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Language
Paleo-Hebrew
The pre-exilic script of ancient Israel, preserved by the Samaritans.
- Family
- Northwest Semitic
- Script
- Paleo-Hebrew (a Phoenician-derived alphabet)
- Era
- c. 1000 – 100 BCE
Character
Linguistically identical to early Biblical Hebrew, but written in the older pictographic-derived script used before Jews adopted the Aramaic square script during and after the Babylonian exile. Retained by the Samaritan community to this day.
What it does well
- Preserves an older orthography without vowel pointing.
- The Samaritan Pentateuch, written in Paleo-Hebrew, offers thousands of textual variants against the Masoretic tradition.
Translation challenges
- No matres lectionis in the earliest inscriptions makes vocalization highly ambiguous.
- Very few surviving texts outside inscriptions, the Silver Scrolls, and select Dead Sea Scrolls.
Notes
The Ketef Hinnom Silver Scrolls (c. 600 BCE) — the oldest surviving biblical text of any kind — are inscribed in Paleo-Hebrew.
Documents in Paleo-Hebrew
Manuscripts
Versions
English translations
No catalogued translations.