The find
In 1979, archaeologist Gabriel Barkay was digging burial caves at Ketef Hinnom, on a hillside just outside the walls of Jerusalem's Old City. A 13-year-old volunteer on the dig found a hidden chamber that ancient tomb robbers had missed.
Among the objects inside were two tiny rolls of silver, each small enough to hide in the palm of your hand. They had been worn as amulets.
Unrolling them without destroying them took years of careful work.
What was written on them
When they were finally opened, scratched into the silver in ancient Hebrew letters was this:
"The Lord bless thee, and keep thee. The Lord shew his face to thee, and have mercy on thee. The Lord turn his countenance to thee, and give thee peace."
Numbers 6:24 to 26
The priestly blessing. The words God told Moses to give Aaron and his sons, to bless the people of Israel. And written in it, the holy name of God, YHWH.
How old they are
The scrolls were re-examined in 2004 with modern imaging. The researchers dated them to just before 586 BC, when the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and the first Temple.
That makes them the oldest Bible text ever found. They are around four centuries older than the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Someone in Jerusalem, while Solomon's Temple was still standing, wore God's blessing from the book of Numbers as a treasured possession.
The same words
Twenty-six centuries later, the blessing on those scrolls is the blessing in your Bible. It is still prayed in synagogues and churches today.
There's a verse in the Psalms that could have been written for them:
"The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried by the fire, purged from the earth, refined seven times."
Psalm 11:7 (12:6 in most Bibles)
Why this is a big deal
Some have claimed the books of Moses were written late, long after the time they describe. These scrolls show the words of Numbers were already being copied, treasured and worn as protection in Jerusalem before the Babylonian exile.
The oldest piece of the Bible ever found is a blessing, in silver, carrying the name of God. "The word of our Lord endureth for ever" (Isaias 40:8).