Overview
In 1967 the Dutch expedition under H. J. Franken found fragments of an ink text painted on the plastered wall of a building at Tell Deir 'Alla, in the Jordan Valley near the Jabbok. J. Hoftijzer and G. van der Kooij published the editio princeps in 1976 as Aramaic Texts from Deir 'Alla (Brill), with chapters on the conservation, the plaster and the script. The same editors later published The Balaam Text from Deir 'Alla Re-Evaluated (1991).
The fragments are grouped into 'combinations'. Combination I opens with a title naming 'Balaam son of Beor', 'a seer of the gods'. The gods come to him at night, and he sees a vision 'in accordance with El's utterance'. The vision reports a decree of the gods (the Shaddai-gods): the heavens are to be sewn shut with dense cloud, and there is to be darkness and no light. The goddess named with this decree is read Shagar-and-Ishtar in the Livius translation.
The text names Balaam son of Beor, El, and the Shaddai-gods. As translated on Livius, it does not name Israel, Moab, Balak, YHWH, or a donkey.
What the text says (summary)
The title line names 'the book of Balaam son of Beor', described as a seer of the gods. The next line says the gods came to him at night and he saw a vision according to the utterance of El.Paraphrase of Combination I, lines 1-2, after the published editions (Hoftijzer and van der Kooij 1976; Levine's translation via Livius). No public-domain translation exists, since the text was found in 1967.
What the evidence shows
- Found in 1967 by the Dutch expedition under H. J. Franken; editio princeps Hoftijzer and van der Kooij 1976.
- Written in ink on wall plaster and recovered as fragments grouped into combinations; two main combinations (I and II) plus smaller groups.
- Combination I, line 1 names bl'm br b'r, 'Balaam son of Beor', and calls him a seer of the gods.
- Deities named: El, the Shaddai-gods (šdyn), and a goddess read Shagar-and-Ishtar.
- Content of the vision: the heavens closed with cloud, darkness instead of light.
- Date c. 800 BCE on script and context.
Open questions
- Language: the 1976 editio princeps presents the texts as Aramaic. The Livius summary calls it 'a language between Aramaic and Canaanite'. The 1991 re-evaluation volume has separate chapters by P. K. McCarter ('The Dialect of the Deir 'Alla Texts') and D. Pardee ('The Linguistic Classification of the Deir 'Alla Text Written on Plaster') on this question. Their specific arguments have not been reviewed for this entry, so their positions are not stated here.
- Genre and meaning of Combination I: Hoftijzer's 1991 chapter 'What Did the Gods Say?' addresses the divine decree. Tsolin and Oriekhova (The World of the Orient, 2025) read the texts as an example of the prophetic genre massa'. The texts of both were not read.
- Relation to Numbers 22-24: Deir 'Alla preserves a non-Israelite tradition about Balaam son of Beor as a seer receiving night visions, about 800 BCE, east of the Jordan. Whether Numbers draws on such a tradition, or the two share a common older figure, is interpretation. The plaster text itself gives no information on the direction of borrowing.
Since 2024
- 2025-03Tsolin and Oriekhova (The World of the Orient 2025/1) publish a genre study reading the Balaam texts as eschatological massa' prophecy. [5]
Sources
- J. Hoftijzer and G. van der Kooij (eds.), Aramaic Texts from Deir 'Alla (Documenta et Monumenta Orientis Antiqui 19; Leiden: Brill, 1976), DOI 10.1163/9789004670327 link editio princeps
- J. Hoftijzer and G. van der Kooij (eds.), The Balaam Text from Deir 'Alla Re-Evaluated (Leiden: Brill, 1991), DOI 10.1163/9789004666351, incl. P. K. McCarter, 'The Dialect of the Deir 'Alla Texts' 87-99; D. Pardee, 'The Linguistic Classification...' 100-105; J. Hoftijzer, 'What Did the Gods Say?' 121-142; H. J. Franken, 'Deir 'Alla Re-Visited' 3-15 link study
- J. A. Hackett, The Balaam Text from Deir 'Alla (Harvard Semitic Monographs; Chico: Scholars Press, 1980/1984; Brill reissue), DOI 10.1163/9789004387133 link study
- Livius.org, 'Deir 'Alla Inscription' (translation after B. A. Levine in The Context of Scripture II, 2003) link translation
- D. Tsolin and A. Oriekhova, 'The Inscriptions of Balaam from Deir Allah (8th century BCE) as an Example of the Genre of Eschatological Prophecy massa',' The World of the Orient 2025/1, DOI 10.15407/orientw2025.01.097 link study
Corrected from the earlier edition of this page
- Claims that the inscription 'mentions Balak' or 'Moab' or 'Israel': the translated text names Balaam son of Beor, El, the Shaddai-gods and Shagar-and-Ishtar. Balak, Moab and Israel do not appear.
- Claims that it is a Hebrew inscription: its language classification is disputed, and the editio princeps presents it as Aramaic.
- Claims that it proves the events of Numbers 22-24: it shows a Balaam son of Beor tradition, as a seer of divine night visions, in the Jordan Valley c. 800 BCE. It does not narrate the Balak episode.
Checked against new publications through 2026-09.