Bible Synapse
Bulla of King Hezekiah
Object · c. 700 BC · Assyria and Babylon · also called King Hezekiah bulla, Hezekiah seal impression (Ophel)
See it on the map and timeline- Date
- c. 700 BC (the seal impression (Hezekiah’s reign))
- Found
- Ophel, south of the Temple Mount, Jerusalem, 2009. Found in 2009 when soil from a refuse dump in Eilat Mazar’s Ophel excavations (Hebrew University of Jerusalem) was wet-sifted; identified and announced in 2015.
- Now
- Location not published (Ophel excavation finds)
- Passages
- 2 Kings 18:1–3, 2 Kings 16:20
What it is
A small lump of clay, about 13 × 12 mm, stamped with a royal seal. The impression reads “belonging to Hezekiah [son of] Ahaz, king of Judah”, around a two-winged sun with its wings turned down, flanked by two ankh signs of life. Cord marks on the back show that it once sealed a papyrus document; it was found with 33 other bullae.
How it connects to the Bible
The bulla names the king of 2 Kings 18 together with his father and his title, just as Kings introduces him: “Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign” (2 Kings 18:1). It is the first seal impression of a king of Israel or Judah to come from a controlled excavation; similar Hezekiah impressions had appeared only on the antiquities market.