Deir Alla Inscription


The Deir 'Alla Inscription, known as KAI 312, was discovered during a 1967 excavation in Deir 'Alla, Jordan. The excavation revealed a multiple-chamber structure that had been destroyed by an earthquake during the Persian period, on the wall of which was written a story relating visions of Bal'am, son of Be'or, a "seer of the gods", who may be the same Balaam mentioned in and in other passages of the Bible. However, the Deir Alla inscription describes Bal'am in a manner which differs from that given in the Book of Numbers. Rather than being a prophet of YHWH, this god is associated with the goddess Ashtar, a god named Shgr, and "Shaddayin". It also features the word "Elohin", taken to mean "gods" in the plural rather than the Hebrew deity.
The Oxford Handbook of Biblical Studies describes it as "the oldest example of a book in a West Semitic language written with an alphabet, and the oldest piece of Aramaic literature." Though containing some features of Aramaic, such as the word bar "" rather than the Canaanite ben, it also has many elements of Canaanite languages, leading some to believe it was written in a dialect of Canaanite rather than an early form of Aramaic. The inscription has been dated to 880–770 BCE. It was painted in ink on fragments of a plastered wall; red and black inks were used, red apparently to emphasize certain parts of the text. In all, 119 pieces of ink-inscribed plaster were recovered. The wall, near the summit of the tel, was felled by a tremor.

Translation and reconstruction

The text in modern Hebrew letters is available online. The text is difficult to read and to interpret. Here is one reconstruction and translation of the text:
A more recent and complete English translation can also be found online.