Albright, W. F. “A Hebrew Letter from the Twelfth Century B.C.” Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, 1939, 9–13. https://doi.org/10.2307/3219026.
KAI 003
Gibson 3:01
Metadata
- Collection
- Beirut Archaeological Museum (= National Museum of Beirut) (Public)
- Keywords
-
- Economic | Document
- Receipt
- record
- Language
- Phoenician / Punic
- Script
- Phoenician
- Find Type
- Excavation
- Material
- Bronze Flask
- Updated by
- James D. Moore, 2026-06-28
- Date (Paleographic)
- Gregorian -1000 to -975
General Notes
The ˁAzarbaˁal spatula was published by Dunand in a 1938 article and in his 1939 book, Fouilles De Byblos. It was found in the surface layers of the Baˁalat-Gebal temple at Byblos. Its dimensions are 96 mm x 56 mm (Dunand 1938). A number of these were found together, and Gibson suggests these may have originally had a wooden handle, given the sloped shape, and been used for some kind of spreading task. Martin (1961, 60-63) shows that it was written over top of an older pseudohieroglyphic writing. It remains unclear why these were used as surfaces for writing in both the original pseudohieroglyphic texts as well as the Phoenician which was written over top in this case. The text of this inscription has remained a puzzle with many quite varied translations and interpretations being set forth. Recently, with a new word division, this text has been proposed as a debt receipt (Donnelly-Lewis 2021). Other interpretations have viewed the text as describing the practice of belomancy, for settling a dispute in this case (Iwry 1961), and a rebuke from a superior to his subordinate who presumptuously sought compensation (McCarter and Coote 1973). This dates to around 1000 B.C.E. due to its paleographic similarity to the ˀAḥiram sarcophagus inscription. See the notes to 11441 for further information. The bronze spatulas from Byblos now rest in the National Museum of Beirut.
Albright, W. F. “The Phoenician Inscriptions of the Tenth Century B. C. from Byblus.” Journal of the American Oriental Society 67, no. 3 (1947): 153–60. https://doi.org/10.2307/596081.
Bange, Ludger A. A Study of the Use of Vowel-Letters in Alphabetic Consonantal Writing. München: Verl. UNI-Druck, 1971.
Cross, F. M., and D. N. Freedman. Early Hebrew Orthography: A Study of the Epigraphic Evidence. American Oriental Series 36. New Haven, CT: American Oriental Society, 1952.
Donnelly-Lewis, B. “The Azarbaʿal Spatula (KAI 3), A Debt Receipt from Ancient Byblos: Linguistic Notes for a New Translation and Interpretation.” Semitica, 2021, 29–43.
Donner, Herbert, and Wolfgang Röllig. Kanaanäische und aramäische Inschriften. 5th ed. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, 2002.
Donner, Herbert, and Wolfgang Röllig, eds. Kanaanäische und aramäische Inschriften. 5., erw. Und überarbeitete Aufl. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1971.
Dunand, Maurice. Fouilles de Byblos. Études et documents d’archéologie ; tome 1, 3, 5, 6. Paris: P. Geuthner, 1937.
Dunand, M. “Spatule de bronze avec epigraph phenicien du XIII s.” Bulletin du Musée de Beyrouth 2 (1938): 99–107.
Dunand, Maurice. Byblia grammata: Documents et recherches sur le développement de l’écriture en Phénicie. Beirut: Ministère de l’Education Nationale et des Beaux-arts, 1945.
Dupont-Sommer, A. “L’inscription phénicienne de la spatule dite d’Asdrubal.” Archiv Orientální 17 (1949): 158–67.
Gelb, I. J. Glossary of Old Akkadian. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1957. https://isac.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/uploads/shared/docs/mad3.pdf.
Iwry, Samuel. “New Evidence for Belomancy in Ancient Palestine and Phoenicia.” Journal of the American Oriental Society 81, no. 1 (1961): 27–34. https://doi.org/10.2307/594897.
Magnanini, Pietro. Le iscrizioni fenicie dell’Oriente: Testi, traduzioni, glossari. Rome: Centro di Studi Semitici, Istituto di Studi del Vicino Oriente, 1973.
Martin, M. “A Preliminary Report after Re-Examination of the Byblian Inscriptions.” Orientalia 30, no. 1 (1961): 46–78. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43073578.
McCarter, P. Kyle, and Robert B. Coote. “The Spatula Inscription from Byblos.” Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, no. 212 (1973): 16–22. https://doi.org/10.2307/1356306.
Obermann, Julian. “An Early Phoenician Political Document: With a Parallel to Judges 11:24.” Journal of Biblical Literature 58, no. 3 (1939): 229–42. https://doi.org/10.2307/3259487.
Branden, A. van den. “Quelques notes concernant le vocabulaire phénico-punique.” Rivista di studi fenici 2, no. 2 (1974): 137–47.
Image
Textual Notes
3 - נחל : This is an active participle with the verb to follow on the next line, meaning, “inheritor” or “heir.” 3 - נש בת : Donnelly-Lewis (2021) proposes to divide this into two words. There is no space between the words and no word divider, but word dividers are not between every word of the inscription, nor are the words divided by space.This point of the inscription has historically caused problems and drives the interpretation of the rest. He sees NŠ as a noun from the root NŠY, attested in Hebrew. The noun only occurs once in Biblical Hebrew. Specifically, it is the term Elisha uses for what he tells the widow to go and repay after his miracle, with the verb ŠLM, as here. The economic genre is the oldest interpretation of the text. In discussion with Prof. James Moore, the division into two words by Donnelly-Lewis is maintained, but with a connection to an Akkadian term from nišū, “people,” and bîtum, “house,” referring to household servants (Gelb 1957, 92, 208). 4 - מ⸢ג⸣שתכ : Again, refer to Donnelly-Lewis (2021). He connects this with the root NGŚ, with this form being losing the N from the M prefix for the noun. This was proposed previously by McCarter and Coote (1973). Donnelly-Lewis follows their understanding for this noun. He also notes that the first to see this root was Obermann (1939), but he translated "dominion" rather than as some payment type, which fits the economic context of this text. 4-6: The final lines of the receipt express that there is no outstanding obligation between the two parties if ˁAzarbaˁal has someone to inherit from him. Each person’s obligations will be his own to sort out.
Text and Translation
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Donner and Röllig Last updated 26 April, 2026 by James D. Moore
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Donner and Röllig Last updated 26 April, 2026 by James D. Moore
[…...]J dem ˁZRBˁL
neunzig (Sekel als) Bezahlung (in) Silber (??)
habe ich genommen (?). Wenn du wirklich
in Besitz nimmst, ist deine Habe
für dich und meine Habe
für mich (??).
Moore, James D., Cody Beasley. 'KAI 003.' DEAPS. 04 Feb, 2026. https://deaps.osu.edu/text_objects/11443. Accessed: 01 Jul, 2026.