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This ancient monument
was discovered by the Rev.
F. Klein in 1868 at Diban
(the Dibon of the Old Testament)
in Moab.
The inscription consists
of thirty-four lines
(the last two being undecipherable),
and was written by Mesha king of
Moab to commemorate his successful
revolt from the yoke of Israel,
recorded in
2Kings
1:1
and chapter 3;
and to honor
his god Chemosh,
to whom he ascribed
his successes.
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The writing is in
the ancient Hebrew characters,
which continued in use down to
quite 140, 139
B.C.,
but was gradually replaced by the
modern square Hebrew characters
which are in use today.
The inscription is proved
to be genuine by the Bible account,
the two throwing light on each other.
See the notes on
2Kings 3.
The
following translation,
by Dr. Neubauer,
is taken
from
Records of the Past
(New Series),
Vol. II, pp.
200, etc.:
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- "I,
Mesha son of Chemosh-Melech
king of Moab,
the Di-
- bonite.
My father reigned over Moab
thirty years and I reign-
- ed
after my father.
I made this monument
to Chemosh at Korkhah.
A monument of sal-
- vation,
for he saved me from all invaders,
and let me see my desire
upon all my enemies.
Om-
- ri
[was] king of Israel,
and he oppressed Moab many days,
for Chemosh was angry with his
- land.
His son followed him,
and he also said:
I will oppress Moab.
In my days Che[mosh]
said;
- I
will see my desire on him and his house.
And Israel surely perished for ever.
Omri took the land of
- Medeba 1
and
[Israel] dwelt in it during his
days and half the days of his
son,2
altogether
forty years.
But there dwelt in it
- Chemosh
in my days.
I built
Baal-Meon 3
and
made therein the ditches;
I built
- Kirjathaim.4
The
men of Gad dwelt in the land of
Ataroth 5
from
of old,
and built there
the king of
- Israel
Ataroth;
and I made war against
the town and seized it.
And I slew all the
[people of]
- the
town,
for the pleasure of
Chemosh and Moab:
I captured from thence the
Arel 6
of
Dodah and tore
- him
before Chemosh in
Kerioth:7
And
I placed therein the
men of Sh(a)r(o)n,
and the men
- of
M(e)kh(e)rth.
And Chemosh said to me:
Go,
seize
Nebo 8
upon
Israel;
and
- I
went in the night and fought against
it from the break of dawn till noon:
and I took
- it,
and slew all,
7,000 men,
[boys?],
women,
[girls?]
- and
female slaves,
for to Ashtar-Chemosh
I devoted them.
And I took from it the
Arels 6
of
Yahveh,
and tore them before Chemosh.
And the king of Israel built
- Jahaz,9
and
dwelt in it,
while he waged war against me;
Chemosh drove him out before me.
And
- I
took from Moab 200 men,
all chiefs,
and transported them to Jahaz,
which I took,
- to
add to it Dibon.
I built Korkhah,
the wall of the
forests and the
wall
- of
the citadel:
I built its gates,
and I built its towers.
And
- I
built the house of Moloch,
and I made sluices of the
water-ditches in the middle
- of
the town.
And there was no cistern
in the middle of the
town of Korkhah,
and I said to all the people,
Make for
- yourselves
every man a cistern in his house.
And I dug the canals for Korkhah
by means of the prisoners
- of
Israel.
I built
Aroer,10
and
I made the road in
[the province of]
the Arnon.
[And]
- I
built
Beth-Bamoth,11
for
it was destroyed.
I built
Bezer,12
for
in ruins
- [it
was.
And all the chiefs]
of Dibon were 50,
for all Dibon is subject;
and I placed
- one
hundred [chiefs]
in the towns which
I added to the land:
I built
- Beth-Medeba
and
Beth-diblathaim 13
and
Beth-Baal-Meon,14
and
transported thereto the
[shepherds]? . . .
- and
the [pastors]
of the flocks of the land.
And at
Horonaim 15
dwelt
there
- . . . And
Chemosh said to me,
Go down,
make war upon Horonaim.
I went down
[and made war]
- . . . And
Chemosh dwelt in
it during my days.
I went up from
thence . . ."
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1 Numbers
21:30;
Isaiah
15:2.
2 "son"
= successor.
3 Now,
Tell M'ain,
Numbers
32:38.
Joshua 13:17.
4 Numbers 32:37.
Joshua 13:19.
5 Numbers 32:3.
Joshua 16:2.
6 Arel,
two lions,
or,
lion-like men (?)
Compare
2Samuel
23:20.
7 Now,
Khan el Kureitin (?);
Jeremiah 48:24.
Amos 2:2.
8 Numbers
32:3, 38.
Isaiah 15:2.
9 Isaiah 15:4.
10 Now,
'Ar'air,
Deuteronomy
2:36;
3:12;
4:48.
11 Numbers
21:19.
Isaiah 15:2.
(Authorized Version
"high places"),
compare
Joshua
13:17.
12 Deuteronomy
4:43.
13 Jeremiah
48:22.
14 Joshua 13:17.
Jeremiah 48:23.
15 Isaiah 15:5.
Jeremiah 48:3, 5, 34.
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