DJE 23 is a 4th-5th century CE Hebrew Jewish inscription engraved on a stone pillar in South Arabia, 15 km southeast of Sanaa, Yemen, in the village of Bayt Hadir. The inscription comes from the time of the Kingdom of Himyar, during which time Judaism was practiced by the Himyarite elites.
The inscription is based on a passage from the Bible (1 Chronicles 24): it is a list of the priestly divisions of the Temple in Jerusalem, one of the holiest sites of Judaism. Priests of the Temple had organized into divisions to help facilitate the service at the Temple. The function of reproducing these lists, at a time when the Temple had already been destroyed centuries ago in the JewishâÂÂRoman wars of the first century, served to express hope for the reconstruction of the Temple one day in the future. A synagogue probably existed nearby, as a contemporary Sabaic inscription reads: "Amen, Amen. This house is a place of prayer."
The inscription was discovered independently on two occasions. The first discovery took place in the Deutsche-Jemen Expedition of 1970. It was discovered again by Piotr A. Grjazneviàin 1971. The first announcement of the finding of the inscription was in a note by Walter W. Müller in 1973. A full publication of the inscription, for the first time, happened in a 1973 paper in Hebrew by Rainer Degan and then in a 1974 paper in German. A seminal study was published on it in 1973 as well, by Ephraim Urbach. Later, Maria Gorea published an edition of the inscription alongside a study of it in 2015 in French.
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.<blockquote>Transliteration (Gorea 2015)
1. [à Â]ÿrym [ÿytlw] mà ¡mr hrbyÿy
2. [Mlkyh] Byt Lḥm mà ¡mr hḥmyà ¡y
3. Mymyn Ywdpt mà ¡mr hà ¡à ¡y
4. Hqwá¹£ ÿylbw mà ¡mr hà ¡byÿy
5. þbyh ÿdw Kpr ÿzyþl mà ¡mr
6. hà ¡mwny Yà ¡wÿ Nà Ârp þrbþl
7. mà ¡mr htà ¡yÿy
8. à  knyh ÿbwrh Kbwl mà ¡mr h[ÿà Âyry]
9. þlyà ¡yb khn Qnh mà ¡mr þḥd ÿ[à Âr]
10. Yqym Pà ¡á¸¥wr á¹¢pt mà ¡mr à ¡nym ÿ[à Âr]
11. [Ḥw]ph Byt Mÿwn mà ¡mr à ¡là ¡h
12. [ÿà Â]r Yà ¡bþb Ḥwá¹£pyt à  wḥyn
13. [mà ¡]mr þrbÿh ÿà Âr
Hebrew translation (Degan 1973)
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English translation
[SeâÂÂorim âÂÂAyṯoh-lo], fourth ward
[Malkiah, Beṯ]-Lehem, the fif[th] ward
Miyamin, Yudfaṯ (Jotapata), the sixth ward
[Haqo]á¹£, âÂÂAilebu, the seventh ward
Aviah âÂÂIddo, Kefar âÂÂUzziel, the (eighth) ward
the eighth (ward). Yeà ¡à «aâÂÂ, Nià ¡daf-arbel
the ninth ward
à  ekhaniyahu, âÂÂAvurah Cabà «l, the t[enth] ward
Eliaà ¡Ã«v, Cohen Qanah, the elev[enth] ward
Yaqëm Paà ¡á¸¥à «r, á¹¢efaṯ (Safed), the twelf[th] ward
[á¸¤à «]ppah, Beṯ-MaâÂÂon, the (thirteenth) ward
the thirteenth (ward). Yeà ¡avâÂÂav, Ḥuá¹£piṯ à  uḥën
the fourteenth wa[rd]</blockquote>
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 24:7âÂÂ8, Nehemiah 10:2âÂÂ8, and Nehemiah 12:1âÂÂ7. However, DJE 23 strictly follows the list as presented in the Book of Chronicles. The surviving portion 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. It may have been produced by the Jewish community at Tanÿim.