Inscriptions provide evidence of Biblical kings of Israel and Judah, “one of the most important discoveries in Israel of all time”
by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) – Experts say newly deciphered inscriptions first discovered in Hezekiah’s tunnel in Jerusalem in 1880 reveal important evidence that the Biblical kings of Israel and Judah indeed lived and reigned and wrote accounts of their deeds, the Jerusalem Post reports.
The Jerusalem stone bearing the inscriptions was moved from its original location to Istanbul, Turkey, during the Ottoman reign in the Holy Land.
Describing the deciphered inscriptions as “one of the most important archaeological discoveries in Israel of all time,” Gershon Galil, professor of biblical studies and ancient history at Haifa University, said the writings refer to King Hezekiah and what he did during his 17-year reign, JPost reports.
Moreover, Galil said the inscriptions indicate the exact date on which the Siloam water tunnel was completed – in the 17th year of Hezekiah’s reign, 709 BCE.
“These are the most complete royal inscriptions we have, and they are further evidence that the kings of Israel and Judah wrote royal inscriptions that indicated their name and deeds,” Galil said.
JPost reports that the ancient Hebrew inscription of 11 lines, 64 words, and 243 letters is translated verbatim as follows:
Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz, king of Judah,
made the pool and the conduit.
In the seventeenth year, in the second (day), in the fourth (month),
of king Hezekiah, the king brought
the water into the city by a tunnel, the king led
the water into the pool. He smote the Philistines
from Ekron to Gaza and placed there the OREB unit of
the army of Judah. He braked the images and braked in ˹pieces˺ the Nehu˹sh˺tan
and he removed the high ˹places and˺ cut down the Asherah. Hezek˹ia˺h, the king,
accumulated in all his treasure houses and in the house of YHWH
a lot of silver and gold, perfumes and good ointment.