DJE 23

DJE 23 is a Hebrew inscription found in the village of Bayt Hadir, 15 km southeast of Sanaa, Yemen. It dates to the period of the Himyarite Kingdom in which the ruling class had converted to Judaism, or sometime between 380 and 530. It is a mishmarot which lists the priestly divisions based on the list given in 1 Chronicles 24. The priestly divisions refer to the way in which the priests were divided in order to organize their service to the Temple in Jerusalem.

Discovery and publication
The inscription was discovered twice independently. The first was during the Deutsche-Jemen Expedition of 1970. It was discovered again by Piotr A. Grjaznevič in 1971. The discovery was first announced in a note by Walter W. Müller in 1973. Rainer Degan fully published the inscription in a 1973 paper in Hebrew and a 1974 paper in German. A seminal study was published on it in 1973 as well, by Ephraim Urbach. Later, Maria Gorea would publish an edition of the inscription alongside a study in French.

Text
Editions of the inscription exist only in German and French. The 2015 French edition of Gorea benefits from access to new photographs taken by Christian Julien Robin that help make out elements of the inscription previously difficult to reconstruct. Transliteration (Gorea 2015)

1. [Ś]ʿrym [ʿytlw] mšmr hrbyʿy

2. [Mlkyh] Byt Lḥm mšmr hḥmyšy

3. Mymyn Ywdpt mšmr hššy

4. Hqwṣ ʿylbw mšmr hšbyʿy

5. ʾbyh ʿdw Kpr ʿzyʾl mšmr

6. hšmwny Yšwʿ Nśrp ʾrbʾl

7. mšmr htšyʿy

8. Šknyh ʿbwrh Kbwl mšmr h[ʿśyry]

9. ʾlyšyb khn Qnh mšmr ʾḥd ʿ[śr]

10. Yqym Pšḥwr Ṣpt mšmr šnym ʿ[śr]

11. [Ḥw]ph Byt Mʿwn mšmr šlšh

12. [ʿś]r Yšbʾb Ḥwṣpyt Šwḥyn

13. [mš]mr ʾrbʿh ʿśr

Hebrew translation (Degan 1973)

שְׂעוֹרִים עיתהלו משמר הרביעי

מַלְכִּיָּה בית לחם משמר החמשי

מִיָמִין יודפת משמר הששי

הַקּוֹץ עילבו משמר השביעי

אֲבִיָּה עדו כפר עוזיאל משמר

השמיני יֵשׁוּעַ נשדפארבל

משמר התשיעי

שְׁכַנְיָה עבורה כבול משמר העשירי

אֶלְיָשִׁיב כהן קנה משמר אחד עשר

יָקִים פַּשְׁחוּר צפת משמר שנים עשר

חוּפָּה בית מעון משמר שלשה

עשר יֶשֶׁבְאָב חוצפית שוחין

משמר ארבע עשר

English translation

[Se‘orim ‘Ayṯoh-lo], fourth ward

[Malkiah, Beṯ]-Lehem, the fif[th] ward

Miyamin, Yudfaṯ (Jotapata), the sixth ward

[Haqo]ṣ, ‘Ailebu, the seventh ward

Aviah ‘Iddo, Kefar ‘Uzziel, the (eighth) ward

the eighth (ward). Yešūa‘, Nišdaf-arbel

the ninth ward

Šekhaniyahu, ‘Avurah Cabūl, the t[enth] ward

Eliašīv, Cohen Qanah, the elev[enth] ward

Yaqīm Pašḥūr, Ṣefaṯ (Safed), the twelf[th] ward

[Ḥū]ppah, Beṯ-Ma‘on, the (thirteenth) ward

the thirteenth (ward). Yešav’av, Ḥuṣpiṯ Šuḥīn

the fourteenth wa[rd]

Interpretation and significance
The inscription lists the mishmarot ("guards"), enumerating the twenty-four Priestly divisions (and each of their places of residence in Galilee) that were appointed to protect the Solomon's Temple after the return of the Jews that were expelled during the Babylonian exile. In the Bible, these Priestly divisions are listed in 1 Chronicles 24:7–8, Nehemiah 10:2–8, and Nehemiah 12:1–7. However, DJE 23 strictly follows the list as presented in the Book of Chronicles. The surviving poprtion of DJE 23 only contains the name of eleven of the mishmarot. The inscription is also written in biblical as opposed to Aramaic orthography. The term mishmarot is not biblical, but is first attested in Qumran and then in rabbinic literature.

DJE 23 has variously been interpreted as providing evidence for the existence of an either Priestly or rabbinic form of Judaism in southern Arabia.