News from the Field: The Divine Name Found in Jerusalem

The Divine Name—the tetragrammaton—yod, he, waw, he—YHVH—Yahweh—LORD—sometimes rendered in English Jehovah—has been found in the Holy City, Jerusalem, for the first time in an archaeological excavation.

Dating to the end of the seventh or sixth century B.C., the prayer-like inscription containing the Divine Name was scratched on a tiny amulet—a rolled-up strip of silver.

Jerusalem is the most excavated site in the Holy Land. Indeed, some excavations are still in progress. Nevertheless, the number of inscribed objects from the First Temple Period (which ended with the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem in 587 B.C.) is very limited. The few inscriptions that have been found were carved in stone or written on potsherds.