Silver Amulet Scroll
Late seventh or early sixth century B.C. - some 400 years before the famous Dead Sea Scrolls.
An archaeological discovery in 1979 revealed a verse from Numbers 6:24-26 , appeared to be the earliest biblical passage ever found in ancient artifacts.
The amulet scroll can now be seen in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.
The script, the team wrote, is indeed from the period just before the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. by Nebuchadnezzar and the subsequent exile of Israelites in Babylonia.
Archaeologist Gabriel Barkay, with a meager budget, and only 12 and 13 year old helpers from a local club set out on a completely ordinary dig
backyard of St. Andrews in Jerusalem
They were found in the fourth of several burial caves he discovered on an escarpment known as Ketef Hinnom, which overlooks the Hinnom Valley (Gehenna) just opposite Mt. Zion. Each amulet contained a rolled-up sheet of silver which, when unrolled, revealed the Priestly Benediction inscribed on them.
In the area next to St. Andrew's Church, finds dating from the Iron Age to the Ottoman period were uncovered.
The amulets, although written by different scribes, both date to the end of the First Temple period (late seventh or early sixth century B.C.), shortly before the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem, and both amulets contain a version of the Priestly Blessing in Numbers 6:24–26:
“May the Lord (Yahweh) bless you and protect you;
“May the Lord cause his countenance to shine upon you and be gracious unto you;
“May the Lord favor you and grant you peace.”
A secret room filled with ancient objects had just been discovered. Dr. Barkay explains the excitement:
In one chamber more than a thousand objects were found. They included 125 objects of silver, 40 iron arrowheads, gold, ivory, glass, bone and 150 semi-precious stones. There was 60 centimeters [two feet] of accumulation filled with objects and skeletal remains. There was a lot of dust and a lack of oxygen.
https://www.biblearchaeology.org/post/2010/01/06/The-Blessing-of-the-Silver-Scrolls.aspx#Article
https://www.wwyd.org/Articles/Silver-Scroll.htm
https://www.imj.org.il/imagine/item.asp?itemNum=198069
https://cojs.org/cojswiki/Strata:_A_Good_Look%2C_BAR_31:01%2C_Jan/Feb_2005.
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Archaeology/jerplaques.html
https://biblicalstudies.info/top10/schoville.htm