ManuscriptUniversally Accepted ✓
The Ketef Hinnom Silver Scrolls
What Was Discovered
Two small silver amulets discovered in 1979 by Gabriel Barkay in a burial chamber at Ketef Hinnom, Jerusalem. Unrolled and deciphered over the following years, the amulets were found to contain the text of the Priestly Blessing from Numbers 6:24-26 — making them the oldest known surviving biblical text by several centuries, predating the Dead Sea Scrolls by as much as 400 years. They demonstrate that portions of the Torah existed in substantially their canonical form by the late First Temple period.
Acceptance Assessment
Universally Accepted
Authenticity and the reading of the Priestly Blessing are accepted in mainstream scholarship; the exact dating is debated within a narrow pre-exilic / early-exilic window.
