A Prayer (?) from Kuntillet Ajrud

Late 9th–Early 8th Century BCE

About This Entry

This inscription is possibly a prayer, perhaps on behalf of whoever built the structure in which the inscription was found.

[ . . . May] He lengthen their days and may they be sated . . . recount to YHWH of Teman and His asherah . . .

[ . . . because(?)] YHWH of the Teman, has shown them(?) favor, has bettered their da[ys . . .

Translated by Shmuel Aḥituv , Ze’ev Meshel , and Esther Eshel.

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Notes

[YHWH of Teman and His asherah—Teman is a place in the Sinai-Negev wilderness. Another inscription from Kuntil-let Ajrud mentions “YHWH of Samaria.” These epithets presumably refer to centers of YHWH’s worship or places where he revealed himself. Some scholars believe that asherah refers to the Canaanite fertility goddess Asherah and that the prayer for blessing is addressed to her, too. But the following verb, “bettered,” is singular and asherah here more likely refers to a sacred pole or tree, also called asherah, that sometimes stood near the altar in sanctuaries (a practice forbidden in Deuteronomy 16:21). Blessings invoking sacred objects are known in the ancient Near East—Eds.]

Credits

A Prayer (?) from Kuntillet Ajrud, in Shmuel Aḥituv, Esther Eshel, and Ze’ev Meshel, “The Inscriptions,” from Ze’ev Meshel, Kuntillet ʻAjrud (Horvat Teman): An Iron Age II Religious Site on the Judah Sinai Border, ed. Liora Freud, English style, John H. Tresman (Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 2012), no. 4.1.1, p. 105. Used with permission of the publisher, Shmuel Aḥituv, and Ze’ev Meshel.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 1.