Archaeologists from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem recently reported that an ancient inscription paraphrasing the first two verses of Psalm 86 was uncovered from a remote site in the Judean desert of Israel.
According to a statement from the university, the four-week excavation project in the Hyrcania Fortress occurred in May, spearheaded by Oren Gutfeld and Michal Haber of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in cooperation with Carson-Newman University and American Veterans Archaeological Recovery.
In the “pilot” season for the excavation, efforts were centered on two key areas of the fortress. In the southeast corner of the summit, a segment of a prominent upper fortification line was uncovered, dating to approximately the first or second century B.C. In the northeast corner, archeologists removed a deep layer of building stones that collapsed from the upper floor into an elongated basement hall.
A sizeable building stone lying on the plastered floor of the hall features lines of text painted in red with a cross at the top. The inscription was written in Koine Greek, the language the New Testament was written in.