Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Ian Hutchesson" <mc2499 AT mclink.it>]

Judith M. Hadley writes (in article cited below):

"Most of the inscriptions found in the site are letters incised on the 
pottery, 
some before and some after firing; inscriptions incised on stone vessels; or 
inscriptions written in black or red ink on plaster... The inscriptions that 
mainly concern us here are three longer inscriptions found on the pithoi, 
enumerated below."

(1)

'mr. '..h..k. 'mr. lyhl[l'l] wlyw`&h. w... brkt. 'tkm. lyhwh $mrn wl'$rth.

"X says: say to Yehal[lel`el] and to Yo'asah and [to Z]: I bless you by 
Yahweh of Samaria and by his asherah."

She notes Meshel restores that between the two `mr as `[$yw] h[ml]k, but 
also adds there could in fact be many other possibilities, including `[byw] 
`[byhw], etc.

(2)

'mr 'mryw 'mr l. 'dny h$lm. 't brktk. lyhwh tmn wl'$rth. ybrk. wy$mrk wyhy `m 
'd[n]y...k

"Amaryaw says: say to my lord: Is it well with you? I bless you by Yahweh of 
Teman and by his asherah. May he bless you and keep you and be with my lord 
..."

Meshel leaves a lacuna, 'dny h... 't. Hadley explains how Chase yields h$lm.

(3)

kl '$r y$'l m'$ xnn... wntn lh yhw klbbh

"Whatever he asks from a man, may it be favoured ... and let Yahweh give unto 
him as he wishes (according to his heart)".

Inscription not published by Meshel, but by Weinfeld.

Meshel counts five mentions of yhwh tmn.

Hadley, Judith, "Some Drawings and Inscriptions on Two Pithoi from Kuntillet 
`Ajrud",
  VT 37, 2 (1987), pp 180 - 213.

Cited in the article:

Chase, D.A., "A Note on an Inscription from Kuntillet `Ajrud", BASOR 246 
(1982) pp 63-7.
Meshel, Z., Kuntillet `Ajrud. A Religious Centre from the Time of the Judean 
Monarchy 
   on the Border of Sinai, Israel Museum Catalogue 175 (Jerusalem, 1978).
Weinfeld, Moshe, "Kuntillet `Ajrud Inscriptions and their Significance", 
Studi Epigrafici 
   e Linguistici, 1 (1984), pp 121 - 130.