INCANTATION BOWL: EARLIEST HEWBREW TEXT EXAMPLES

MS 2053/196
MS Short Title INCANTATION BOWL: EARLIEST HEWBREW TEXT EXAMPLES
Text
  1. BIBLE: NUMBERS 9:23
  2. BIBLE: ZECHARIAH 3:2
  3. BIBLE: PSALMS 55:8; 91:7-8
  4. INCANTATIONS:
    TIGERS ARE PLACED UPRIGHT ON MY HEAD, AND MALICIOUS PEBBLE-STONES ARE PLACED ON MY CHEST, AND AT THEIR KNEES ARE SEALED HEAVEN AND EARTH, FIRE, WATER, MOON, STARS, ZODIAK SIGNS, SPARKS, AIR, DEMONS, DEVS, ACCIDENTS, NO-GOOD-ONES, SATANS, DANAHISH, MALE IDOLS AND FEMALE GODDESSES.
    AGAIN, I SEAL AND DOUBLE-SEAL, I, DUKHTANSHAH DAUGHTER OF GUSHNOI, BY THESE THREE MAGICAL WORDS WITH WHICH THEY SPEAK AND LISTEN, FOR THE GREAT HAMMER OF SPLENDOUR AND THE GREAT AXE OF THE BEGINNING AND SCOURGE OF 360 PURE PEBBLE-SPIRITS. AMEN, AMEN, SELAH.-
Description MS in Hebrew (texts 1-3) and Jewish-Aramaic (text 4) on clay, Near East, 5th-6th c., 1 incantation bowl, 10, 5x27,0 cm, 14 lines in Jewish-Aramaic script, indented rim.
Context Numbers 9:23 are on MSS 2053/41, 2053/126, 2053/139, 2053/190 and 2053/196. Zechariah 3:2 is cited on MSS 1927/10, 1927/18, 1927/41, 1927/64, 1928/14, 2053/01, 2053/07, 2053/13, 2053/14, 2053/24, 2053/38, 2053/52, 2053/56, 2053/66, 2053/70, 2053/80, 2053/92, 2053/116, 2053/156, 2053/158, 2053/168, 2053/176, 2053/182, 2053/195, 2053/196, 2053/218, 2053/223, 2053/230, 2053/238, 2053/243, 2053/246 and 2053/262. Psalms 55:8 is cited on MSS 1927/37, 2053/70 and 2053/196. Psalms 91:7-8 are cited on MSS 1927/37, 2053/196 and 2053/275.
Commentary

Text 1, Numbers 9:23, is not extant in the Dead Sea Scrolls, and is the oldest surviving witness in the original language of the Hebrew Bible.

Text 2, Zechariah 3:2 is on the Dead Sea Scroll, 8HevXIIgr, frg. 7, from Nahal Hever, the "Cave of Horror", which however, is not in Hebrew, but the Greek Septuagint translation. The present text thus is the oldest surviving witness in the original language of the Hebrew Bible.

Text 3, Psalms 91:7-8, quoting the Hebrew Bible is among the earliest known, only preceeded by the Dead Sea Scrolls, 11QPsApA and 4QPsB, in Hebrew.

Published The partial quote of text 4 is preliminary and by permission of Prof. Shaul Shaked, who will publish the present incantation bowl in the series Manuscripts in The Schøyen Collection.
Place of origin Near East
Dates 5c - 7c AD