Ancient Texts Relating to the Old Testament

Major representative examples of ancient Near Eastern non-Biblical documents that provide parallels to or shed light on various Old Testament passages
Title	Origin	Description
AMARNA LETTERS	Canaanite Akkadian Fourteenth century BC	Hundreds of letters, written primarily by Canaanite scribes, illuminate social, political and religious relationships between Canaan and Egypt during the reigns of Amunhotep III and Akhenaten.
AMENEMOPE’S WISDOM	Egyptian Late second millennium BC	Thirty chapters of wisdom instruction are similar to Pr 22:17–24:22 and provide the closest external parallels to OT Wisdom Literature.
ATRAHASIS EPIC	Akkadian Early second millennium BC	A cosmological epic depicts creation and early human history, including the flood (cf. Ge 1–9).
BABYLONIAN THEODICY	Akkadian Early first millennium BC	A sufferer and his friend dialogue with each other (cf. Job).
CYRUS CYLINDER	Akkadian Sixth century BC	King Cyrus of Persia records the conquest of Babylon (cf. Da 5:30; 6:28) and boasts of his generous policies toward his new subjects and their gods.

Cyrus Cylinder, a cuneiform text that describes Cyrus’s (Persian ruler 559–530 BC) capture of Babylon in 539 BC. Cyrus allowed the Jews to return from Babylonia and rebuild the temple in Jerusalem (2 Ch 36:23; Ezr 1:2–4; 7:1–5).

Kim Walton, courtesy of the British Museum

DEAD SEA SCROLLS	Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek Third century BC to first century AD	Several hundred scrolls and fragments include the oldest copies of OT books and passages.
EBLA TABLETS	Sumerian, Eblaite Mid-third millennium BC	Thousands of commercial, legal, literary and epistolary texts describe the cultural vitality and political power of a pre-patriarchal civilization in northern Syria.
ELEPHANTINE PAPYRI	Aramaic Late fifth century BC	Contracts and letters document life among Jews who fled to southern Egypt after Jerusalem was destroyed in 586 BC.
ENUMA ELISH	Akkadian Second millennium BC	Marduk, the Babylonian god of cosmic order, is elevated to the supreme position in the pantheon. The seven-tablet epic contains an account of creation (cf. Ge 1–2).
GEZER CALENDAR	Hebrew Tenth century BC	A schoolboy from west-central Israel describes the seasons, crops and farming activity of the agricultural year.

Gezer Calendar—one of the earliest examples of Hebrew writing—highlights the agricultural seasons in Israel.

© 1995 Phoenix Data Systems

GILGAMESH EPIC	Akkadian Early second millennium BC	Gilgamesh, ruler of Uruk, experiences numerous adventures, including a meeting with Utnapishtim, the only survivor of a great deluge (cf. Ge 6–9).
HAMMURAPI’S CODE	Akkadian Eighteenth century BC	Together with similar law codes that preceded and followed it, the Code of Hammurapi exhibits close parallels to numerous passages in the Mosaic legislation of the OT.
HYMN TO THE ATEN	Egyptian Fourteenth century BC	The poem praises the beneficence and universality of the sun in language somewhat similar to that used in Ps 104.
ISHTAR’S DESCENT	Akkadian First millennium BC	The goddess Ishtar temporarily descends to the netherworld, which is pictured in terms reminiscent of OT descriptions of Sheol.
JEHOIACHIN’S RATION DOCKETS	Akkadian Early sixth century BC	Brief texts from the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II refer to rations allotted to Judah’s exiled king Jehoiachin and his sons (cf. 2Ki 25:27–30).
KING LISTS	Sumerian Early second millennium BC	The reigns of Sumerian kings before the flood are described as lasting for thousands of years, reminding us of the longevity of the preflood patriarchs in Ge 5.
LACHISH LETTERS (OSTRACA)	Hebrew Early sixth century BC	Inscriptions on pottery fragments vividly portray the desperate days preceding the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem in 588–586 BC (cf. Jer 34:7).
LAMENTATION OVER THE DESTRUCTION OF UR	Sumerian Early second millennium BC	The poem mourns the destruction of the city of Ur at the hands of the Elamites (cf. the OT book of Lamentations).
LUDLUL BEL NEMEQI	Akkadian Late second millennium BC	A suffering Babylonian nobleman describes his distress in terms faintly reminiscent of the experiences of Job.
MARI TABLETS	Akkadian Eighteenth century BC	Letters and administrative texts provide detailed information regarding customs, language and personal names that reflect the culture of the OT patriarchs.
MERNEPTAH STELE	Egyptian Thirteenth century BC	Pharaoh Merneptah figuratively describes his victory over various peoples in western Asia, including “Israel.”
MESHA STELE (MOABITE STONE)	Moabite Ninth century BC	Mesha, king of Moab (see 2Ki 3:4 and note on 1:1), rebels against a successor of Israel’s king Omri.

Mesha Stele (Moabite Stone), a Moabite inscription (c. 840–820 BC), recounts the exploits of Mesha, king of Moab (2 Ki 3:4).

Z. Radovan/www.BibleLandPictures.com

MURASHU TABLETS	Akkadian Fifth century BC	Commercial documents describe financial transactions engaged in by Murashu and Sons, a Babylonian firm that did business with Jews and other exiles.
MURSILIS’S TREATY WITH DUPPI-TESSUB	Hittite Mid-second millennium BC	King Mursilis imposes a suzerainty treaty on King Duppi-Tessub. The literary outline of this and other Hittite treaties is strikingly paralleled in OT covenants established by God with his people.
NABONIDUS CHRONICLE	Akkadian Mid-sixth century BC	The account describes the absence of King Nabonidus from Babylon. His son Belshazzar is therefore the regent in charge of the kingdom (cf. Da 5:29–30).
NEBUCHADNEZZAR CHRONICLE	Akkadian Early sixth century BC	A chronicle from the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II includes the Babylonian account of the siege of Jerusalem in 597 BC (see 2Ki 24:10–17).
NUZI TABLETS	Akkadian Mid-second millennium BC	Adoption, birthright sale and other legal documents graphically illustrate OT patriarchal customs current centuries earlier.
PESSIMISTIC DIALOGUE	Akkadian Early first millennium BC	A master and his servant discuss the pros and cons of various activities (cf. Ecc 1–2).
RAS SHAMRA TABLETS	Ugaritic Fifteenth–fourteenth centuries BC	Canaanite deities and rulers experience adventures in epics that enrich our understanding of Canaanite mythology and religion and of OT poetry.
SARGON LEGEND	Akkadian First millennium BC	Sargon I (the Great), ruler of Akkad in the late third millennium BC, claims to have been rescued as an infant from a reed basket found floating in a river (cf. Ex 2).
SARGON’S DISPLAY INSCRIPTION	Akkadian Eighth century BC	Sargon II takes credit for the conquest of Samaria in 722/721 BC and states that he captured and exiled 27,290 Israelites.
SENNACHERIB’S PRISM	Akkadian Early seventh century BC	Sennacherib vividly describes his siege of Jerusalem in 701 BC, making Hezekiah a prisoner in his own royal city (but cf. 2Ki 19:35–37).

Sennacherib’s Prism was discovered among the ruins of Nineveh, the ancient capital of the Assyrian Empire. It contains the annals of Sennacherib, the Assyrian king who besieged Jerusalem in 701 BC during the reign of King Hezekiah.

© 1995 Phoenix Data Systems

SEVEN LEAN YEARS TRADITION	Egyptian Second century BC	Egypt experiences seven years of low Niles and famine, which, by a contractual agreement between Pharaoh Djoser (twenty-eighth century BC) and a god, will be followed by prosperity (cf. Ge 41).
SHALMANESER’S BLACK OBELISK	Akkadian Ninth century BC	Israel’s king Jehu presents tribute to Assyria’s king Shalmaneser III. Additional Assyrian and Babylonian texts refer to other kings of Israel and Judah.
SHISHAK’S GEOGRAPHICAL LIST	Egyptian Tenth century BC	Pharaoh Shishak lists the cities that he captured or made tributary during his campaign in Judah and Israel (cf. 1Ki 14:25–26 and note on 14:25).
SILOAM INSCRIPTION	Hebrew Late eighth century BC	A Judahite workman describes the construction of an underground conduit to guarantee Jerusalem’s water supply during Hezekiah’s reign (cf. 2Ki 20:20; 2Ch 32:30).
SINUHE’S STORY	Egyptian Twentieth–nineteenth centuries BC	An Egyptian official of the Twelfth Dynasty goes into voluntary exile in Aram (Syria) and Canaan during the OT patriarchal period.
TALE OF TWO BROTHERS	Egyptian Thirteenth century BC	A young man rejects the amorous advances of his older brother’s wife (cf. Ge 39).
WENAMUN’S JOURNEY	Egyptian Eleventh century BC	An official of the temple of Amun at Thebes in Egypt is sent to Byblos in Canaan to buy lumber for the ceremonial barge of his god.

Go to Chart Index