ERROR-could not find publication information which should appear in this space.
Jordan(?), 50 BCE to 50 CE. Slab. Prophecy.
The stone - polished on one side, the other being undressed and formless - is broken into three pieces, considerably differing in size but joining together with hardly any pieces missing. To date, pieces have not been joined permanently. The main break starts ca. 40 cm from the bottom on the right, slants down to the left, and ends ca. 25 cm from the bottom on the left. A secondary break is found at the right top of the lower piece, creating a sharp-angled triangle (measuring 7 x 25 x 23 cm), its tip pointing to the left.
Two columns appear on the polished side of the stone, 3.5 cm apart. Each column is 16 cm wide an ca. 75 cm or more long. 47 thin, straight, horizontal guidelines, running through both columns parallel to the short side of the stone, and 4 straight, vertical lines bordering the column on both sides, are incised with a thin, sharp implement in a manner very similar to the guidelines in the scrolls from the Judean Desert. A margin of ca. 1 cm has survived on both the right and the left side of the stone. A margin of about 5 cm has survived at its top, and a larger margin of about 13 cm has survived at its bottom
The text is written in ink, in a manner resembling the writing of a Torah scroll, in a "Jewish" book hand of the late first century BCE
ERROR: could not find taxonomies file, which should appear in this space.
קדשה לישראל לשלשת ימין תדע כי אמר
יהוה אלהים צבאות אלהי ישראל
נשבר הרע
מלפני הצדק שאלני ואגיד לכה מה הצמח
כסמכך אל תורה ברוך כבוד יהוה אלהים מן
מקומו עוד מעט קיטוט היא ואני מרעיש את
צבאות אלהי ישראל אלה המרכבות ש
ישראל אחד שנין שלושה ארבעה חמש
שהוא
א
עמך
אל
סתום דם טבחי ירושלם כי אמר יהוה צבא
אלהי ישראל כי אמר יהוה צבאות אלהי
ישראל
בה
שלושה קדושי העולם מן
בשר לו על דם זו המרכבה שלהן
אוהבין רבים ליהוה צבאת אל
כה אמר יהוה צבאת אלהי ישראל
נביאים שלחתי אל עמי של
שראיתי
המקום ל
את השמים ואת הארץ ברוך
שלושה רועין יצאו לישראל
אם יש כהן אם יש בני קדושים
תצילם
מל
לשלושת ימין
שר השרין
ל
ל
יהוה צבאת
אל
אז תעמדו
(Lines 1-6 are unintelligible) 7. [...]the sons of Israel ...[...]... 8. [...]... [...]... 9. [...]the word of YHW[H ...]...[...] 10. [...]... I/you asked ... 11. YHWH, you ask me. Thus said the Lord of Hosts: 12. [...]...from my(?) house, Israel, and I will tell the greatness(es?) of Jerusalem. 13. [Thus] said YHWH, the God of Israel: Behold, all the nations are 14. ... against(?)\to(?) Jerusalem and ..., 15. [o]ne, two, three, forty(?) prophets(?) and the returners(?), 16. [and] the Hasidin(?). My servant, David, asked from before Ephraim(?) 17. [to?] put the sign(?) I ask from you. Because He said, (namely,) 18. [Y]HWH of Hosts, the God of Israel: ... 19. sanctity(?)/sanctify(?) Israel! In three days you shall know, that(?)/for(?) He said, 20. (namely,) YHWH the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel: Evil has been broken (down) 21. before justice. Ask me and I will tell you what this bad plant is, 22. LWBNSDL/R/K (=?) you are standing, the messenger/angel. He 23. ... (= will ordain you?) to Torah(?). Blessed be the Glory of YHWH the Lord, from 24. his place. "In a little while", QYTUT (=a brawl?/tiny?) it is, "and I will shake the 25. ... of? heaven and the earth". Here is the Glory of YHWH the Lord of 26. Hosts, the God of Israel. These are the chariots, seven, 27. [un]to(?) the gate of Jerusalem, and the gates of Judah, and ... for the sake of 28. ... His(?) angel, Michael, and to all the others(?) ask/asked 29. ... Thus He said, YHWH the Lord of Hosts, the God of 30. Israel: One, two, three, four, five, six, 31. [se]ven, these(?) are(?) His(?) angel ... "What is it", said the tree(?) 32. ...[...]... and (the?) ... (=leader?/ruler?), the second, 33. ... Jerusalem.... three, in/of the greatness(es?) of 34. [...]...[...]... 35. [...]..., who saw a man ... working(?) and [...]... 36. that he ... [...]... from(?) Jerusalem(?) 37. ... on(?) ... the exile(?) of ..., 38. the exile(?) of ..., Lord ..., and I will see 39. ...[...] Jerusalem, He will say, YHWH of 40. Hosts, ... 41. [...]... that will lift(?) ... 42. [...]... in all the 43. [...]... 44. [...]... (Lines 45-50 are unintelligible) 51. Your people(?)/with you(?) ...[...] 52. ... the [me]ssengers(?)/[a]ngels(?)[...]... 53. on/against His/My people. And 54. [... ]three days(?). This is (that) which(?) ...[...]He(?) 55. the Lord(?)/these(?)[...]...[...] 56. see(?) ...[...] 57. closed(?). The blood of the slaughters(?)/sacrifices(?) of Jerusalem. For he said, YHWH of Hos[ts], 58. the Lord of Israel: For He said, YHWH of Hosts, the God of 59. Israel: ... 60. [...]... me(?) the spirit?/wind of(?) ... 61. ...[...]... 62. in it(?) ...[...]...[...] 63. ...[...]...[...] 64. ...[...]... loved(?)/... ...[...] 65. The three saints of the world/eternity from/of ...[...] 66. [...]... peace he? said, to/in you we trust(?) ... 67. Inform him of the blood of this chariot of them(?) ...[...] 68. Many lovers He has, YHWH of Hosts, the God of Israel ... 69. Thus He said, (namely,) YHWH of Hosts, the God of Israel ...: 70. Prophets have I sent to my people, three. And I say 71. that I have seen ...[...]... 72. the place for the sake of(?) David the servant of YHWH [...]...[...] 73. the heaven and the earth. Blessed be ...[...] 74. men(?). "Showing mercy unto thousands", ... mercy [...]. 75. Three shepherds went out to?/of? Israel ...[...]. 76. If there is a priest, if there are sons of saints ...[...] 77. Who am I(?), I (am?) Gabriel the ...(=angel?)... [...] 78. You(?) will save them, ...[...]... 79. from before You, the three si[gn]s(?), three ...[...] 80. In three days ..., I, Gabriel ...[?], 81. the Prince of Princes, ..., narrow holes(?) ...[...]... 82. to/for ... [...]... and the ... 83. to me(?), out of three - the small one, whom(?) I took, I, Gabriel. 84. YHWH of Hosts, the God of(?)[ Israel ...]...[....] 85. Then you will stand ...[...]... 86. .../ 87. in(?) ... eternity(?)/... \
The text, not known as a whole from any other source, appears to be a collection of short prophecies addressed in the second person, from which many lines, phrases and names are familiar. The author may have been named Gabriel, as suggested by the phrase "I Gabriel" in line 77. The "messenger/angel Michael" also appears in Daniel 10:13 and in the New Testament (Revelation 12:7 and Jude 9), and appears in conjunction with Gabriel in extra-Biblical sources like Enoch and the War Scroll (1QM). Mention of "my servant David," "David the servant of Yahweh," and Jerusalem suggest the author's support of the Davidic dynasty; in fact, the text as a whole may be apocalyptic, representing the views of one side of a debate between messianic groups. As in the Bible, this text uses the name Yahweh, and opens many of its prophecies with "Thus (or therefore) said the Lord [that is, Yahweh and sometimes the more generic Elohim] of hosts." The name "Elohei Yisrael," "God of Israel," and mention of Yahweh's "kavod", or glory, also appear in both. Other familiar phrases are "[God] shows mercy to thousands" (line 74) found in Exodus 20:6, Deuteronomy 5:10, and Jeremiah 32:18, and "And I will shake the heaven and the earth" (lines 24-25), from the prophet Haggai 2:6, as well as others familiar from Biblical prophets Zechariah and Daniel. The stone's inscribed side is polished, but the back side is not, suggesting that it once hung on a wall. One break in the stone separates the bottom five or so lines from the rest; a second break cuts off a fragment containing about four lines of text from the right-hand column. It is badly preserved with lacunae all over it. Shape and form of the letters date the inscription, which is verified by the post-Biblical, pre-Mishnaic Hebrew. The script looks careless but is the work of a professional scribe; perhaps it just proved difficult to write in ink on stone. The text appears in two columns read top-to-bottom, 44 lines in the right-hand column and 43 on the left. Like the Dead Sea Scrolls, the stone has guidelines incised with a thin, sharp instrument: horizontal ones that cross the column divide, with the letters suspended from the upper guideline, and vertical ones, one each at the left and right of both columns. In the translation provided here, capital letters represent Semitic sounds. The words "this bad," appearing in line 21 of the translation, are actually in line 22 of the Hebrew text, coincidentally separated by a line break because in Hebrew word order an adjective follows its noun. The unclear פ in line 16 might be a מ. The unclear ו in line 22 might be a י. The letters ד/ר/ך in line 22 are possible readings of a single character, as are the letters ב/מ in line 37, ד/ר in lines 51 and 52, ו/י in line 53, and ה/ח in line 64.