The Ketef Hinnom silver scrolls
Words still read in synagogues and churches today were being written on silver in Jerusalem before the city fell to Babylon.
Lave'i 'i tu'a mei he Tohi TapuTohi nimalate 7th–early 6th century BC
Two tiny rolled sheets of silver, worn as amulets, unrolled over years in the laboratory. Scratched into them is a version of the priestly blessing of Numbers 6 — the oldest surviving text of any biblical passage, roughly four centuries older than the Dead Sea Scrolls.
May YHWH bless you and keep you; may YHWH make his face shine upon you and grant you peace.
- Na'e 'ilo'i
- Burial caves at Ketef Hinnom, south-west of the Old City, Jerusalem, 1979 — Gabriel Barkay's excavation
- 'Oku tauhi 'i
- Israel Museum, Jerusalem
- Lea
- Hebrew (palaeo-Hebrew script)
Hono lahi 'o 'ene fakamo'oni
The late First Temple dating, re-examined with advanced imaging in 2004, is the mainstream position; an earlier proposal for a post-exilic date has not prevailed.
Founga hono ngāue'aki 'e he kau hisitōlia
Cited in secular palaeography and in the study of Israelite religion as the earliest witness to a biblical text.
'I he Folofola
Fekau'aki mo
Ngaahi ma'u'anga fakamatala
- Barkay et al., "The Amulets from Ketef Hinnom: A New Edition and Evaluation", BASOR 334 (2004)
- Ketef Hinnom scrolls — overview
'Oku 'i he lea faka-Pilitānia 'a e ngaahi fakamatala ko 'eni he taimi ni. 'E muimui mai 'a e liliu.