Bible Archeology Discoveries

Name:

Inscription at Hyrcania
Discovered: Hyrcania, Judea
From: (c. AD 324–634 )

During a pilot excavation at Hyrcania, located 10 miles southeast of Jerusalem in the West Bank, excavators uncovered a Greek inscription paraphrasing Psalm 86. Dating to the Byzantine period (c. 324–634 CE), the inscription was found amid the remains of a monastery built atop an earlier Hasmonean fortress and Herodian palace.

“Jesus Christ, guard me, for I am poor and needy,” reads the inscription, written in Koine Greek, the language of the New Testament. While not a direct quotation, it was likely a paraphrase of Psalm 86:1–2, an important prayer in both Christian and Jewish tradition. The short inscription was painted onto a building stone, likely belonging to the monastery. A simple cross was also painted above the inscription.

Avner Ecker of Bar-Ilan University, who translated the inscription said “Thus, the monk drew a graffito of a cross onto the wall, accompanied by a prayer with which he was very familiar.” Ecker added, there are "minor errors indicate that the priest was not a native Greek speaker, but likely someone from the region who was raised speaking a Semitic language.”

This inscription shows that early believers substituted reference to Jesus in older scriptures about "the Lord."

"Bow down thine ear, O Jehovah, and answer me; For I am poor and needy."
Psalm 86:1

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Notable Finds

Much of what is described in Bible text is lost to history, requiring readers to assume the historicity of the scriptures.

However, many of the places and events described in the Old and New Testaments are periodically corroborated by archeological finds.

Some finds simply help us to better understand things from the ancient world. However, others provide important evidence as to the truth of scripture regarding things about which there had previously been skepticism.

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