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.
Lave'i 'i tu'a mei he Tohi TapuTohi tongi makac. 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.'
- Na'e 'ilo'i
- Dhiban (biblical Dibon), Jordan, 1868 — Frederick Augustus Klein
- 'Oku tauhi 'i
- Musée du Louvre, Paris (AO 5066)
- Lea
- Moabite
- Na'e a'u mai fēfē kiate kitautolu
- Na'e keli hake, pe 'oku kei tu'u 'i he potu na'e langa ai.
Ko e me'a 'oku ne fakahā
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.
Founga hono ngāue'aki 'e he kau hisitōlia
A primary source for Iron Age Moab and for Israelite–Moabite relations in every secular treatment of the period.
'I he Folofola
Fekau'aki mo
Ngaahi ma'u'anga fakamatala
'Oku 'i he lea faka-Pilitānia 'a e ngaahi fakamatala ko 'eni he taimi ni. 'E muimui mai 'a e liliu.