Overview
A sherd from a large storage jar with five lines of black-ink writing, found in 2008 in Building 2 next to the casemate wall north of the west gate at Khirbet Qeiyafa. At about 15 x 16.5 cm it carries more alphabetic text than any other inscription of its date from the region (Millard 2011).
The letters are irregular, some are abraded, the same letter appears in different stances, and the direction of reading was at first uncertain. Haggai Misgav published the editio princeps in Khirbet Qeiyafa Vol. 1 (2009) and read only some words; Ada Yardeni, Aaron Demsky and Shmuel Ahituv also offered partial readings.
Full readings followed from Gershon Galil (Ugarit-Forschungen 41, 2009) and Émile Puech (Revue Biblique 117, 2010), which differ from each other. Alan Millard (2011), following Ed Cook, argued the simplest reading is a list of personal names.
What the text says (summary)
Line 1 as transliterated by Millard: ʾ l t ʿ š / w ʿ b d ʾ ... Read as words: 'Do not do [it], and serve/make ...' (Misgav, Galil) or as names: 'Ellat-ʿash and ʿEbed-...' (Cook, Millard). Line 2 opens špṭ: 'judge' / 'he judged', or the name Shaphat.Literal rendering (this encyclopedia) of the transliteration printed in A. Millard, Tyndale Bulletin 62.1 (2011), pp. 8-10; not a published translation.
What the evidence shows
- Ink on a jar sherd, max. 15 x 16.5 cm; lines possibly missing above line 1 and at the right edge (Millard 2011, p. 4).
- Word divider of three vertical dots appears in line 1 only (Millard, p. 7).
- Clearly legible sequences include špṭ at the start of line 2, nqm in the middle of line 4, and bdmlk at the end of line 4 (Millard, pp. 9-11).
- Letter forms are inconsistent and 'not the work of an experienced scribe' (Millard, p. 4).
- Found in a single-phase Iron Age town dated by 14C to c. 1000 BCE (Garfinkel et al. 2015).
Open questions
- What it says: Misgav (Khirbet Qeiyafa 1, 2009, pp. 255-256) holds the verbs in line 1 are Hebrew and the text is a message with judicial or ethical commands; Galil (UF 41, 2009) reads a social statement ('Judge the slave and the widow...'); Puech (RB 117, 2010) reads a narrative about oppression and the establishing of a king; Demsky and Ahituv (2009 conference, per Millard n. 15) treat it as a writing exercise; Cook and Millard (Tyndale Bulletin 62, 2011) read a list of names (Ellat-ʿash, ʿEbed-..., Shaphat, Bodmilk), noting that nqm-names are Phoenician and ʿlmn ('widow') needs an unseen n.
- Language: the reading ʾal taʿaś ('do not do') makes the text Hebrew because ʿśh is otherwise known only in Hebrew and Moabite; Millard (2011) shows the same five letters can be a personal name, which removes that argument.
- Date: tied to the site's destruction, c. 1000 BCE (Garfinkel et al., Radiocarbon 57, 2015) or later 10th c. (Finkelstein & Piasetzky, Radiocarbon 57, 2015).
Since 2024
- 2026-09Kőszeghy's Hungarian review article (Ókor 24.3-4) re-examines the site and ostracon debate; no new reading of the letters reported in its abstract. [6]
Sources
- Yosef Garfinkel and Saar Ganor, Khirbet Qeiyafa Vol. 1: Excavation Report 2007-2008 (Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society and Institute of Archaeology, Hebrew University, 2009); H. Misgav, Y. Garfinkel and S. Ganor, 'The Ostracon', pp. 243-257. link editio princeps
- Alan Millard, "The Ostracon from the Days of David Found at Khirbet Qeiyafa," Tyndale Bulletin 62.1 (2011): 1-13. doi:10.53751/001c.29303 link study
- "Qeiyafa Ostracon Chronicle continues - October 2009," Khirbet Qeiyafa Archaeological Project, Hebrew University. link excavation report
- Yosef Garfinkel, Katharina Streit, Saar Ganor, Paula J. Reimer, "King David's City at Khirbet Qeiyafa: Results of the Second Radiocarbon Dating Project," Radiocarbon 57.5 (2015): 881-890. doi:10.2458/azu_rc.57.17961 link study
- Israel Finkelstein and Eli Piasetzky, "Radiocarbon Dating Khirbet Qeiyafa and the Iron I-IIA Phases in the Shephelah: Methodological Comments and a Bayesian Model," Radiocarbon 57.5 (2015): 891-907. doi:10.2458/azu_rc.57.18336 link study
- Miklós Kőszeghy, "Hirbet-Qeiyafa - egy sok vitával övezett hely és felirat tanulságai" [Khirbet Qeiyafa - Insights from a Controversial Site and Inscription], Ókor 24.3-4 (2026). doi:10.63872/nevz5329 link study
Corrected from the earlier edition of this page
- Old entry: 'earliest known example of Hebrew writing ever discovered' and 'irrefutable proof' of Israelite literacy. The language is disputed (Millard 2011 lists Hebrew, Canaanite, Phoenician or Moabite), and the script is Canaanite in form.
- Old entry: 'a short phrase ... fragment of a longer message' with translation '... to the king ...'. It is five lines, the longest alphabetic text of its date in the region; no reading verified here has 'to the king' (Galil restores 'at the king's hands' in line 4; Puech 'established a king').
- Old entry: 'Approximately 8 cm long'. Millard gives max. 15 x 16.5 cm.
- Old entry: 'demonstrates that writing was not limited to elite scribes'. Millard makes a narrower claim: the irregular hand suggests a non-expert writer.
- Old entry: 'housed in the Israel Museum'. Not confirmed in a published museum record.
- Old entry links Deut 6, 1 Sam 13-14 and 2 Sam 5; none is tied to the text's content by any verified reading.
Checked against new publications through 2026-09.