pesharim give a theory of scriptural interpretation, previously partly known, but now fully defined. The writers of pesharim believe that scripture is written in two levels: the surface for ordinary readers with limited knowledge, the concealed one for specialists with higher knowledge. This is most clearly spelled out in the Habakkuk Pesher (1QpHab), where the author of the text asserts that God has made known to the Teacher of Righteousness, a prominent figure in the history of the Essene community, "all the mysteries of his servants the prophets" (1QpHab VII:4-5). By contrast, the prophets themselves only had a partial interpretation revealed to them.