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Divided Kingdom · late 7th century BCE
Ketef Hinnom Silver Scrolls
Two tiny silver amulets bearing the priestly blessing — the oldest biblical text ever found.
Date
late 7th century BCE
Culture
Judahite
Material
Silver
Dimensions
~4 cm and ~1.5 cm long when rolled
Found at
Ketef Hinnom, Jerusalem
Held by
Israel Museum, Jerusalem
Discovered by
Gabriel Barkay (1979)
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Description
Two rolled silver amulets discovered in a burial chamber at Ketef Hinnom, Jerusalem. When painstakingly unrolled they revealed a Paleo-Hebrew version of the Aaronic priestly blessing from Numbers 6:24-26.
Biblical significance
Dated to the late 7th century BCE, these scrolls predate the Dead Sea Scrolls by ~400 years, providing the earliest surviving text of any biblical passage and confirming its stable transmission.
From the same era
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