KhNSJ 6

Siglum: KhNSJ 6
Transliteration: l {ṣ}{b}{ḥ} bn ḏl bn ʾs¹ bn ḏl ḏ- ʾl ʿbs²{t} w mrd ʿl- ʾl rm ---- qyẓ ʿlf {t}yt s¹nt brḥ qṣr l- bṣry f h lt s¹lm w ʿwr l- ḏ- ʿwr h- s¹fr
Translation: By {Ṣbḥ} son of Ḏl son of ʾs¹ son of Ḏl of the lineage of {ʿbs²t} and he rebelled against the Romans ---- he spent the dry season using dry fodder ---- the year Caesar hastened to Boṣrā so O Lt [grant] security and [inflict] blindness on whoever scratches out this writing

Interpretation

Apparatus Criticus: KhNSJ: ʿmrt for ʿbs²t
Commentary: The letters of the first name are very uncertain on the published photograph though the ed. pr. says that they are clear on the stone despite enclosing them in [ ] in his reading. The tribal name is clearly ʿbs²t not ʿmrt. The letter(s) between rm and qyẓ are illegible on the photograph. Ed. pr. has w on the facsimile but f in the reading. The next phrase is probably qyẓ ʿlf (cf. SIAM 28) though it is difficult to explain {t}yt. Ed. pr. translates brḥ qṣr l- bṣry as ʿCaesar left Boṣraʾ which of course is impossible. Brḥ in Safaitic presumably had a wider sense than Arabic bariḥa ʿto go away fromʾ (with a direct object) and may have been closer in sense to Hebrew bāraḥ ʿto flee (with l- ʿtoʾ), to hastenʾ (BDB 138a).

Brown, F., Driver, S.R., Briggs, C.A. A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament with an Appendix Containing the Biblical Aramaic.. Based on the Lexicon of William Gesenius as Translated by Edward Robinson. [Reprinted with corrections 1953]. Oxford : Clarendon, 1953 [1st ed. 1907].
Al-Khraysheh, F.H. New Safaitic Inscriptions from Jordan. Syria 72, 1995: 401-414.