Moabite Stone

The Moabite Stone (also known as the Mesha Stele) is a basalt inscription erected by Mesha, king of Moab, discovered at Dibon (biblical Dibon-Gad) by the German missionary F.A. Klein in 1868. The stone stands approximately 3½ feet high and 2 feet wide, rounded at the top, and bears thirty-four lines of text written in a script closely related to archaic Hebrew (Phoenician-Hebrew alphabet). It is one of the most significant extra-biblical archaeological discoveries relating to Old Testament history. The inscription records Mesha's victories over Israel, his public building projects, and his wars on other frontiers — all undertaken, he declares, at the command of Chemosh, the Moabite national god. The stone directly corroborates and supplements the account of 2 Kings 3:4–5, where Mesha the sheep-master is described as rebelling against Israel after Ahab's death. The stele is now housed in the Louvre in Paris.