11-01-2009: Fall 2008 Israeli archaeologists claimed to have discovered the oldest Hebrew text (dated in the 10th Century BCE). On Saturday January 9th, 2010 the translation of the five lines was published by Prof. Gershon Galil from Haifa University. The difference with other old Hebrew texts is that this text seems to be written by an experienced scribe. The text is not a scribal exercise like previously found texts (Gezer calender, Beit Zayit abecedary, both dated to the 10th Century BCE and the 1976 discovered Izbet Sartah inscription, dated to the 12th Century BCE). The difference with earlier discoveries of written texts is that the text found recently should have been written by an experienced writer. The text is not just a scribal excercise. Also the text is much longer than previous ones. For an overview of the history of the ostracon since its discovery in 2008 until its decipherment, see the overview on the website of the Khirbet Qeiyafa project. The text on the ostracon (see for the original text the drawing of the ostracon) would run as follows:

1' you shall not do [it], but worship the [Lord].
2' Judge the sla[ve] and the wid[ow] / Judge the orph[an]
3' [and] the stranger. [Pl]ead for the infant / plead for the po[or and]
4' the widow. Rehabilitate [the poor] at the hands of the king.
5' Protect the po[or and] the slave / [supp]ort the stranger.

In verse 4 Galil now suggests to read nqm in stead of šqm. According to Bob Becking one has to read mqm.
In 2008 the question was whether the script was Hebrew or not. According to Galil the text definitely is Hebrew, because of the similarities with other, biblical texts (Galil mentions Jes. 1:17, Ps. 72:3, Exod. 23:3), and the deciphering of the ancient writing testifies to its being Hebrew, based on the use of verbs particular to the Hebrew language, and content specific to Hebrew culture and not adopted by any other cultures in the region. However, Paul Sanders already commented in the Jerusalem Post that also in ancient Ugarit similar utterances were common. See further the description and diverging translation of the text by John Hobbins. Furthermore the articles on websites of the Israeli newspapers Jerusalem Post, and Haaretz, and the website of E!-science.

22-10-2009: Dineke Houtman and Harry Sysling published their newest book within the Kampen Targumproject, entitled Alternative Targum Traditions: The Use of Variant Readings for the Study in Origin and History of Targum Jonathan. Dineke Houtman and Harry Sysling are respectively professor and researcher at the Protestant Theological University.The book is dedicated to Johannes de Moor, who in 1987 laid the foundations for the Targumproject by starting the production of a bilingual concordance on the Targum of the Prophets. Since 1995 the project was subsidised by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). Last year the group again received funds from NWO for the duration of 5 years. This time, for the project A Jewish Targum in a Christian World: An Encounter.

22-10-2009: Published at SUN publishers, Nijmegen, the newest book by Jan P. Fokkelman Het boek Job in vorm Een literaire vertaling . From 1963 until 2001 Jan P. Fokkelman was lecturer in Hebrew and Aramaic at Leyden University.

10-10-2009 (updated: 20-01-2010) In her inaugural speech Ellen van Wolde has defended a new translation of ברא in Gen. 1:1. Comparison of Gen. 1 with other creation stories results in the translation "spatially separate" in stead of "create". A well worked out version of her thesis appeared in the September volume of the Journal for the Study of the Old Testament (published 11 January 2010). For more information see the article in the Telegraph. See also the comments by Chris Heard, John Hobbins and Joel M. Hoffman. Several Dutch scholars responded (the link refers to the Dutch OTW-site) to Van Wolde's thesis. Van Wolde herself reacts in the Dutch Newspaper Trouw of 14 October 2009.
The inaugural speech (in Dutch) is available as a PDF-file. Furthermore, detailed information can be found in her newest book.

11-06-2009: On the day of his farewell speech as Professor in Old Testament studies Ed Noort has received the royal honours of Knight in the Order of the Netherlands Lion. Since 1993 he has been professor for Old Testament Studies at Groningen University, as successor of Adam van der Woude. In 1998 he became member of the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences (KNAW). At the moment he is the Foreign Secretary of the KNAW. His farewell speech was entitled Speaking about Creation. For more information see the news message of the University of Groningen.

21-01-2009: Volume 50 in the series Oudtestamentiche Studiën has been published: B. Becking and D. Human (eds), Exile and Suffering: A Selection of Papers Read at the 50th Anniversary of the Old Testament Society of South Africa, (OTS 50), Leiden 2009, xiii + 280 pp. For an overview of the contents, click on the link of the title.

01-11-2008: Israeli archaeologists believe a ceramic shard contains the oldest Hebrew inscription. Digging at a hilltop south of Jerusalem the shard was discovered. On the potsherd five lines of faded characters are written in black ink. [To view the picture enlarged click on it]. The curved pottery shard, 15 centimeters by 15 centimeters, was found at the new dig at Khirbet Qeiyafa. The site overlooks the Elah Valley, according to the bible the valley where David defeated Goliath. The news item came from the University of Jerusalem. Carbon-14 analysis in the same layer dated the text to between 1,000 and 975 BCE. Earlier the Gezer calendar, discovered in 1908, was considered to be the oldest Hebrew text (10th Century BCE), though some scholars, among them Dennis Pardee, call the script rather Phoenician than Hebrew. In 2002 a Hebrew abecedary was found at Tel Zayit, and also dated to the 10th Century BCE. In 1976 the Izbet Sartah inscription was discovered near Apheq. On the basis of the layer it was dated to the 12th Century BCE. Generally, the script of this found is supposed to be (proto-)Canaanite. The difference with earlier discoveries of written texts is that the text found recently should have been written by an experienced writer. The text is not just a scribal excercise. Furthermore, the text would be larger than the texts found previously. Some scholars assume the script on the newly found inscription to be rather proto-Canaanite than Hebrew, so Amihai Mazar, quoted in The Christian Post. In any case, the differentiation between the scripts in those ancient times can hardly be made. For more information on the discovery, see the articles in the Jerusalem Post, Haaretz and Israel National News. See also the articles at Tagesschau, ORF on Science, and 20 Minuten Nachrichten. National Geographic has a short video available on the inscription.

30-10-2008: On July 21, 2008, an expedition to Zincirli, directed by Prof. David Schloen of the University of Chicago found an inscribed basalt stele at the site of Zincirli. The stele was set into a stone wall. The alphabetic inscription on the stele is written in Sam"alian, the language spoken in the region of Zincirli (ancient Sam"al) during the Iron Age. It commemorates the life of "Kattammuwa servant of Panamuwa,"probably a high official of King Panamuwa, who reigned during the 8th century BCE. A bearded figure is depicted on the stele, seated in a chair in front of a table laden with food. On November 23rd in the afternoon, at the SBL Annual Meeting in Boston, an analysis and translation of the inscription will be presented by Prof. Dennis Pardee, and Prof. David Schloen will discuss the archaeological context.

23-08-2008: In 2001 Casper Labuschagne started his investigation into the numerical features of the biblical Psalms. This research now has been finished, by a thorough revision of the introductions to the five Books of the Psalter, entitled "Compositional Structure of the Psalter" and "Introduction to the Embedded Poetry". The analysis of the numerical structure of the individual Psalms (including Psalms outside the Psalter and some other texts) were completed already earlier. The results of the numerical research has been published in digitized form and are entitled Numerical Features of the Psalms and Other Selected Texts: A Logotechnical Quantitative Structural Analysis. The different parts of the study can be downloaded as PDF here (via Labuschagne's website). The site is made up in such a way that it is quite easy to download the numerical structure and discussion of individual Psalms. Reactions by colleagues will be highly appreciated (e-mail Casper Labuschagne).

22-06-2008: On June 20th, Dr Mladen Popović, acting Director of the Qumran Institute at Groningen, received the Keetje Hodshon prize 2008 at Haarlem. He receives the prize, a medal and an amount of € 12.000, as an incentive prize for his dissertation (awarded with cum laude), Reading the Human Body: Physiognomics and Astrology in the Dead Sea Scrolls and Hellenistic-Early Roman Period Judaism. The Keetje Hodshon prize is granted yearly to promising young researchers in the field of the humanities. There are four subareas and therefore the prize on the area of of philosophy and theology is granted only once in four years. The prize is awarded by the Royal Dutch Society of Sciences (Koninklijke Hollandsche Maatschappij der Wetenschappen, that chooses the members of the judging committee.

21-06-2008: Karel Jongeling, professor in the languages of the ancient near east at the Institute for Languages and Cultures of the Middle East (Dept. of Comparative Linguistics) at Leiden University, has published his Handbook of Neo-Punic Inscriptions. This monograph presents all the neo-Punic texts which have been published up to now. The author also mentions those texts which are difficult to read or even unreadable. The intention of the work is to give an overview of these texts, which often were published in less accessible journals or other editions. In several instances, Jongeling proposes new readings. The neo-Punic inscriptions date from the 3rd-4th century BCE until the 2nd century CE and gives more insight in religion and culture of the Phoenician-Punic world. Several of the neo-Punic inscriptions also can be viewed on the special site with Neo-Punic Inscriptions and Coin Legends, maintained by Jongeling. The font, needed to be able to read the transcription of the texts, can be downloaded from the same page (unfortunately, the font is only available for Windows).

01-05-2008: At the congress honoring Professor Florentino García Martínez's great achievements for the Groningen Qumran Institute and Dead Sea Scrolls studies and to the occasion of his retirement on April 29th 2008 Florentino García Martínez has been made Knight in the order of the (royal) Dutch Lion.

25-02-2008 (updated 02-11-2008): In the March/April issue of Biblical Archaeology Review the already announced article on the seal of Jezebel has been published. All articles in the March/April issue can be read online now. The article is followed by an editorial postscript by Hershel Shanks,, who especially comments on the ideas put forward on the internet by Christopher Rollston. For a discussion on the seal see now the `debates' page of Biblical Archaeology Review. See also the blog of Chris Heard. A first article on the seal was published in the South-African Journal for Semitics (appeared August 2007). A revised, scholarly version of the BAR article has just been published in Ugarit-Forschungen 38 [2006], publishing date April 2008.

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