Khirbet Qeiyafa

[Minimalist]

Some time back an ostrakon was discovered at this Israeli town. Some scholars promptly called it the oldest Hebrew inscription ever found and instantly claimed it "proved" the bible stories of a Davidic Empire....which is a stretch even for them.

Anyway, attempts have been made to translate the "inscription" and this is really the point of the post. Courtesy of Wiki, here are two "translations" of the same five lines of text.

On 7 January 2010 Prof. Gershon Galil of the University of Haifa issued a press release in which he claimed to have deciphered the inscription as a legal document:

1 you shall not do [it], but worship the [Lord].
2 Judge the sla[ve] and the wid[ow] / Judge the orph[an]
3 [and] the stranger. [Pl]ead for the infant / plead for the po[or and]
4 the widow. Rehabilitate [the poor] at the hands of the king.
5 Protect the po[or and] the slave / [supp]ort the stranger.[4]

Prof Galil's translation is in contrast with that given by Prof. Hagai Misgav, supported, with variations, by professors Yardeni, Ahituv, and Schniedewind, at a conference on the inscription held at Hebrew University in October 2009:

1 Do not do [anything bad?], and serve [personal name?]
2 ruler of [geographical name?] . . . ruler . . .
3 [geographical names?] . . .
4 [unclear] and wreak judgment on YSD king of Gath . . .
5 seren of G[aza? . . .] [unclear] . . .[8]

It is almost as if they are reading different languages which raises an interesting question. How certain can we be of any translation of an ancient text?

American paleographer, Christopher Rollston, has a lot more to say about this inscription.

http://www.rollstonepigraphy.com/?p=56

[Oldandeasilyconfused]

It is almost as if they are reading different languages which raises an interesting question. How certain can we be of any translation of an ancient text?

Indeed. I've studied five languages (Latin, French,Malay, Italian and Vietnamese) although I no longer speak any of them at even survival level. I'm acutely aware of how hard it is to accurately translate ANY language ,let alone an ancient one.

That believers claim that their version of say the Torah (ancient Hebrew to English) or the NT (oral Aramaic to Greek to English) is the inerrant word of god, is quite hilarious to me. If only because of the 5000 odd errors in translation.

[Minimalist]

Yes, Pad..... even worse is the realization that Aramaic and its derivatives like Hebrew did not leave a space between words nor use capitals or punctuation, either. For that matter, neither did Greek but at least they wrote out the vowels.

[Justtristo]

How do these scholars conclude that the inscription was specifically in Hebrew, rather than some other "Canaanite" dialect?