The following is a casual, non-expert translation of the Mesha Stele. The Mesha Stele is a stone inscription which was discovered in Dhiban Jordan in 1868. The inscription was written in Moabite, a dialect similar to biblical Hebrew, using Phoenician script and is typically dated to around 840 B.C.E. The inscription is a first person narration from the perspective of a Moabite king named Mesha in which the king boasts of military victories and building projects and in particular about military victories over the kingdom of Israel. The inscription is important for several reasons. First, it is among the oldest and longest iron age inscriptions ever found in the region. Second, it provides valuable information related to the language, culture and religious beliefs of the Moabite kingdom of the 9th century BCE. Third, it seems to confirm and expand upon the biblical account of the same events found in 2 Kings 3.
The translation is provided below in the form of a table. Each row of the table represents a single sentence from the stele. On the right-hand side of the table, each cell is split into two subcells with the top portion displaying the sentence in its original Phoenician lettering and the the bottom portion displaying the sentence transcribed into standard Hebrew lettering. On the left-hand side of the table each cell displays an English translation for the corresponding sentence. Ellipses are used to indicate portions of the stele which are too damaged to read. Brackets are used to indicate portions of the stele which are too damaged to read but in which experts have nonetheless interpolated missing letters. Underlines are used to indicate portions of the text whose identification is uncertain. These markings are copied from a freely available version of the inscription found here.
As stated earlier, Moabite is similar to biblical Hebrew. Therefore, to make this translation I relied upon knowledge of biblical Hebrew. First, I took the original Moabite script and transcribed it into standard Hebrew script. Then I went through the text word by word and tried to find an equivalent Hebrew word for each Moabite word. In many cases this was easy since the equivalent Hebrew word was identical to the Moabite word. For instance, the word מלך which means ‘king’ or the verb ‘to rule’ is identical in both Hebrew and Moabite. In other cases, identification was a little harder since the spelling differed a bit from the equivalent Hebrew word. For instance, the Moabite word for ‘I’, אנך, is slightly different from the equivalent Hebrew word ,אנכי. Occasionally, when I could not find a plausible Hebrew equivalent, I simply guessed based on context. I indicated my uncertainty by surrounding these words with question marks.
As for Moabite grammar, it is also similar to biblical Hebrew grammar. For instance, like biblical Hebrew, Moabite has perfect and imperfect verb tenses and shares many of the same prefixes and suffixes. For instance, an aleph (-א) prefix in both dialects is used to indicate the first-person singular in the imperfect tense, while a (תי-) suffix in both dialects is used to indicate the first-person singular in the perfect tense. Both Moabite and biblical Hebrew also use the vav-consecutive construction by which prefixing a verb with a vav (-ו) can change a verb from imperfect to perfect and vice-versa. Despite these similarities there are also some differences. For instance, in Hebrew a (ים-) suffix is used to pluralize masculine nouns whereas in Moabite a (ן-) suffix is used to do the same. As an example, the Moabite word שלשן is actually equivalent to the Hebrew word שלשים which means ‘thirty’. Also, in biblical Hebrew a vav suffix (ו-) after a noun or a verb can be used to indicate a masculine third-person singular pronoun. In Moabite, the equivalent suffix would be (ה-). So for instance, when referring to the son of Omri as ‘his son’ the Mesha stele uses the construction ‘בנה’ instead of the ‘בנו’ which would be typical of biblical Hebrew.
As a final note, if you look at the translation table below, you’ll notice various links. On the Moabite side of the table you’ll notice various numbers that appear in the table after various Moabite words. These numbers are Strong's concordance numbers. Strong’s concordance numbers are identification numbers assigned to every unique word that occurs in the bible. Here, I use them to identify which biblical Hebrew words are seen to be equivalent to the given Moabite word. Clicking on the link redirects the user to an entry for the word provided on an online biblical hebrew dictionary. So for instance, the first word of the stele “אנך” is interpreted as ‘I’ since it is seen to be equivalent to the biblical hebrew word “אנכי” whose Strong’s concordance number is 595 and which means “I”. Clicking on the link marked 595 will take you to a dictionary entry for the word “אנכי”. Note, I didn’t provide these links exhaustively, only the first time a particular word appears in the stele. So, all other times “אנך” appears in the stele no link is provided. Links provided on the English side of the table redirect the user to various articles pertaining to individuals, peoples, places and Gods mentioned in the stele.
| I am Mesha son of Chemosh[…] king of Moab the Dibonite. | 𐤀𐤍𐤊 𐤌𐤔𐤏 𐤁𐤍 𐤊𐤌𐤔𐤟𐤟𐤟𐤟 𐤌𐤋𐤊 𐤌𐤀𐤁 𐤄𐤃𐤉𐤁𐤍𐤉 |
| My father ruled over Moab for thirty years and I ruled after my father. | 𐤀𐤁𐤉 𐤌𐤋𐤊 𐤏𐤋 𐤌𐤀𐤁 𐤔𐤋𐤔𐤍 𐤔𐤕 𐤅𐤀𐤍𐤊 𐤌𐤋𐤊𐤕𐤉 𐤀𐤇𐤓 𐤀𐤁𐤉 |
אבי (2) מלך (4427) על מאב שלשן (7970) שת (8141) ואנך מלכתי אחר (310) אבי |
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| I built this high-place to Chemosh in Karcha. | 𐤅𐤀𐤏𐤔 𐤄𐤁𐤌𐤕 𐤆𐤀𐤕 𐤋𐤊𐤌𐤔 𐤁𐤒𐤓𐤇𐤄 |
| A high-place of salvation, because he saved me from all the cormorants and made me see in them my contempt. | 𐤁[𐤌𐤕 𐤉]𐤔𐤏 𐤊𐤉 𐤄𐤔𐤏𐤍𐤉 𐤌𐤊𐤋 𐤄𐤔𐤋𐤊𐤍 𐤅𐤊𐤉 𐤄𐤓𐤀𐤍𐤉 𐤁𐤊𐤋 𐤔𐤍𐤀𐤉 |
ב[מת י]שע (3468) כי השעני (3467) מכל השלכן (7994) וכי הראני (7200) בכל שנאי (8135) |
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| ֹOmri ruled Israel and oppressed Moab many days and angered Chemosh ִin his land. | 𐤏𐤌𐤓𐤉 𐤌𐤋𐤊 𐤉𐤔𐤓𐤀𐤋 𐤅𐤉𐤏𐤍𐤅 𐤀𐤕 𐤌𐤀𐤁 𐤉𐤌𐤍 𐤓𐤁𐤍 𐤊𐤉 𐤉𐤀𐤍𐤐 𐤊𐤌𐤔 𐤁𐤀𐤓𐤑𐤄 |
עמרי מלך ישראל ויענו (6031) את מאב ימן (3118) רבן (7227) כי יאנף (599) כמש בארצה (766) |
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| And his son replaced him and he also said I will oppress Moab. | 𐤅𐤉𐤇𐤋𐤐𐤄 𐤁𐤍𐤄 𐤅𐤉𐤀𐤌𐤓 𐤂𐤌 𐤄𐤀 𐤀𐤏𐤍𐤅 𐤀𐤕 𐤌𐤀𐤁 |
| In my day he said I will behold him and his house. | 𐤁𐤉𐤌𐤉 𐤀𐤌𐤓 𐤊 𐤅𐤀𐤓𐤀 𐤁𐤄 𐤅𐤁𐤁𐤕𐤄 |
בימי אמר כ וארא בה ובבתה (1004) |
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| And Israel decimated and seized the land of Madabah. | 𐤅𐤉𐤔𐤓𐤀𐤋 𐤀𐤁𐤃 𐤀𐤁𐤃 𐤏𐤋𐤌 𐤅𐤉𐤓𐤔 𐤏𐤌𐤓𐤉 𐤀𐤕 [𐤀𐤓]𐤑 𐤌𐤄𐤃𐤁𐤀 |
וישראל אבד (7) אבד עלם (5957) וירש (3423) עמרי את [אר]ץ מהדבא |
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| And he occupied it for the entirety of his days and half the days of his son, forty years, and Chemosh answered him in my day. | 𐤅𐤉𐤔𐤁 𐤁𐤄 𐤉𐤌𐤄 𐤅𐤇𐤑𐤉 𐤉𐤌𐤉 𐤁𐤍𐤄 𐤀𐤓𐤁𐤏𐤍 𐤔𐤕 𐤅𐤉𐤔𐤁𐤄 𐤊𐤌𐤔 𐤁𐤉𐤌𐤉 |
וישב (3427) בה ימה וחצי (2677) ימי בנה ארבען (705) שת וישבה (7725) כמש בימי |
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| And I fortified Baal-Meon and I built in it the ??reservoir?? and I fortified Kiriathaim. | 𐤅𐤀𐤁𐤍 𐤀𐤕 𐤁𐤏𐤋𐤌𐤏𐤍 𐤅𐤀𐤏𐤔 𐤁𐤄 𐤄𐤀𐤔𐤅𐤇 𐤅𐤀𐤁𐤍 𐤀𐤕 𐤒𐤓𐤉𐤕𐤍 |
ואבן (1129) את בעלמען ואעש בה ??האשוח?? (7745) ואבן את קריתן |
| And the people of Gad had settled in the land of Ataroth since ancient times and the king of Israel fortified Ataroth. | 𐤅𐤀𐤔 𐤂𐤃 𐤉𐤔𐤁 𐤁𐤀𐤓𐤑 𐤏𐤈𐤓𐤕 𐤌𐤏𐤋𐤌 𐤅𐤉𐤁𐤍 𐤋𐤄 𐤌𐤋𐤊 𐤉𐤔𐤓𐤀𐤋 𐤀𐤕 𐤏𐤈𐤓𐤕 |
ואש (376) גד ישב בארץ עטרת מעלם ויבן לה מלך ישראל את עטרת |
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| And I attacked the town and seized it. | 𐤅𐤀𐤋𐤕𐤇𐤌 𐤁𐤒𐤓 𐤅𐤀𐤇𐤆𐤄 |
| And I killed the entire population ??retribution?? for Chemosh and for Moab. | 𐤅𐤀𐤄𐤓𐤂 𐤀𐤕 𐤊𐤋 𐤄𐤏𐤌 [𐤌]𐤄𐤒𐤓 𐤓𐤉𐤕 𐤋𐤊𐤌𐤔 𐤅𐤋𐤌𐤀𐤁 |
| And I captured from there the ??altar of Dawda?? and I dragged it before Chemosh in Kiryat. | 𐤅𐤀𐤔𐤁 𐤌𐤔𐤌 𐤀𐤕 𐤀𐤓𐤀𐤋 𐤃𐤅𐤃𐤄 𐤅𐤀[𐤎]𐤇𐤁𐤄 𐤋𐤐𐤍𐤉 𐤊𐤌𐤔 𐤁𐤒𐤓𐤉𐤕 |
וישב (7617) משם את ??אראל (741) דודה?? וא[ס]חבה (5498) לפני כמש בקרית |
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| ַAnd I settled there the people of Siran and the people of Machrat. | 𐤅𐤀𐤔𐤁 𐤁𐤄 𐤀𐤕 𐤀𐤔 𐤔𐤓𐤍 𐤅𐤀𐤕 𐤀𐤔 𐤌𐤇𐤓𐤕 |
ואשב בה את אש שרן ואת אש מחרת |
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| And Chemosh said unto me go seize Nebo from Israel. | 𐤅𐤉𐤀𐤌𐤓 𐤋𐤉 𐤊𐤌𐤔 𐤋𐤊 𐤀𐤇𐤆 𐤀𐤕 𐤍𐤁𐤄 𐤏𐤋 𐤉𐤔𐤓𐤀𐤏𐤋 |
ויאמר לי כמש לך אחז את נבה על ישראל |
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| And I went at night and I attacked it from the break of dawn until noon. | 𐤅𐤀𐤄𐤋𐤊 𐤁𐤋𐤋𐤄 𐤅𐤀𐤋𐤕𐤇𐤌 𐤁𐤄 𐤌𐤁𐤒𐤏 𐤄𐤔𐤇𐤓𐤕 𐤏𐤃 𐤄𐤑𐤄𐤓𐤌 |
ואהלך (1980) בללה (3915) ואלתחם בה מבקע (1234) השחרת (7837) עד הצהרם (6672) |
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| And I seized it and I slew all 7000 men and male-sojourners. | 𐤅𐤀𐤇𐤆𐤄 𐤅𐤀𐤄𐤓𐤂 𐤊𐤋𐤄 𐤔𐤁𐤏𐤕 𐤀𐤋𐤐𐤉 𐤂[𐤁]𐤓𐤍 𐤅𐤂𐤓𐤍 |
ואחזה ואהרג כלה שבעת (7651) אלפי (506) ג[ב]רן (1397) וגרן (1616) |
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| As for women, female-sojourners and girls, | 𐤅𐤂𐤁𐤓𐤕 𐤅𐤂𐤓𐤕 𐤅𐤓𐤇𐤌𐤕 |
| to Ashtar-Chemosh I consecrated (sacrificed?) them. | 𐤊𐤉 𐤋𐤏𐤔𐤕𐤓 𐤊𐤌𐤔 𐤄𐤇𐤓𐤌𐤕𐤄 |
כי לעשתר כמש החרמתה (2763) |
| And I took from there the vessels of Yaweh and I dragged them before Chemosh. | 𐤅𐤀𐤒𐤇 𐤌𐤔𐤌 𐤀[𐤕 𐤊]𐤋𐤉 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 𐤄𐤌 𐤋𐤐𐤍𐤉 𐤊𐤌𐤔 |
| And the king of Israel fortified Jahaz and he garrisoned there to wage war against me. | 𐤅𐤌𐤋𐤊 𐤉𐤔𐤓𐤀𐤋 𐤁𐤍𐤄 𐤀𐤕 𐤉𐤄𐤉𐤑 𐤅𐤉𐤔𐤁 𐤁𐤄 𐤁𐤄𐤋𐤕𐤇𐤌𐤄 𐤁𐤉 |
ומלך ישראל בנה את יהיץ וישב בה בהלתחם בי |
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| And Chemosh expelled him from before me and I took from Moab two hundred men ??total??. | 𐤅𐤉𐤂𐤓𐤔𐤄 𐤊𐤌𐤔 𐤌𐤐𐤍[𐤉 𐤅]𐤀𐤒𐤇 𐤌𐤌𐤀𐤁 𐤌𐤀𐤕𐤍 𐤀𐤔 𐤊𐤋 𐤓𐤔𐤄 |
ויגרשה (1644) כמש מפנ[י (6440) ו]אקח ממאב מאתן (3967) אש כל ??רשה?? |
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| And I destroyed Yahitz and seized it to annex it to Dibon. | 𐤅𐤀𐤔𐤀𐤄 𐤁𐤉𐤄𐤉𐤑 𐤅𐤀𐤇𐤆𐤄 𐤋𐤎𐤐𐤕 𐤏𐤋 𐤃𐤉𐤁𐤍 |
| I built in Karcha the wall of the woods and the wall of the hill. | 𐤀𐤍𐤊 𐤁𐤍𐤕𐤉 𐤒𐤓𐤇𐤄 𐤇𐤌𐤕 𐤄𐤉𐤏𐤓𐤍 𐤅𐤇𐤌𐤕 𐤄𐤏𐤐𐤋 |
| And I built her gates and I built her towers | 𐤅𐤀𐤍𐤊 𐤁𐤍𐤕𐤉 𐤔𐤏𐤓𐤉𐤄 𐤅𐤀𐤍𐤊 𐤁𐤍𐤕𐤉 𐤌𐤂𐤃𐤋𐤕𐤄 |
| And I built the palace of the king and I built the prison and ??the reservoir?? within the city. | 𐤅𐤀𐤍𐤊 𐤁𐤍𐤕𐤉 𐤁𐤕 𐤌𐤋𐤊 𐤅𐤀𐤍𐤊 𐤏𐤔𐤕𐤉 𐤊𐤋𐤀𐤉 𐤄𐤀𐤔[𐤅𐤇 𐤋𐤌]𐤉𐤍 𐤁𐤒𐤓𐤁 𐤄𐤒𐤓 |
ואנך בנתי בת מלך ואנך עשתי כלאי (3608) האש[וח למ]ין (4325) בקרב (7130) הקר |
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| And a cistern wasn’t in the midst of the city in Karcha and I said to the people make for yourselves each a cistern in his house. | 𐤅𐤁𐤓 𐤀𐤍 𐤁𐤒𐤓𐤁 𐤄𐤒𐤓 𐤁𐤒𐤓𐤇𐤄 𐤅𐤀𐤌𐤓 𐤋𐤊𐤋 𐤄𐤏𐤌 𐤏𐤔𐤅 𐤋𐤊𐤌 𐤀𐤔 𐤁𐤓 𐤁𐤁𐤉𐤕𐤄 |
ובר (953) אן (369) בקרב הקר בקרחה ואמר לכל העם עשו לכם אש בר בביתה |
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| And I cut the ??stones or beams?? for Karcha using the prisoners of Israel. | 𐤅𐤀𐤊 𐤊𐤓𐤕𐤉 𐤄𐤌𐤊𐤓𐤕𐤕 𐤋𐤒𐤓𐤇𐤄 𐤁𐤀𐤎𐤓[𐤉] 𐤉𐤔𐤓𐤀𐤋 |
| I fortified Aroer and I built the causeway along the Arnon and I built Bet-Bamot because it was destroyed. | 𐤀𐤍𐤊 𐤁𐤍𐤕𐤉 𐤏𐤓𐤏𐤓 𐤅𐤀𐤍𐤊 𐤏𐤔𐤕𐤉 𐤄𐤌𐤎𐤋𐤕 𐤁𐤀𐤓𐤍𐤍 𐤀𐤍𐤊 𐤁𐤍𐤕𐤉 𐤁𐤕 𐤁𐤌𐤕 𐤊𐤉 𐤄𐤓𐤎 𐤄𐤀 |
אנך בנתי ערער ואנך עשתי המסלת (4546) בארנן אנך בנתי בת במת כי הרס הא |
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| I built Bezer because ִit was punished by the armed men of Dibon because all of Dibon is loyal. | 𐤀𐤍𐤊 𐤁𐤍𐤕𐤉 𐤁𐤑𐤓 𐤊𐤉 𐤏𐤉𐤍𐤔 𐤃𐤉𐤁𐤍 𐤇𐤌𐤔𐤍 𐤊𐤉 𐤊𐤋 𐤃𐤉𐤁𐤍 𐤌𐤔𐤌𐤏𐤕 |
אנך בנתי בצר כי עינש (6065) דיבן חמשן (2571) כי כל דיבן משמעת (4928) |
| And I ruled over hundreds in the towns that I added to the land. | 𐤅𐤀𐤍𐤊 𐤌𐤋𐤊𐤕𐤉 𐤌𐤀𐤕 𐤁𐤒𐤓𐤍 𐤀𐤔𐤓 𐤉𐤎𐤐𐤕𐤄 𐤏𐤋 𐤄𐤀𐤓𐤑 |
ואנך מלכתי מאת בקרן אשר יספתי(3255) על הארץ |
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| And I fortified Madabah and Beth Dablathan and Baal Maon and I took there sheep herders [...] sheep of the land. | 𐤅𐤀𐤍𐤊 𐤁𐤍𐤕𐤉 [𐤀𐤕] 𐤌𐤄𐤃[𐤁]𐤀 𐤅𐤁𐤕 𐤃𐤁𐤋𐤕𐤍 𐤅𐤁𐤕 𐤁𐤏𐤋𐤌𐤏𐤍 𐤅𐤀𐤔𐤀 𐤔𐤌 𐤀𐤕 𐤍𐤒𐤃 [...] 𐤑𐤀𐤍 𐤄𐤀𐤓𐤑 |
ואנך בנתי [את] מהד[ב]א ובת דבלתן ובת בעלמען ואשא (5375) שם את נקד (5349) [...] צאן (6629) הארץ |
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| And in Haranon the house of … settled people and Chemosh said unto me go down to wage war in Haranon. | 𐤅𐤇𐤓𐤍𐤍 𐤉𐤔𐤁 𐤁𐤄 𐤁𐤕 𐤅𐤒 𐤀𐤔 𐤅𐤉𐤀𐤌𐤓 𐤋𐤉 𐤊𐤌𐤔 𐤓𐤃 𐤄𐤋𐤕𐤇𐤌 𐤁𐤇𐤓𐤍𐤍 |
וחרנן ישב בה בת וק אש ויאמר לי כמש רד (3381) הלתחם בחרנן |
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| And I went down and Chemosh captured it in my day ????? | 𐤅𐤀𐤓𐤃 [𐤅𐤉𐤔]𐤁𐤄 𐤊𐤌𐤔 𐤁𐤉𐤌𐤉 𐤅𐤏𐤋 𐤃𐤄 𐤌𐤔𐤌 𐤏𐤔…. |
וארד [ויש]בה כמש בימי ועל דה משם עש… |
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| ????? | ….𐤔𐤕 𐤔𐤃𐤒 𐤅𐤀𐤍… |
…שת שדק ואנ… |