Moabite Stone

  1. I am Mesha, the son of Kemosh[ît], king of Mesha, the
  2. Dibonite. My father ruled over Moab for 30 years, and I ruled
  3. after my father. I made this high place for Kamosh in Qeriho, the high pla[ce of the Sa]
  4. vior, for he saved me from all the kings and let me enjoy the sight of all my enemies. Omri
  5. (was) king of Israel, and he oppressed Moab many days, for Kamosh was angry with his
  6. land. And his son succeeded him, and he too said: "I will oppress Moab." In my days, he said so,
  7. but I enjoyed his sight and that of his house. And Israel perished utterly forever. And Omri had taken possession of the land of
  8. Medeba. And he dwelt in it in his days and the sum of the days of his sons: 40 years; but Kamosh
  9. restored it in my days. And I built Baal-meon, and I made a reservoire in it; and I built
  10. Qiryatên. And the men of Gad had dwelt in the land of Atarot from of old, and the king of Israel built
  11. Atarot for himself; but I fought against the town and took it, and I slew all the people:
  12. the town belonged to Kamosh and to Moab. And I brought thence the altar-hearth of his Beloved, and I dragged
  13. it before Kamosh in Qirat/my town. And I settled in it the men of Sharon and the men of
  14. Maharat. And Kamosh said to me: "Go! Take Nebo against Israel." And I
  15. went by night and fought against it from break of dawn till noon. And I
  16. took it and slew all: 7,000 men, boys, women, girls,
  17. and pregnant women, because I had devoted it to Ashtar-Kamosh. And I took thence the altar-
  18. hearths of YHWH, and I dragged them before Kamosh. And the King of Israel had built
  19. Yahaz, and dwelt therein while he fought against me; but Kamosh drove him out before me, and
  20. I took from Moab two hundred men, all the chiefs thereof, and I established them in Yahaz; and I took it
  21. to add it to Dibon. I built Qeriho: the wall of the parkland and the wall
  22. of the acropolis; and I built its gates, and I built its towers; and
  23. I built the king's house; and I made banks for the water reservoir inside
  24. the town; and there was no cistern inside the town, in Qeriho, and I said to all the people: "Make yourself
  25. each a cistern in his house"; and I dug the ditches for Qeriho with prisoners
  26. of Israel. I built Aroer, and I made the highway through the Arnon.
  27. I built Bet-bamot, for it was destroyed; and I built Bezer, for it was in ruins.
  28. [And] the men of Dibon were fitted out for war because all Dibon was obedient. And i ruled
  29. [over a] hundred of towns that I added to the land. And I built
  30. [the temple of Made]ba and the temple of Diblaten and the temple of Baal-meon; and I established there
  31. [............] the sheep of the land. And the house [of Da]vid*) dwellt in Horonên
  32. [............] and Kamosh said to me: "God down! Fight against Horonên." And I went down, and [I
  33. [fought against the town, and took it; and] Kamosh [resto]red it in my days. And I took up thence ten
  34. [.............] .... And I [.....

Translation by A. Lemaire
From Biblical Archaeology Review 20:3 (May/June 1994): 33.

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