The Mesha Stele (the Moabite Stone)
Israel's king Omri, his dynasty, his rule over Moab, and the name of Israel's God all appear in a hostile neighbour's monument written within living memory of the events.
Named outside the BibleInscriptionc. 840 BC
King Mesha of Moab's own account of throwing off Israelite rule — the other side of the story told in 2 Kings 3. He names Omri king of Israel, names Israel's God, and describes taking back Moabite towns. Smashed by locals in a dispute soon after its discovery, it was reconstructed from a paper squeeze taken beforehand.
Omri was king of Israel, and he oppressed Moab many days… and his son succeeded him, and he too said, 'I will oppress Moab.'
- Found
- Dhiban (biblical Dibon), Jordan, 1868 — Frederick Augustus Klein
- Now held at
- Musée du Louvre, Paris (AO 5066)
- Language
- Moabite
- How it reached us
- Dug up, or still standing where it was built.
What it shows
The Omri passage and the divine name are secure. A separate, damaged line (31) has been read by some as "House of David"; that reading is contested and should not be leaned on.
How historians use it
A primary source for Iron Age Moab and for Israelite–Moabite relations in every secular treatment of the period.
In Scripture
Connects to
Sources
These summaries are written in English for now. Translations follow.