Byzantine Psalm Uncovered at Hyrcania

[Michie]

“Jesus Christ, guard me, for I am poor and needy”​

During a pilot excavation at Hyrcania, located 10 miles southeast of Jerusalem in the West Bank, excavators uncovered a Greek inscription paraphrasing Psalm 86. Dating to the Byzantine period (c. 324–634 CE), the inscription was found amid the remains of a monastery built atop an earlier Hasmonean fortress and Herodian palace.

A Byzantine Psalm in the Wilderness​

“Jesus Christ, guard me, for I am poor and needy,” reads the inscription, written in Koine Greek, the language of the New Testament. While not a direct quotation, it was likely a paraphrase of Psalm 86:1–2, an important prayer in both Christian and Jewish tradition. The short inscription was painted onto a building stone, likely belonging to the monastery. A simple cross was also painted above the inscription.

“This psalm holds a special place in the Masoretic text as a designated prayer and is notably one of the most frequently recited psalms in Christian liturgy,” explained Avner Ecker of Bar-Ilan University, who translated the inscription. “Thus, the monk drew a graffito of a cross onto the wall, accompanied by a prayer with which he was very familiar.” Based on the epigraphy, Ecker suggests dating the inscription to the first half of the sixth century. Further aiding the dating were several small grammatical errors that were typical of Byzantine Palestine at the time. “These minor errors indicate that the priest was not a native Greek speaker, but likely someone from the region who was raised speaking a Semitic language.”

Continued below.

Byzantine Psalm Uncovered at Hyrcania

During an excavation at Hyrcania, located 10 miles southeast of Jerusalem, excavators uncovered a Greek inscription paraphrasing Psalm 86.

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