Lachish Letters

A collection of 21 ostraca (inscribed pottery sherds) discovered in the burned gatehouse of ancient Lachish (Tell ed-Duweir) during excavations by James Leslie Starkey in 1935 and 1938. The letters are written in Biblical Hebrew using iron-carbon ink and date to approximately 588 BCE — the final years before the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem. Most are military correspondence from a subordinate officer named Hoshayahu to his commander Ya'ush. The most famous is Letter IV, which states: "We are watching for the signals of Lachish, according to all the indications which my lord hath given, for we cannot see Azekah." This directly parallels Jeremiah 34:7, which records that during the Babylonian siege, "Lachish and Azekah" were the last fortified cities of Judah still holding out. The letters provide a rare eyewitness perspective on the final days of the Kingdom of Judah and confirm the military situation described by the prophet Jeremiah. Eighteen of the letters were found in the 1935 season and three more in 1938.