Deir Alla Inscription

The Deir 'Alla Inscription (or Bala'am Son of Be'or Inscription) was the product of a 1967 excavation in Deir 'Alla, Jordan. The excavation revealed a many-chambered structure that had also been destroyed by earthquake, during the Persian period at the site, on the wall of which was written a previously unknown prophecy by the seer and prophet Bala'am, son of Be'or, who may be the same Bala'am mentioned in Numbers 22-24 and in other passages of the Bible.^[1]

The inscription was written in a peripheral local dialect, not otherwise attested, with Aramaic and South Canaanite characteristics, which employed an idiosyncratic script.^[2] The inscription is datable to ca. 840-760 BCE; it was painted in inks^[3] on fragments of a plastered wall: 119 pieces of inked plaster were recovered. The wall, near the summit of the tell, was felled by yet another tremor.^[4]

Translation & reconstruction

McCarter's translation & reconstruction of the text:^[5]

(1) [VACAT] The sa]ying[s of Bala]am, [son of Be]or, the man who was a seer of the gods. Lo! Gods came to him in the night [and spoke to] him (2) according to these w[ord]s. Then they said to [Bala]am, son of Beor, thus: Let someone make a [ ] hearafter, so that [what] you have hea[rd may be se]en!" (3) And Balaam rose in the morning [ ] right hand [ ] and could not [eat] and wept (4) aloud. Then his people came in to him [and said] to Balaam, son of Beor, "Do you fast? [ ] Do you weep?" And he (5) said to them, "Si[t] do]wn! I shall inform you what the Shad[daying have done]. Now come, see the deeds of the g[o]ds!. The g[o]ds have gathered (6) and the Shaddayin have taken their places in the assembly and said to Sh[ , thus:] 'Sew the skies shut with your thick cloud! There let there be darkness and no (7) perpetual shining and n[o] radiance! For you will put a sea[l upon the thick] cloud of darkness and you will not remove it forever! For the swift has (8) reproached the eagle, the voice of vultures resounds. The st[ork has ] the young of the NHS-bird and ripped up the chicks of the heron. The swallow has belittled (9) the dove, and the sparrow [ ] and [ ] the staff. Instead of ewes the stick is driven along. Hares have eaten (10) [ ]. Freemen [] have drunk wine, and hyenas have listened to instruction. The whelps of the (11) f[ox] laughs at wise men, and the poor woman has mixed myrhh, and the priestess (12) [ ] to the one who wears a girdle of threads. The esteemed esteems and the esteemer is es[teemed. ] and everyone has seen those things that decree offspring and young. (15) [ ] to the leopard. The piglet has chased the young (16) [of] those who are girded and the eye ....'"

References

1. ^ See Num. 22:5 ff. The tradition of Bala'am was apparently quite popular in the Hebrew Bible as he is also referenced in Num. 31:8, Deut. 23:4-5, Josh. 13:22, Josh. 24:9-10, Neh. 13:2, Mic. 6:5, as well as the Christian New Testament passages of 2 Pet. 2:15 and Rev. 2:14.
2. ^ Jo Ann Hackett, The Balaam Text from Deir ʿAllā. (Harvard Semitic Monographs 31) 1980, released 1984.
3. ^ Red and black inks were used, apparently to emphasize the text.
4. ^ J. Hoftijzer and G. van der Kooij, Aramaic Texts from Deir 'Alla Documenta et Monumenta Orientis Antiqui 19 (Leiden) 1976.
5. ^ P. Kyle McCarter Jr., The Balaam Texts from Deir 'Alla: The First Combination",Bulletin of the Schools of Oriental Research 237 (1980): 49-60

• Deir 'Alla Inscription at Livius.org - includes a more recent and complete English translation

Bibliography

• Dijkstra, Meindert, "Is Balaam Also Among the Prophets?" Journal of Biblical Literature 114/1 (1995), 43-64.
• Hackett, Jo Ann, The Balaam Text from Deir 'Alla, HSM 31 (Chico, CA: Scholars, 1984).
• Hoftijzer, J. and G. van der Kooij, G., Aramaic Texts from Deir ‘Alla (Leiden: Brill, 1976).
• Hoftijzer, J. and G. van der Kooij, G., ed., The Balaam Text from Deir 'Alla Re-evaluated: Proceedings of the International Symposium Held at Leiden, 21-24 August 1989, (Leiden: Brill, 1991).
• Puech, E. "L'inscription sur pl tre de Tell Deir Alla," in Biblical Archaeology Today: Proceedings of the International Congress on Biblical Archaeology Jerusalem, April 1984, ed. by J. Amitai (Jerusalem: IES, 1985), 354-65.
• Weippert, Manfred, "The Balaam Text from Deir 'Alla and the Study of the Old Testament," pp. 151-84 in The Balaam Text from Deir 'Alla Re-evaluated: Proceedings of the International Symposium Held at Leiden, 21-24 August 1989, (Leiden: Brill, 1991).
• McCarter Jr., P. Kyle,"The Balaam Texts from Deir 'Alla: The First Combination",Bulletin of the Schools of Oriental Research 237 (1980): 49-60
• Naveh, J. "The Date of the Deir 'Alla Inscription in Aramaic Script", Israel Exploration Journal 17 (1967): 236-38.