The Isaiah Bulla: Ophel Seal Impression of "Yeshayahu Nvy"

The bulla was unearthed during controlled excavations on the Ophel, the ridge south of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, led by archaeologist Eilat Mazar between 2009 and 2013 under the auspices of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Israel Antiquities Authority. The find was formally published in 2018. It was recovered from a destruction layer dated to the late Iron Age IIB, broadly consistent with the late 8th century BC, and was located within approximately 3 meters of a bulla bearing the inscription "Belonging to Hezekiah [son of] Ahaz, King of Judah" — the first seal impression of an Israelite king ever found in a controlled excavation. The clay bulla measures approximately 1.0 cm in diameter. Its inscription, read right to left in ancient Hebrew script, preserves two partial lines: the upper line reads "Yeshayahu" (ישעיהו, a Hebrew personal name equivalent to Isaiah), while the lower line reads "Nvy" (נבי). The critical interpretive issue is that the bulla's lower right corner is broken, leaving uncertain whether the word originally read "Nvy'" (נביא, meaning "prophet") with a final aleph now lost, or whether "Nvy" represents a family or place name. Mazar argued for the reading "Isaiah the prophet," while other scholars, including Christopher Rollston, have urged caution given the incomplete state of the inscription. Should the reading "Isaiah the prophet" be sustained, the artifact would provide extraordinary corroboration for the close administrative and advisory relationship between Hezekiah and Isaiah described across 2 Kings 19–20 and Isaiah 36–39. Even under the more cautious interpretation, the bulla attests a historically plausible Hebrew personal name from the correct stratum and locale, situating it squarely within the bureaucratic and scribal milieu of late monarchic Jerusalem. It remains one of the most discussed seal impressions in recent biblical archaeology. **Sources:** Eilat Mazar, "Is This the Prophet Isaiah's Signature?" *Biblical Archaeology Review* 44.2 (2018); Christopher Rollston, "The Putative Isaiah Bulla," *Rollston Epigraphy* (blog, peer-reviewed commentary, 2018); Nahman Avigad and Benjamin Sass, *Corpus of West Semitic Stamp Seals* (Israel Academy of Sciences, 1997); Isaiah 37:2; 2 Kings 19:2.