Ketef Hinnom Silver Scrolls

The oldest surviving biblical text ever discovered, confirming that the Priestly Blessing of Numbers 6 was in liturgical use by the late 7th century BCE.

Ketef Hinnom sits on the southwestern edge of ancient Jerusalem, above the Valley of Hinnom. The Hebrew name means 'Shoulder of Hinnom,' referring to the ridge above the valley. This area was used as a burial ground from the late Iron Age through the Byzantine period, and tombs cut into the soft limestone cliffs are still visible today.

In 1979, archaeologist Gabriel Barkay of Tel Aviv University was conducting excavations at a series of rock-cut tombs at Ketef Hinnom. The tombs are carved into the cliff face and include multiple burial chambers. In one chamber, now labeled Cave 24, Barkay's team discovered a repository, a collection pit where bones and objects were gathered after the original burial chambers became full. This type of repository was common in Judahite tombs of the late Iron Age.

The repository in Cave 24 held an extraordinary collection of more than 1,000 objects, including pottery, arrowheads, ivory items, glass, jewelry, and silver objects. Among the silver items were two tiny rolled scrolls. The scrolls, labeled KH1 and KH2, are made of thin sheets of pure silver that had been rolled tightly into small cylinders. KH1 is about 97 millimeters long when unrolled, and KH2 is about 39 millimeters long. Both were so fragile when found that it took years before they could be safely unrolled for examination.

Barkay took the scrolls to the Israel Museum, where conservators spent years developing a method to open them without destroying the inscribed surface. The unrolling process was finally completed in the 1980s using a painstaking technique involving humidification and gradual flattening under controlled conditions. The silver was extremely brittle after 2,600 years in the tomb, and several small fragments broke away during the process.

Once the scrolls were open, epigraphers identified ancient Hebrew script on their inner surfaces. The inscriptions use a paleo-Hebrew script consistent with late 7th-century BCE Judahite writing. Initial readings identified portions of the Priestly Blessing from Numbers 6:24-26: 'May the LORD bless you and keep you; may the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; may the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.'

The initial readings by Barkay and his colleagues in the 1980s were refined significantly in 2004 when a team at the University of Southern California used digital imaging and multispectral photography to capture much sharper images of the inscriptions. This new analysis, led by Bruce Zuckerman, revealed more letters than had previously been seen and confirmed the presence of the divine name YHWH (the Tetragrammaton) in both scrolls. The new imaging also allowed scholars to read additional phrases beyond the blessing itself, including possible references to covenant faithfulness.

The dating of the scrolls to around 650-600 BCE is based on several lines of evidence: the style of the paleo-Hebrew script, the pottery found in the same repository, and the stratigraphy of the cave. This date places them roughly 400 years before the oldest Dead Sea Scrolls, making them the earliest known copies of any biblical text.

The scrolls are currently on display at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, where they are displayed in a dedicated case. Because of their fragility, only high-resolution photographs and replicas are typically used in scholarly publications and educational displays. The original silver scrolls themselves require careful climate control.

Scholars debate the exact function of the scrolls. The most widely accepted interpretation is that they served as amulets, small objects worn on the body for protection. The choice of the Priestly Blessing as the text inscribed on an amulet makes sense because the blessing was understood as a powerful protective formula. The fact that they were placed in a tomb suggests they may have been buried with their owner, possibly still worn around the neck or wrist.

The discovery is significant not only for biblical studies but for the history of writing. It demonstrates that the Priestly Blessing was a known and used text in Jerusalem before the Babylonian exile of 586 BCE, pushing back the documented use of this specific text by centuries.

• Two tiny silver scrolls (KH1 and KH2) rolled into cylinders and placed in a late Iron Age tomb repository
• Inscriptions containing the Priestly Blessing (Numbers 6:24-26), the oldest surviving biblical text ever found
• The divine name YHWH (Tetragrammaton) appears in both scrolls, confirmed by 2004 digital imaging
• Date of approximately 650-600 BCE established by script analysis, pottery, and stratigraphy, predating the Dead Sea Scrolls by 400 years
• Repository context included over 1,000 objects: pottery, arrowheads, ivory, glass, and jewelry
• Paleo-Hebrew script consistent with Judahite royal-period writing style
• University of Southern California multispectral imaging in 2004 revealed previously unreadable letters
• Scrolls most likely functioned as wearable amulets for protection, carrying a liturgical blessing text

The inscriptions on the Ketef Hinnom scrolls preserve the exact words of the Priestly Blessing found in Numbers 6:24-26: 'The LORD bless thee, and keep thee: The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.' This passage was given by God to Moses for Aaron and his sons to pronounce over the people of Israel (Numbers 6:23). Finding this text on amulets worn by individuals in 7th-century BCE Jerusalem shows that these words were not just recited in formal worship settings but were personally cherished as protective words from God. The presence of the Tetragrammaton YHWH in the inscriptions is especially important. Deuteronomy 28:10 speaks of the nations seeing that the name of the LORD is called upon Israel. The use of God's personal name in a blessing carried on the body reflects the intimate covenant relationship between Israel and God that the Torah describes. The burial context also connects to biblical attitudes toward death. The tombs at Ketef Hinnom were family burial sites of the type described in the phrase 'gathered to his people' used throughout Genesis and other books. Placing a scroll with the blessing of God's name into the tomb suggests that the hope carried by the blessing extended even into death.