page_title: Khirbet Beit Lei
section_title: Hebrew inscriptions
hierarchical_section_title: Khirbet Beit Lei / Archaeology / Two Iron Age II burial caves / Hebrew inscriptions
caption_attribution_description: עברית: העתק פריט מוצג במוזיאון ישראל בירושלים; כתובת עברית על קיר אבן גיר של מערת קבורה - ובה איזכור "ירושלם" [כך - בלי יו"ד]; חורבת בית לויה, שפלת יהודה שלהי המאה ה-6 לפנה"ס; Transcribed and translated by Naveh as follows: yhwh ‘lhy kl h’rsh ry yhd l’lhy yršlm Yahveh (is) the God of the whole earth; the mount- tains of Judah belong to him, to the God of Jerusalem
context_page_description: Khirbet Beit Lei or Beth Loya is an archaeological tell in the Judean lowlands of Israel. It is located about 5.5 km southeast of Beth Guvrin and ten miles west-northwest of Hebron, on a hill 400 m above sea level.
  An Iron Age II burial cave was discovered to contain an inscription with one of the oldest known appearances in Hebrew of the name "Jerusalem".
context_section_description: Seven inscriptions in Hebrew remained in various states of preservation, and there is disagreement about how they should be read. It appears that the words YHWH (Yahweh) and YRSHLM (Jerusalem) feature in the inscriptions, which Joseph Naveh dated to the late 6th century BCE.
  Of particular interest is one inscription containing a very early appearance in Hebrew of the name ירשלם (Jerusalem). Naveh read it as
  יהוה אלהי כל הארץ הרי יהד לו לאלהי ירשלם 
   yhwh ʾlhy kl hʾrṣ hry yhd lw lʾlhy yršlm
  which he translated as "Yahweh (is) the God of the whole earth; the mountains of Judah belong to him, to the God of Jerusalem". An older example on papyrus is known from the previous century.
  Frank Moore Cross disagreed with many of Naveh's readings of the letters, instead interpreting the inscription as a poetic rubric in the first person: "I am Yahweh thy God: I will accept the cities of Judah, and will redeem Jerusalem". Cross speculated that it was "the citation of a lost prophecy", perhaps written by a refugee fleeing the 587 BCE destruction of Jerusalem. Naveh later dismissed Cross's reading and stuck to his own version.
  Other scholars, including Lemaire and Puech, have proposed additional readings. Patrick D. Miller read it almost the same as Cross did: "[I am] Yahweh your God. I will accept the cities of Judah. I will redeem Jerusalem."
caption: Inscription A, from the Israel Museum
exif: {"Image Make": "SAMSUNG", "Image Model": "GT-I9300", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "picnik.com", "Image DateTime": "2013:01:16 16:39:02", "Image Artist": "Picasa", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "206", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "786", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "3870", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/50", "EXIF FNumber": "13/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Aperture Priority", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "200", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2013:01:15 20:28:18", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2013:01:15 20:28:18", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "11299/2002", "EXIF ApertureValue": "14819/5375", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "527/256", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "14819/5375", "EXIF MeteringMode": "CenterWeightedAverage", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "37/10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3017", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1628", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "Interoperability RelatedImageWidth": "3017", "Interoperability RelatedImageLength": "1628", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "650", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF ImageUniqueID": "7e09c11dcd8be715f8084e24b91ab201"}