Papyrus Amherst 63 is divided in sections. The first section is devoted to texts from an Aramean community from Babylonia, worshippers of Nanay and Nabu. The second section contains texts from Syrian Arameans that came from Hamath; their religion is focused on the god Bethel. The third section is Samarian and contains the three Israelite psalms. They refer to Yaho as “our Bull,” which is entirely in line with the North-Israelite practice of venerating Yaho in the form of a young bull (the “Golden Calf”). To judge by the shape of the Demotic characters of the text, the papyrus dates from the mid-fourth century BCE.Professor van der Toorn has recently published an edition of Papyrus Amherst 63. For past PaleoJudaica posts on this difficult and fascinating document, start here and follow the links.
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