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Siloam Tunnel Inscription

ancient-near-eastHebrew (Paleo-Hebrew script)c. 701 BCE

Six-line monumental Hebrew inscription commemorating the completion of Hezekiah's tunnel connecting the Gihon Spring to the Pool of Siloam in Jerusalem. Parallels 2 Kings 20:20 and 2 Chronicles 32:30.

Translation: Scholarly paraphrase based on A.H. Sayce (1881) and subsequent epigraphic scholarship (Public Domain)

Overview

The Siloam Tunnel Inscription is a six-line Hebrew text carved into the rock wall of the Siloam Tunnel (also called Hezekiah's Tunnel) in Jerusalem around 701 BCE. Discovered in 1880 by a schoolboy who noticed writing on the tunnel wall, it was subsequently removed and is now in the Istanbul Archaeological Museum. It is one of the most important ancient Hebrew inscriptions and provides direct archaeological confirmation of the engineering project described in 2 Kings 20:20 and 2 Chronicles 32:30.

The inscription celebrates the completion of the tunnel, describing how two teams of workers began digging from opposite ends of the 533-meter underground channel and met in the middle. This tunnel diverted the water of the Gihon Spring from outside Jerusalem to the Pool of Siloam inside the city walls — Hezekiah's strategic preparation for the Assyrian siege of 701 BCE under Sennacherib. The historical context matches perfectly with the biblical record: 2 Kings 20:20 mentions Hezekiah making the pool and the tunnel and bringing water into the city.

The Siloam Inscription is one of the most direct triangulations of archaeology, epigraphy, and biblical text in all of biblical studies. The inscription, the physical tunnel (which can still be walked through today), and the biblical references in 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles all point to the same historical event, described from the perspective of the workers who accomplished it.

Bible connections
  • 2 Kings 18-20 (Hezekiah and the Assyrian crisis)
  • 2 Chronicles 32 (Hezekiah's preparations and siege)
  • Isaiah 36-37 (Sennacherib's campaign and divine deliverance)
  • John 9:7-11 (Pool of Siloam in Jesus's ministry)
Key terms
Paleo-Hebrew script– the pre-exilic Hebrew writing system derived from Phoenician, used before the later adoption of the Aramaic square script; visible in the Siloam Inscription and other First Temple-period texts
Gihon Spring– Jerusalem's primary water source in the Kidron Valley; the spring whose water the Siloam Tunnel diverted inside the city walls
Cubit– an ancient unit of measurement approximately equal to 18 inches (45 cm); the inscription records the tunnel as 1,200 cubits long, matching the physical tunnel's ~533 meters
Did you know?

The Siloam Tunnel can still be walked through today by visitors to Jerusalem. It takes about 40 minutes to wade through the 533-meter tunnel, now lit with electric lights. The original inscription was removed in 1890 and taken to Istanbul, where it remains in the Archaeological Museum. A replica marks the spot where it was found — near the southern end where the waters emerge.