Ketef Hinnom Silver Amulets - Biblical Archaeology Encyclopedia

Overview

Two tiny silver sheets, rolled up like scrolls and evidently worn as amulets, were found in 1979 in the repository (bone pit) under a bench chamber of a rock-cut family tomb at Ketef Hinnom, excavated by Gabriel Barkay. The repository is reported to have held about a thousand objects (pottery, arrowheads, jewellery, bone and glass items); that count comes via secondary summary of the excavators' reports and was not checked in them. The rolled sheets had to be unrolled in a laboratory before the writing could be seen.

Both carry a Hebrew text using the divine name YHWH and a form of the Priestly Blessing known from Numbers 6:24-26. KH2 preserves 'May YHWH bless you, keep you; may YHWH make his face shine upon you and grant you peace' (the middle clause of the Numbers text about lifting up the face and being gracious is not on the plaque). KH1 is more damaged; besides the start of the blessing it contains a phrase about the one who keeps 'the covenant and loving-kindness toward those who love him and keep his commandments', wording known from Deut 7:9 and Dan 9:4 / Neh 1:5.

A 2004 re-edition by Barkay, Lundberg, Vaughn and Zuckerman used new photography and computer enhancement and defended a late pre-exilic date. On that dating they are the oldest known objects carrying wording also found in the Hebrew Bible. They are amulets, not biblical manuscripts: the texts are short devotional and protective formulas, and the phrasing differs from the Masoretic text.

What the text says (summary)

...[bl]essed be he / she by YHWH, the helper and the rebuker of [E]vil. May YHWH bless you, keep you. May YHWH make his face shine [upon] you and grant you peace.Literal translation (this encyclopedia) of the KH2 transliteration as published by Barkay, Lundberg, Vaughn and Zuckerman (BASOR 334, 2004), reached here through a secondary reproduction; not checked against the plates. Broken letters in brackets.

What the evidence shows

Two rolled silver plaques, IAA 1980-1495 and 1980-1496, now in the Israel Museum; height 3.9-9.7 cm, width 1.1-2.7 cm.
Found in 1979 in the repository under Chamber 25 of Cave 24 at Ketef Hinnom (Barkay excavation); the deposit reportedly held about a thousand other grave goods (secondary summary, not checked in the excavation report).
Script is Palaeo-Hebrew (pre-exilic letter forms), incised on silver.
Both plaques contain the divine name YHWH.
KH2 carries a short form of the Priestly Blessing: 'YHWH bless you, keep you; YHWH make his face shine upon you and grant you peace'. The middle clause of Num 6:25b-26a is absent.
KH1 includes 'the covenant and loving-kindness toward those who love [him] and those who keep [his commandments]', a formula found in Deut 7:9.
KH2 calls YHWH 'the rebuker of Evil' (ha-go'er ba-ra'), a protective (apotropaic) formula.

Open questions

Date. Barkay, Lundberg, Vaughn and Zuckerman (BASOR 334, 2004) place the plaques in the late pre-exilic period, just before 586 BCE, on the basis of letter forms visible in enhanced images and the 7th-6th-century pottery around them. E. Waaler (Tyndale Bulletin 53, 2002) puts them earlier, 725-650 BCE, also on archaeological and palaeographic grounds. J. Renz and W. Röllig (Handbuch der althebräischen Epigraphik, 1995) are reported to have argued that the writing was too poorly preserved to date securely and that a 3rd-2nd century BCE date could not be ruled out, because the repository also held later material. That summary comes through secondary reporting and was not checked in the HAE volume itself.
What do they prove about the Pentateuch? Waaler (2002) argues that one scribe drew both the Numbers blessing and the Deuteronomy 7:9 formula from a single source text, so Priestly and Deuteronomic material already stood together before Josiah's reform. Against this, the plaques could draw on liturgical formulas used in worship and not on a written book: the blessing is shortened and the KH1 formula occurs in several biblical books. The objects show the wording existed; they do not show which written book, if any, it came from.

Since 2024

2025-01'Atiqot 80 published a separate IAA excavation at Ketef Hinnom (Avner and Zelinger), with companion reports on glass, coins and skeletal remains: two more Iron Age II burial caves, cut away by later quarrying. It does not re-examine the silver plaques. [5]

Sources

G. Barkay, M. J. Lundberg, A. G. Vaughn and B. Zuckerman, 'The Amulets from Ketef Hinnom: A New Edition and Evaluation', Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 334 (2004): 41-71. DOI 10.2307/4150106. link editio princeps
G. Barkay, 'The Priestly Benediction on Silver Plaques from Ketef Hinnom in Jerusalem', Tel Aviv 19/2 (1992): 139-192. DOI 10.1179/tav.1992.1992.2.139. link excavation report
Israel Museum, Jerusalem, collection record '"Priestly Benediction" on amulets', item 198069 (IAA 1980-1495, 1980-1496). link museum record
E. Waaler, 'A Revised Date for Pentateuchal Texts? Evidence from Ketef Hinnom', Tyndale Bulletin 53/1 (2002): 29-55. DOI 10.53751/001c.30240. link study
R. Avner and Y. Zelinger, 'A Cemetery, a Quarry and Remains of a Church at Ketef Hinnom, Jerusalem', 'Atiqot 80 (2025). DOI 10.70967/2948-040x.1543. link excavation report

Corrected from the earlier edition of this page

Old entry said the plaques are 'approximately 2 cm diameter each': the Israel Museum gives height 3.9-9.7 cm and width 1.1-2.7 cm; rolled up they are small, but the sheets are up to c. 9.7 cm long.
Old entry said the text is 'a direct quotation of the Priestly Blessing': it is a shorter form that leaves out a clause of Num 6:25-26 and adds other formulas ('rebuker of Evil', the Deut 7:9 covenant formula).
Old entry called the script 'among the earliest known examples' of Hebrew: Hebrew inscriptions in the same script are centuries older (e.g. Iron Age ostraca); the plaques are early for biblical wording, not for Hebrew writing.
Old entry listed 'Deuteronomy 6 (Shema)' and 'Exodus 15 (Song of Moses)' as connections: neither text appears on the plaques. The Deuteronomy parallel is 7:9, not chapter 6.
Old entry dated them simply 'c. 600 BCE' as settled: Waaler (2002) argues 725-650 BCE and Renz-Röllig reportedly left a Hellenistic date open; the date rests on palaeography and deposit context, not on a written date.

Checked against new publications through 2026-09.