Overview
A small, damaged clay seal impression found in 2009 in the same Ophel refuse context as the Hezekiah bulla and published by Eilat Mazar in Biblical Archaeology Review in 2018. It has three registers: at the top a largely lost image (read by the team as a grazing doe), in the middle the name lyšʿyh[w] - '(belonging) to Yesha'yah[u]' (Isaiah) - and at the bottom the letters nby.
The bottom word breaks off at the damaged edge. If an aleph followed, nbyʾ would be navi, 'prophet', and the seal would read 'Isaiah the prophet' - but that also needs a restored 'the' (h) or a different syntax, and the final aleph is not preserved. Mazar herself stated that because of the damage 'it is not known' whether the word ended in aleph.
The identification with the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz therefore rests on (a) the name Isaiah, (b) the possible reading 'prophet', and (c) the find context next to King Hezekiah's bulla. No patronymic is present.
What the text says (summary)
Registers 2-3 as read by Mazar (2018): l-yšʿyh[w] / nby[ʾ] - '(Belonging) to Yesha'yah[u] / nby[...]' - with the letters in brackets restored, not preserved.Reading as reported by the Biblical Archaeology Society from Mazar, BAR 44.2 (2018); English literal rendering by this encyclopedia
What the evidence shows
- Clay bulla about half an inch across, oval; upper portion and left side damaged (BAS report, 2018).
- Middle register: the name Yesha'yah (Isaiah), with the final letters partly restored.
- Bottom register: the letters n-b-y; the break comes right where an aleph would be needed to spell 'prophet'.
- Top register: traces of an image, read by the excavation team as a grazing doe.
- No patronymic ('son of ...') is present.
- Found in 2009 in Iron Age debris less than 10 ft (about 3 m) from the Hezekiah bulla; announced in February 2018.
Open questions
- Does nby mean 'prophet'? Mazar (BAR 44.2, 2018) proposes restoring nbyʾ, 'prophet', and connects the bulla with Isaiah son of Amoz, pointing to the find next to Hezekiah's bulla and to the frequent pairing of the two in Kings and Isaiah. Rollston (in Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies in Honor of P. Kyle McCarter Jr., SBL Press, pp. 409-426) argues the broken final letter could equally be restored as other letters giving a personal name or gentilic (e.g. 'son of Nby', 'the Nobite'), that 'prophet' is spelled without yod in Lachish Letter 3 line 20, and that without a patronymic the owner cannot be tied to the biblical Isaiah son of Amoz.
- Would a prophet's title appear on a seal used on goods? Haggai Misgav (quoted in The Times of Israel, 22 Feb 2018) doubted that 'prophet' would be used on such a seal; the excavation team notes the reverse shows a sack impression, i.e. it sealed a commodity rather than a papyrus document.
- The name itself was not rare: Rollston's point is that other men named Yesha'yahu are known from Iron Age inscriptions, so the name alone does not identify the prophet. The findspot next to the royal bulla is the strongest contextual argument on Mazar's side; the damaged letter is the weakest point.
Sources
- E. Mazar, 'Is This the Prophet Isaiah's Signature?' Biblical Archaeology Review 44.2 (March/April-May/June 2018) link editio princeps
- C. A. Rollston, 'The Yešaʿyah[û] ("Isaiah") Bulla and the Putative Connection with the Biblical Prophet,' in Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies in Honor of P. Kyle McCarter Jr. (Atlanta: SBL Press), pp. 409-426. DOI 10.15699/9780884145165-025 link study
- A. Borschel-Dan, 'In find of biblical proportions, seal of Prophet Isaiah said found in Jerusalem,' The Times of Israel, 22 February 2018 link study
Corrected from the earlier edition of this page
- Old entry says it was 'discovered in 2018'. It was excavated in 2009; 2018 is the publication/announcement.
- Old entry says the bulla 'bears an inscription that reads "Belonging to Isaiah the Prophet"'. The preserved letters are lyšʿyh[...] / nby; the aleph needed for 'prophet' is lost at the break, as Mazar herself stated.
- Old entry says it 'is housed in the Israel Museum'. No published museum record confirms this.
- Old entry: 'suggests that the seal may have been used to authenticate documents or messages attributed to the prophet'. The excavation team's own description of a sack impression on the reverse points to sealing goods, not documents.
- The old summary box ('Authentic', 'Debated authenticity'): authenticity of the object is not the dispute - it came from a controlled dig. The dispute is the READING of the damaged last word and the identity of the owner.
- Old biblical list 'Isaiah 1-66 (Prophetic writings)' is too broad; the tie is to the person Isaiah son of Amoz (Isa 1:1; 2 Kgs 19:2; 20:1).
Checked against new publications through 2026-09.