Bronze amulet. Only two inches long, this sheet of bronze was discovered, rolled-up, under the threshold of a doorway in the east wall of the Meroth synagogue. In its 26-line Aramaic inscription, the amulet owner, Yossai bar Zenovia, makes an impassioned plea to God to give him the same power over “this village” (presumably Meroth) that God himself wields over the world. Perhaps Yossai bar Zenovia was in competition with another villager for a position of official authority in Meroth.
The inscription reads-
Upon thy grace and upon thy truth
In the name of Yahweh we shall do and succeed
Strong and mighty God blessed be thy name
And blessed thy kingdom / As thou overpowered the sea with thy horses
And hammered out the earth
With thy shoe / And as thou prevailest over
The trees in winter and the grass
Of the land in summer / Thus be [subjugated]
[—people of this village——]
Before Yossei the son of Zenovia / Let
My word and my command be upon them / As
The heavens are subjugated before God
And the earth is subjugated before mankind
And mankind
Is subjugated before death
And death is subjugated before
God / So shall the people
Of this village be subjugated
And defeated and subdued
Before Yossei the son of Zenovia
In the name of Hatoaa the angel
Sent before Israel
I make a sign / Zalach (success)
Zalach amen
Amen selah
Haleluyah (praise ye the lord)
Zvi Ilan and Emmanuel Damati, “The Synagogue at Meroth- Does It Fix Israel’s Northern Border in Second Temple Times?” BAR 15-02, Mar-Apr 1989.