[Hezekiah] made a pool, and a conduit, and brought water into the city.
(II Kings.xx.20)
1.
THE SILOAM INSCRIPTION is an inscription of six
lines
cut, in Phoenician characters, on the rock-wall of the underground conduit
which fed the Pool of Siloam.
It was discovered in June 1880, by Mr C Schick.
(Archaeological
Museum, Istanbul.)
2.
A transcript of the inscription in Hebrew letters, from the text of Kautsch
and Wright, and a translation are given:-
| translation | v | hebrew transcript |
|---|---|---|
| ........ the breaking through.
And this was the matter of the breaking through while yet ..... |
1. | ... הנקבה . וזב . ביב . דבר . בנקבה . בעוד ... |
| the pickaxe,
one towards the other, and while yet there were three cubits to .... the noise of one calling |
2. | הגרזץ. אש . אל . רעו . ובעוד . שלש . אמת . להנ ... ע . קל . אש . ק |
| to the other,
for there was a cleft (?) in the rock on the right .... And on the day of the breaking through |
3. | . רא . אל . רעו . כי . הית . זדה . בצר . מימץ ... ובים . ה . |
| the miners hewed,
one to meet the other, pickaxe against pickaxe; and flowed |
4. | . נקבה . הכו . החצבם . אש . לקרת . רעו . על גרזץ . גרזץ . וילכו . |
| the waters from the source to the pool over (a space of) one thousand and two hundred cubits. And one hundred |
5. | . המים . מץ . המוצא . אל . הברכה . במאתים . ואלף . אמה . ומא |
| cubits was the height of the rock above the head of the miners. |
6. | . ת . אמה . היה . גבה . הצר . על . ראש . החצבם . |
Several words are now wanting and many letters are doubtful;
but enough remains to show that the inscription is a record of the successful
piercing of the channel.
The miners in two bodies, began the work from two ends of the conduit and met in
the middle.
The exact date of the inscription is doubtful;
some authorities believe it to be as old the time of Ahaz about 740BC,
while others attribute it to the reign of Hezekiah about 700BC.
It is in favour of the latter date
that Hezekiah
"made a pool, and a conduit,
and brought water into the city"
(2 Kings xx.20),
and that he
"stopped the upper watercourse of Gihon,
and brought it straight down to the west side of the city of David"
(2 Chron.xxxii.30).
Illustrations:
1. 'The Bible as History.' Werner Keller.
Lion Publishing Plc. 1991.
2. 'Atlas of the Bible.' L H Grollenberg.
Thomas Nelson & Sons. 1956.
Description:
'Helps to the Study of the Bible.' Oxford
University Press. Undated.
For more
on the Siloam Inscription:
KC Hanson...
For Ancient Hebrew language Studies including the Siloam Inscription:
House of David...