Nebo-Sarsekim Tablet

A small cuneiform tablet from the collection of the British Museum (BM 114789), identified in 2007 by Assyriologist Michael Jursa of the University of Vienna while conducting research on Babylonian financial documents. The tablet dates to 595 BCE (the tenth year of Nebuchadnezzar II) and records a gold payment made by "Nabu-sharrussu-ukin, the chief eunuch" to the temple of Esangila in Babylon. This official is identified with "Nebo-Sarsekim" listed in Jeremiah 39:3 as one of the Babylonian officers present at the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BCE. The tablet had been in the British Museum's collection since 1920 but its significance was not recognized until Jursa's reading. The discovery is notable because it confirms the existence of a specific individual mentioned in only one verse of the Bible, demonstrating the historical precision of the book of Jeremiah.