Tisha B'Av 2026

TISHA B'AV (THE NINTH OF AV) begins this evening at sundown. An easy fast to all those observing it.

The Ninth of Av is not specifically a biblical holy day. Rather, it commemorates a number of disasters that happened to the Jewish people, traditionally all on that same day of the year. These include the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple by the Babylonians, the destruction of the Herodian Temple by the Romans, and the fall of Betar during the Bar Kokhba revolt.

Last year's Tisha B'Av post is here, with links.

More recent posts related to the day are here, here, and here.

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Did P know about the centralized sanctuary?

DR. HACHAM ISAAC S. D. SASSOON: Deuteronomy or the Priestly Text: Which Is the Later Torah Source? (TheTorah.com).

In the 1950s, Yehezkel Kaufmann challenged the regnant Graf-Wellhausen Hypothesis that the Priestly Text was the final Pentateuchal source to be written, and that it dates to the Post-Exilic Period. One pillar of his argument is that the Priestly Text seems wholly ignorant of Deuteronomy’s 7th century B.C.E. law of centralization of worship, and thus dates to earlier in the First Temple period. And yet, a closer look at P’s laws shows that it is simply taking centralization for granted.

I agree. Deuteronomy had to have Moses argue for one centralized sanctuary in Israel. P assumes a centralized sanctuary, in the guise of the Tabernacle in the time of Moses, but its nature makes best sense in a small community around Jerusalem. For example, in Leviticus 17:3-7 (contrast Deuteronomy 12:15) P requires all slaughtering of animals for meat to take place at the sanctuary. Practical for a local community, but not a national sanctuary.

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Amar, "Psalm 45 and the Achaemenid View of the Ideal King" (JANES 38, 2026)

BIBLIOGRAPHIA IRANICA: Psalm 45 and the Achaemenid View of the Ideal King. Notice of a New Article: Amar, Itzhak. 2026. Psalm 45 and the Achaemenid View of the Ideal King. Journal of the Ancient Near Eastern Society 38: 1-18.

There is a link to the JANES article, which is open access and downloadable as a pdf. It does not have an abstract, but its conclusion can serve as one:

Conclusions
In this article, I endeavored to elucidate the origins of the concepts and linguistic elements present in Psalm 45. I presented two potential scenarios. The first posits that the author was directly influenced by Achaemenid ideology, as evidenced in inscriptions and iconography from Persepolis, which presumably circulated throughout the empire. An alternative possibility is that the author was indirectly influenced through other biblical texts, such as the Books of Chronicles, whose authors had assimilated this ideology and disseminated it further, given the limited cultural environment of the scribes active in Yehud and Jerusalem. Examining the psalm within an Achaemenid context offers a more comprehensive understanding of the depiction of the king’s throne as God’s throne and of the two seemingly disparate sections of the psalm.

Incidentally, JANES is an fully open-access journal. See the AWOL Blog here.

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More on the Temple-era burned beams in Jerusalem

SCORCHED ANCIENT ARCHITECTURE: The burned beams found recently in the Givati Parking Lot which date to First and Second Temple times have been getting a lot of media attention. This article is notably informative:

Archaeologists Reveal More Massive, Charred Beams From Babylonian Attack on Ancient Jerusalem This is the second set of wooden roofing found in a mysterious building that burned down in 586 B.C.E., but when was it erected? (Ruth Schuster, Haaretz).

This has lots of new details about the artifacts and other objects found in the building, including wealthy material culture, administrative seals, Babylonian arrowheads, and even an unlucky 10th-century BCE bat🦇.

Background here. The article mentions 2020 discoveries published in 2024. I noted them here.

Also,the Givati Parking Lot excavation continues to provide fascinating discoveries. For more, see here and links.

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Thomas, ... Comparing Qumran Aramaic Job and Old Greek Job (SBL)

NEW BOOK FROM SBL PRESS;

Transformations in Translation: Comparing Qumran Aramaic Job and Old Greek Job

Alun Morton Thomas

ISBN 9781628378238
Volume SCS 81
Status Available
Publication Date June 2026

Paperback $80.00
Hardback $100.00
eBook $80.00

Using insights gleaned from translation studies, Alun Morton Thomas compares the earliest known Aramaic and Greek translations of the book of Job to explore how translators dealt with idiomatic and linguistic difficulties in translating the Hebrew text. Thomas demonstrates that many of the scribal techniques used in both the Qumran and Old Greek versions of Job resemble practices attested in other Second Temple Jewish texts. The scribal choices Thomas reveals provide insights into early interpretations of the book of Job which stem from the Second Temple period. The volume also delves into how earlier Aramaic and Greek translations relate to later translation attempts in these two languages. Transformations in Translation is a critical resource for scholars and students interested in some of the most difficult passages to translate from Hebrew.

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Four books from the Israel Numismatic Society

NEW(ISH) BOOKS FROM THE ISRAEL NUMISMATIC SOCIETY:

New Publication November 2025:

New Publication:
A Corpus of Samarian Coinage from the Persian Period, Volumes I & II
By Haim Gitler, Mati Johananoff, and Oren Tal
Numismatic Studies and Researches (NSR) XIII and XIV, Jerusalem 2025

A Comprehensive Re-evaluation of Ancient Levantine Coinage This two-volume monograph, A Corpus of Samarian Coinage, is the definitive culmination of a major research program focused on the Samarian minting authority during the Persian period. This coinage represents one of the earliest and most varied official coinages produced in the southern Levant, likely being issued from the late fifth century BCE until after the Greco-Macedonian conquest.
While building on earlier scholarship, this work offers a substantive re-evaluation of the field. It incorporates numerous newly identified coin types and establishes a robust, modern classification system essential for all future study. The data is based on an exhaustive, multi-year study of the entire corpus of known Samarian issues, involving the global examination of specimens in publications and in public and private collections. ...

Pricing (Two-Volume Set)

$200 or €175 (+ shipping and bank transfer charges) Note: All proceeds are dedicated to supporting future publications by the Israel Numismatic Society. ...

New Publication:
The City of Gaza in the Roman Period: The Numismatic Evidence (First Century BCE–Third Century CE)
Corpus Nummorum Palaestinensium VI
Yoav Farhi, Jerusalem 2025

This book is a comprehensive discussion examining the production and significance of the coinage struck by the city of Gaza under Roman rule from the conquest of this region by Pompey (64/3 BCE) to the end of the municipal minting in the second quarter of the third century (241/2 CE).
The data presented are based on the study of some 4494 bronze and silver coins minted in Gaza during the Roman period. As many specimens as possible were located during some 20 years of a through and wide search, at various publications and in public and private collections especially in the Middle East, Europe and the USA. The catalogue presents 318 types with hundreds of variants and the photographs of 833 coins.
This is the first time that such comprehensive research has been conducted regarding a polis in Roman Palestine with a vast volume of minting as in the case of Gaza. This research, which examines the coinage of the largest and most important city in southern Roman Palestine, contributes not only to a better understanding of the city itself, but also can offer new perspectives on the broad subject of city coins of the Roman period, and especially those of this region.

The book is hardcover, elegantly designed and includes 500 pages and 102 illustrations, plates and maps, most of them in color. It was published by the Israel Numismatic Society in a limited edition (see attached file).

Pricing

$175 or €155 (+ shipping)
Note: All proceeds are dedicated to supporting future publications by the Israel Numismatic Society. ...

The Yehud Coinage
A Study and Die Classification of the Provincial Silver Coinage of Judah

Haim Gitler, Catharine Lorber and Jean-Philippe Fontanille

This volume presents a die study of the provincial silver coinage of Judah in the late Persian, Macedonian, and early Hellenistic periods. It offers correct descriptions of the coins, their designs, and their inscriptions; enumerates the obverse and reverse dies identified for each of the 44 recorded types; and explains the probable sequence of the issues as deduced from iconographic associations and die links.

The iconography of the coin types is examined in depth, with comparisons to motifs in Greek, Persian, and ancient Near Eastern art, including other local coinages and sources in Judahite material culture. The monograph also analyzes data relating to the metrology, metal content, and circulation of the coinage. Overall, the study attempts to place the Yehud coinage in its historical context and to define its role in the economy of the ancient province of Judah.

Pricing

$150 or €125 (+ shipping and bank transfer charges)
Note: All proceeds are dedicated to supporting future publications by the Israel Numismatic Society.

Follow the link for further details and ordering information.

Via TAU Archaeology, HT the AWOL Blog.

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Temple-era burned beams in Jerusalem

SCORCHED ANCIENT ARCHITECTURE: Days before Tisha B'Av: Charred wooden beams from First Temple’s destruction unearthed in Jerusalem. The First Temple, built by the biblical King Solomon, was destroyed in 586 BCE at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar II, the second king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire (Miriam Sela-Eitam, Jerusalem Post).

Massive wooden beams charred by the fire that destroyed Jerusalem and the First Temple were unearthed during a recent dig at the Jerusalem Walls National Park in the City of David, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) announced on Monday morning. ...

IAA and Tel Aviv University archaeologists discovered the burnt beams inside a building that had collapsed in the fire.

"The beams appear to have served as the roof of an inner courtyard in a building from the First Temple period,” noted IAA Excavation Director Efrat Bocher.

The headline is technically correct, but a little misleading, since it could be read to say that the beams are from the First Temple complex. They are not. They are from a building in the City of David near the Temple Mount, but not part of it. The building was destroyed in, presumably, the same fire that destroyed the Temple.

There are also some unburnt cedar beams from the actual Temple Mount which may have part of the First and Second Temple complexes. Noted here and here and links. They have been known about for quite a while.

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An Aramaic ostracon from the Amman Citadel Excavation

NORTHWEST SEMITIC EPIGRAPHY: An Achaemenid-era administrative Aramaic ostracon has been belatedly recovered by the Amman Citadel Excavation. The ostracon has been published in Syria 102 (2025) and the French article is open access at the link. I give the English version of the abstract below.

Un ostracon araméen de la citadelle d’Amman : une lecture à la lumière du corpus iduméen
An Aramaic Ostracon from the Amman Citadel: An Interpretation in the Light of the Idumaea CorpusBR> أوستراكون آرامي من قلعة عمّان : قراءة في ضوء مدوّنة نصوص إدوم

Mitchka L. M. J. Shahryari
p. 69-80
https://doi.org/10.4000/16kx0

This article presents an unpublished Aramaic ostracon (AC-2568) discovered at the Amman Citadel during the 1989 French-Jordanian excavations and identified only in 2023 during pottery sorting. Though the stratigraphic context is mixed, the ostracon likely dates between the Iron Age and the Hellenistic period. The text, painted in ink on a small limestone fragment, is short and fragmentary. It seems to be a record of an economic transaction and displays strong paleographic and typological affinities with Achaemenid-period Aramaic texts from Idumea. As the first Aramaic inscription from the site, it seems to testify the administrative use of Aramaic in the region.

For more on the Amman Citadel Excavation, see here, with links on ancient Ammon and Ammonite.

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The Deists and the lost scriptures?

THE ANXIOUS BENCH: The Deists’ Revolution (Philip Jenkins).

I have been working on the discovery of alternative scriptures and ancient heretical movements during the Enlightenment, between about 1690 and 1740. Central to this phenomenon were a group of philosophers and thinkers generally called the Deists, who were a loose network rather than any kind of organized movement. For modern audiences, what is shocking about them is just how very daring and skeptical they were on their speculations about religion, and how very early historically. For present purposes, what matters is not that the Deists necessarily talked a lot about such “lost gospels,” but rather that they created the environment in which such ideas could flourish.

[...]

I think we can count this post as another turbo footnote to Prof. Jenkins's Lost and Found Scriptures series, for which see here and links.

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Recalcati, The Egyptian Background of the Septuagint (Brepols)

NEW BOOK FROM BREPOLS:

The Egyptian Background of the Septuagint
Lexical Items in Genesis, Exodus and Leviticus

Camilla Recalcati

Pages: 263 p.
Size: 156 x 234 mm
Illustrations: 6 tables b/w.
Language(s): English, Greek, Hebrew
Publication Year:2026

€ 80,00 EXCL. VAT
RETAIL PRICE
ISBN: 978-2-503-61800-5
Paperback
Available

€ 80,00 EXCL. VAT
RETAIL PRICE
ISBN: 978-2-503-61801-2
E-book
Forthcoming

A first systematic study of the Egyptian influences on the vocabulary of the Septuagint of Genesis, Exodus, and Leviticus

Summary

It is generally accepted that the Greek translation of the Pentateuch was undertaken in Egypt, in the 3rd century BCE. Then, it is only logical that the translators and the translation itself were influenced by the environment the translation took place in, by its languages, its usages and beliefs. Nevertheless, previous scholarly endeavours only partially address the issue of these contextual influences on the Greek translation. Although some valid attempts to uncover echoes of the Egyptian environment in the Septuagint translation have been made in the past century, no systematic study had been produced. In the wake of a renewed interest for Egyptian features in the Septuagint translation, the present volume aims at offering the first systematic study on Egyptian influences in the first three books of the Pentateuch: Genesis, Exodus, and Leviticus. An accurate analysis of various translational choices reflected in lexical elements which have been influenced by the Egyptian milieu such as proper names, toponyms, geographical images, job titles, weights and measures, animal names, realia, and theological accents demonstrates to what extent the translators were acquainted with the environment they lived in. Examining this phenomenon, which might initially appear marginal, reveals itself to be a pressing issue in the emerging trends of Septuagint studies.

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Litwa, HERMETICA I (Fount ULTD)

IN THE MAIL:

M. David Litwa, HERMETICA I: The Corpus Hermeticum, Asclepius, and Nag Hammadi Hermetica Ordered as a Path of Initiation (The Definitive Edition) (QC Canada: Fount ULTD; Rev. ed. 2026)

This new English translation of the philosophical Hermetica has been out for a while, but I've only recently ordered a copy. Copenhaver's translation, with notes, is unrivaled for use when you are working through the Greek and Latin Hermetica line by line. But the latter makes relatively little effort to evaluate each tractate as whole, asking what it says and what that means.

Litwa's approach is different. He orders the tractates, not in the traditional order as passed down in medieval manuscripts, but by sense, in what he reconstructs as their likely order when used as a path of initiation. His commentary at the end of each tractate takes into account the scholarly literature, but it focuses on what the text is saying and what it meant (and means) for practitioners. He also includes a Coptic text from the Nag Hammadi Library which was not covered by Copenhaver. Using both translations gives a nice rounded view of the surviving, more or less complete, classical philosophical Hermetica.

Litwa has also published a second volume of translated philosophical Hermetica, which I have already noted here. It collects the surviving fragments and quotations of and testimonies about the otherwise lost texts.

There was also a substantial corpus of "technical Hermetica," which dealt with astrology, alchemy, and magic. There are English translations of varying reliability of many of the major works, but they have to be tracked down individually.

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The Rabbinic texts on the fall of Betar

TISHA B'AV IS COMING: 135 CE Beitar in Memory: Rabbinic Lament and the Legacy of the Fall (Rabbi Shlomo Pereira, Times of Israel Blogs).

JEWISH MOMENTS IN THE LAND OF ISRAEL

135 CE

Beitar in Memory: Rabbinic Lament and the Legacy of the Fall

The fall of Beitar, the Mishnah states occurred on the 9th of Av, passed from history into memory. Rabbinic literature, above all Lamentations Rabbah and the Jerusalem Talmud, recast the catastrophe in theological language: rivers of blood, the unburied dead, the leader slain by a serpent. In doing so, the rabbis transformed defeat into lament, folded Beitar into the calendar of mourning, and read the disaster as both the wages of sin and the memory of a lost sovereignty.

For many PaleoJudaica posts on the Bar Kokhba Revolt and the fall of Betar (Beitar), see here, here, here, and here, and follow the links.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Vendyl Jones's Qumran "incense" is lost

ANCIENT MATERIAL CULTURE? Inside the tragic, decades-long mystery of Qumran's lost Second Temple incense. The vast majority of material was lost after a 2025 murder. All that remains is a small amount of dust collected from the floor and a few samples preserved by the Jones family. (Josh Aronson, Jerusalem Post).

I'm very sorry to hear about the murder.

As for the "incense." I have a bit more on it here (cf. here, but link rotted). Mainstream views seem to be that the material is either just dirt or a local cleaning agent, and its status is, at best, unconfirmed.

The article reports that the Qumran Project is planning to conduct scientific tests on the surviving residue of the material. Given that, reportedly, much of is floor sweepings, I imagine modern contamination could be a concern. But let's see what they find.

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What would Thomas Aquinas say about the Book of Enoch?

OLD TESTAMENT PSEUDEPIGRAPHA WATCH: Reason, Revelation, and the Book of Enoch (Haile haile, Catholic Standard).

The Book of Enoch has long stirred debates among theologians, historians, and believers. Dismissed in most Western traditions as apocryphal and excluded from the canonical Bible, it has often been labelled a “false” book. Yet, when approached with reason, the very tool Aquinas urged Christians to employ in theological debate, one may arrive at a different conclusion. Instead of dismissing the book outright, it is worth re-examining its origins, significance, and theological contributions.
.
Applying the framework of asking the “5WH” questions: who, what, when, where, why, and how – we can reason through why the Book of Enoch should not be entirely discredited. However, this ancient book should be read with discernment and wisdom, not accepted with naive gullibility.

This essay is just one example of a current trend to reasses the theological and metaphysical (etc.!) relevance of 1 Enoch and related ancient works. As I've noted, some of this is fringe. But there is popular mainstream interest to, as illustrated by this article in a lay Catholic publication.

Likewise, this article in another well-established lay Catholic publication shows some cautiously sympathetic interest in 1 Enoch: 10 Fascinating Facts About the Mysterious Enoch. A closer look at the enigmatic Old Testament figure whose fidelity and fate have intrigued believers for centuries (Bradley Shumaker, National Catholic Register).

7. The Book of Enoch Is an Ancient Jewish Text, Not Included in the Biblical Canon
The Book of Enoch, which is also known as 1 Enoch (as there are two later books), is an ancient Jewish apocalyptic text. It is considered by the Church as apocryphal, in other words, not considered divinely inspired and therefore not included as part of the Bible’s canon of Scripture. Scholars estimate that it was written in the third century B.C., or perhaps even earlier, but do not regard Enoch as the author. Fragments of it in the Aramaic language (which is thought to be its original language) were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, which were discovered in 1947. For centuries, it was lost in Europe, but in 1773, a Scotsman named James Bruce brought the book back from Ethiopia, which led to increased attention on its content.

As the next point notes, "8. The New Testament Letter of Jude Quotes the Book of Enoch." The direct quotation of 1 Enoch 1:9 in Jude 14-15, labeled as Enoch prophesying, makes it awkward for Christians to dismiss the book entirely.

I take no position on any such theological issues. But these articles are further illustrations of the current, I think increasing, interest in 1 Enoch, the story of the watchers, and noncanonical scriptures more generally. I noted another recent example here.

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MBA incised reed recovered from Wadi Murabbaʿat Cave 2

ORGANIC MATERIAL CULTURE: Mysterious 3,700-Year-Old Decorated Reed Revealed in Judaean Desert Cave First of its kind in the Southern Levant, the Middle Bronze Age object still keeps its purpose secret (oguz kayra, Arkeonews).

A slender reed fragment found deep inside a cave in the Judaean Desert has emerged as one of the most unusual objects known from the Middle Bronze Age Southern Levant. It is small, fragile, and incomplete, yet its incised surface carries a set of deliberate designs that have survived for nearly 3,700 years in the dry darkness of Wadi Murabbaʿat Cave 2.

A new study published in Tel Aviv identifies the object as the first known reed item from this period ever reported in the Southern Levant. Radiocarbon dating places it between 1743 and 1542 BCE, in the second half of the Middle Bronze Age. Its exact purpose remains unresolved, but the evidence points to an object that was handled, decorated, and possibly connected to a ritual or funerary setting.

[...]

The Tel Aviv article is open access:

A Decorated Middle Bronze Age Reed from Wadi Murabbaʿat

Matthew Susnow, Roi Porat & Uri Davidovich
Published online: 08 Jul 2026
Cite this article https://doi.org/10.1080/03344355.2026.2620264

Abstract

This paper presents a recently discovered incised reed object from Wadi Murabbaʿat Cave 2, in the northern Judaean Desert, that dates to the early second millennium BCE. This is the first reed object from this period to be discovered in the Southern Levant. The incised decorations recall decorative motifs known from a plethora of objects of different materials, functionality and contexts. The reed belongs to a small group of Middle Bronze Age objects found in the cave in the 1950s, many of which are found in contemporaneous burials, including at Jericho. The study argues that the object was likely produced on site, and not by a professional craftsperson. The precise meaning of the object remains unknown, but the pervasiveness of the reed’s decorations within the artistic traditions of the region suggests a widespread cultural template that was rooted in long-term regional symbolism.

And if an incised decorated reed could survive in this environment, why not an inscribed papyrus or parchment scroll? Such things existed in the Middle Bronze Age. Several complete literary compositions survive in scrolls from the Middle Kingdom in Egypt. Fragments too. And a scroll of the Egyptian Book of the Dead dating to the New Kingdom has turned up recently.

Comparably old (c. 1600 BCE) organic remains have been found at Megiddo. And quite early (tenth century BCE) remains in the Timna Valley. And more generally, see here and links.

I would like to think it's only a matter of time before scrolls from the Iron Age or even earlier turn up in Israel. We'll see.

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Does 1 Enoch say that the watchers are buried in Antarctica? No.

OLD TESTAMENT PSEUDEPIGRAPHA WATCH: Ancient book banned from the Bible fuels theory of fallen angels imprisoned beneath Antarctica (Stacy Liberatore, Daily Mail).

That book is, of course, the Book of 1 Enoch, specifically the Book of Watchers (chapters 1-36).

Supporters of the theory cite passages describing imprisoned heavenly beings awaiting God's final judgment, along with references to the 'ends of the earth,' sealed 'chambers of cold' and burning mountains.

They claim the descriptions align with East Antarctica, its network of subglacial lakes and the buried Gamburtsev Subglacial Mountains, a vast range concealed beneath up to two miles of ice.

Between 2007 and 2009, an international research team used airborne radar and other geophysical instruments to map the Gamburtsev Mountains, revealing peaks hidden beneath the ice sheet.

While proponents say the similarities are too striking to dismiss, mainstream biblical scholars generally interpret the passages as symbolic descriptions of a supernatural realm rather than a literal location on Earth.

I think biblical scholars would say that the writer of the Book of Watchers likely believed that the watchers were buried in some specific, but perhaps undisclosed, literal location on earth. But, in reality, there was no such location. Certainly not Antarctica. The location was entirely imaginary.

The Mail article goes on to mention YouTube as the source of this daft Lovecraftian notion, but it does not give a link. Perhaps because there are quite a few videos advancing it, some going back as much as eight years, other much more recent.

I flag this story not because it has any scientific merit, but because it illustrates that there is considerable and, I think, increasing interest in the Book of 1 Enoch and the story of the rise and fall of the watchers. This Antarctica nonsense is well on the fringe end, but some of the interest comes from a more mainstream curiousity about surviving scriptures that Western Christians and interested secular people don't find in their own Bibles.

These matters are, as you know, near to my own heart. I have collected more stories on interest in 1 Enoch and will get to them when I can. I encourage specialists to keep up with these things. They can provide teaching moments when they come up.

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Is Egypt dismantling the legal status of Saint Catherine's Monastery?

SAINT CATHERINE'S MONASTERY: New Report Warns St. Catherine’s Monastery Has Reached a Decisive Stage in the Dismantling of Its Fifteen-Century Legal Status (Standard Newswire).

WASHINGTON, July 13, 2026 /Standard Newswire/ — Coptic Solidarity today released a new report warning that the crisis surrounding St. Catherine’s Monastery in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula is not an isolated property dispute but the culmination of a decade-long process through which the Egyptian state has progressively challenged the centuries-old legal and institutional status of one of the world’s oldest continuously functioning Christian monasteries and one of UNESCO’s most emblematic World Heritage Sites.

[..]

This press release summarizes the Coptic Solidarity report. It includes a link, so you can read the whole report if you like.

I have been following this controversy for the last year or so and have posted on it here and here. As before, I have no insider information and I don't know what is really going on. But, whatever is happening, it should happen in the full light of the world's scrutiny.

For many other PaleoJudaica posts on Saint Catherine's Monastery and its important collection of manuscripts, start here (cf. here, and here and links) and follow the links.

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