Bible Synapse
Shasu of Yhw inscription at Soleb
Inscription · 14th century BC · Before the kings · also called Soleb inscription, Land of the Shasu of Yhw
See it on the map and timeline
- Date
- 14th century BC (the column’s carving, in the reign of Amenhotep III)
- Found
- Temple of Amun at Soleb, northern Sudan. The temple has been known to Europeans since the 19th century. Michela Schiff Giorgini’s excavations of 1957–1963 cleared and rebuilt the fallen columns of the hypostyle hall; the column bearing this name (IV N4) is still at the site.
- Now
- At the site, Soleb, Sudan
- Passages
- Deuteronomy 33:2, Judges 5:4, Exodus 3:15
What it is
A list of foreign peoples carved on the columns of Amenhotep III’s temple at Soleb in Nubia, each name set in an oval name-ring topped by the figure of a bound captive. One column names four groups of Shasu, the Egyptian word for herding nomads of the lands east of Egypt. One entry reads ‘the land of the Shasu of Yhw’, apparently a place or group called Yhw. A 13th-century BC list at Amara West, perhaps copied in part from Soleb’s, repeats the name among six Shasu lands, one of them Seir.
How it connects to the Bible
Many scholars think Yhw is an early form of YHWH, the name of Israel’s God, which the KJV renders “the LORD”. If so, this is the earliest known use of the name, and it is tied to nomads of the lands south and east of Canaan. Several biblical poems also picture the LORD coming from that direction: “The LORD came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir”.
What scholars debate
Whether Yhw here names a place, a group or a god, and how it relates to Israel’s later worship of YHWH, is debated. The name was first reported from Soleb in the 1960s; detailed photographs of this column were published only in 2019.