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PreviewAdvancedSpecial charactersHelpHeadingLevel 2Level 3Level 4Level 5FormatInsertLatinLatin extendedIPASymbolsGreekGreek extendedCyrillicArabicArabic extendedHebrewBanglaTamilTeluguSinhalaDevanagariGujaratiThaiLaoKhmerCanadian AboriginalRunesÁáÀàÂâÄäÃãǍǎĀāĂ㥹ÅåĆćĈĉÇçČčĊċĐđĎďÉéÈèÊêËëĚěĒēĔĕĖėĘęĜĝĢģĞğĠġĤĥĦħÍíÌìÎîÏïĨĩǏǐĪīĬĭİıĮįĴĵĶķĹĺĻļĽľŁłŃńÑñŅņŇňÓóÒòÔôÖöÕõǑǒŌōŎŏǪǫŐőŔŕŖŗŘřŚśŜŝŞşŠšȘșȚțŤťÚúÙùÛûÜüŨũŮůǓǔŪūǖǘǚǜŬŭŲųŰűŴŵÝýŶŷŸÿȲȳŹźŽžŻżÆæǢǣØøŒœßÐðÞþƏəFormattingLinksHeadingsListsFilesDiscussionReferencesDescriptionWhat you typeWhat you getItalic''Italic text''Italic textBold'''Bold text'''Bold textBold & italic'''''Bold & italic text'''''Bold & italic textDescriptionWhat you typeWhat you getReferencePage text.<ref>[https://www.example.org/ Link text], additional text.</ref>Page text.[1]Named referencePage text.<ref name="test">[https://www.example.org/ Link text]</ref>Page text.[2]Additional use of the same referencePage text.<ref name="test" />Page text.[2]Display references<references />↑ Link text, additional text.↑ Link text===Oldest Hebrew inscriptions=== {{Further|Paleo-Hebrew alphabet|Ancient Hebrew writings}} [[File:Silwan-inscr.jpg|thumb|The [[Royal Steward inscription|Shebna Inscription]], from the tomb of a royal steward found in [[Siloam]], dates to the 7th century BCE.]] In May 2023, Scott Stripling published the finding of what he claims to be the oldest known Hebrew inscription, a [[Mount Ebal curse tablet|curse tablet found at Mount Ebal]], dated from around 3200 years ago. The presence of the Hebrew [[Names of God in Judaism|name of god]], Yahweh, as three letters, ''Yod-Heh-Vav'' (YHV), according to the author and his team meant that the tablet is Hebrew and not Canaanite.<ref>{{cite journal | doi=10.1186/s40494-023-00920-9 | title="You are Cursed by the God YHW:" an early Hebrew inscription from Mt. Ebal | year=2023 | last1=Stripling | first1=Scott | last2=Galil | first2=Gershon | last3=Kumpova | first3=Ivana | last4=Valach | first4=Jaroslav | last5=Van Der Veen | first5=Pieter Gert | last6=Vavrik | first6=Daniel | journal=Heritage Science | volume=11 | s2cid=258620459 | doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.jpost.com/archaeology/article-743039 | title=Ancient tablet found on Mount Ebal predates known Hebrew inscriptions | date=14 May 2023 }}</ref> However, practically all professional archeologists and epigraphers apart from Stripling's team claim that there is no text on this object.<ref>{{Citation |title=See For Yourself: Analyzing the Ebal "Inscription" {{!}} Bible & Archaeology |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0Scp85Nlnk |access-date=2023-09-09 |language=en}}</ref> In July 2008, Israeli archaeologist [[Yosef Garfinkel|Yossi Garfinkel]] discovered [[Khirbet Qeiyafa ostracon|a ceramic shard]] at [[Khirbet Qeiyafa]] that he claimed may be the earliest Hebrew writing yet discovered, dating from around 3,000 years ago.<ref>{{cite news |work=BBC News |date=30 October 2008 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7700037.stm |title='Oldest Hebrew script' is found |access-date=3 March 2010 |archive-date=24 October 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101024053116/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7700037.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Hebrew University of Jerusalem|Hebrew University]] archaeologist [[Amihai Mazar]] said that the inscription was "proto-Canaanite" but cautioned that {{nowrap|"[t]he}} differentiation between the scripts, and between the languages themselves in that period, remains unclear", and suggested that calling the text Hebrew might be going too far.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/news/have-israeli-archaeologists-found-world-s-oldest-hebrew-inscription-1.256305 |title=Have Israeli Archaeologists Found World's Oldest Hebrew Inscription? |work=Haaretz |agency=AP |date=30 October 2008 |access-date=8 November 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110806071612/http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/news/have-israeli-archaeologists-found-world-s-oldest-hebrew-inscription-1.256305 |archive-date=6 August 2011 }}</ref> The [[Gezer calendar]] also dates back to the 10th century BCE at the beginning of the [[Monarchic period]], the traditional time of the reign of [[David]] and [[Solomon]]. Classified as [[Biblical Hebrew|Archaic Biblical Hebrew]], the calendar presents a list of seasons and related agricultural activities. The Gezer calendar (named after [[Gezer|the city]] in whose proximity it was found) is written in an old Semitic script, akin to the [[Phoenician alphabet|Phoenician]] one that, through the [[ancient Greece|Greeks]] and [[Etruscan civilization|Etruscans]], later became the [[Latin alphabet]] of [[ancient Rome]]. The Gezer calendar is written without any [[vowel]]s, and it does not use [[Mater lectionis|consonants to imply vowels]] even in the places in which later Hebrew spelling requires them. Numerous older tablets have been found in the region with similar scripts written in other Semitic languages, for example, [[Proto-Sinaitic script|Proto-Sinaitic]]. It is believed that the original shapes of the script go back to [[Egyptian hieroglyphs]], though the phonetic values are instead inspired by the [[acrophonic]] principle. The common ancestor of Hebrew and Phoenician is called [[Canaanite languages|Canaanite]], and was the first to use a Semitic alphabet distinct from that of Egyptian. One ancient document is the famous [[Mesha Stele|Moabite Stone]], written in the Moabite dialect; the [[Siloam inscription]], found near [[Jerusalem]], is an early example of Hebrew. Less ancient samples of Archaic Hebrew include the [[Lachish letters|ostraca found near Lachish]], which describe events preceding the final capture of Jerusalem by [[Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon|Nebuchadnezzar]] and the Babylonian captivity of 586 BCE. Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). 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