Deir 'Alla Inscription (Balaam)

A plaster inscription discovered in 1967 by Henk Franken during Dutch excavations at Tell Deir 'Alla in the Jordan Valley. The text, written in ink on fragments of lime plaster that had fallen from a wall, references "Balaam son of Beor" — the same seer described in Numbers 22-24 who was hired by Balak king of Moab to curse Israel. The inscription describes a vision of divine judgment involving the "assembly of the gods" and natural disasters. It dates to approximately 840-760 BCE based on archaeological context. While the inscription is several centuries later than the biblical Balaam narrative (typically placed in the Late Bronze Age), it confirms that Balaam son of Beor was a historical figure remembered in the region centuries after his time. The inscription was found in the Jordan Valley, consistent with the broader geography of the biblical account. It is the only known extra-biblical reference to a named prophet from the Hebrew Bible found in an archaeological context.