The exploits of "Mesha, son [i.e. votary] of Che- mosh, king of Moab," are recorded in the Phoenician inscrii)tion lately discovered by M. Ganneau on a block of black basalt at Dibon in Moab (see Quin-tcrbj State- ment, No. 5, of " The Palestine Exploration Fund," Lond. 1870) ; which, according to the decipherment given by him in the Revue Archeologique (Jan. and June, 1870), is as below (see the Weslei/ari Magazine, April, 1870). Prof. Neubauer has published the text in modern He- brew characters in Griitz's Monaischrift, and I'rof. J. Derenbourg a translation in the Revue Israelite (April 8, 1870), substantially as below. See also the Church Ga- zette, N. Y. 1871, No. 6. Several other commentaries have been published upon it, especially by Dr. Deutsch of the British Museum. See also Niildeke, Inschrift Jes Mesa (Kiel, 1870); Schlottman, Sicf/essdule Mesa's (Halle, 1870) ; De Costa, The Moabite Stone (N. Y. 1871). The fullest exhibit, together with tlie literature of the subject, is that of Dr. Ginsburg (2d ed. Lond. 1871).
1. I, Meshn, son of Chemosh, . . . King of Moab, [son]
2. of Yabui . . . My fatlier reigned over Moab (thirty years), and I reigned "
3. after him; 1 made this altar for Chemosh at Karhali on account
4. of the a--! iiiii' i' I'' 'ave me in all battles, and be- cause he mai'" ■ 111 against my enemies the men
5. of the Nil ; I m 1. who oppressed Moab a long time, for Chrm.-ii w.i- ,iii_'ry against
f>. his land. His sun succeeded him, and he also said, I will oppress Moab. In my davs he (Chemosh) said, Ll will go]
7. and appear (be favorable) to Moab and his temple; then Israel wasted continually. Omvi took [the plain of]
S. Mahdeba and dwelt in it . . . bnilt forty . . . [and dwelt]
9. Chemosh there in my days. I bnilt Baal-Meon and made (sacrifices) there . . . and I [built]
10. Kiiyathan. The men of Gad [dwelt] in [this] land from early times, and there built the Kin^
11. (if Israel [Yaa/.er] ; I besieged the city, took it, and killed all I wh. I dwelt]
12. in the city, to the gratification of Chemosh and Moab : I niadc^ captive there . . .
13. [and broii'.'lit] it to Chemosh at Keriyoth. I re- maineil heic with the chiefs and [llie soldiers until]
14. the next (lav. Then Clicniosh bade me go and take Nebo from Isiael". [I arose and]
l.*}. went in the night and fought against it from the break of day till noon : I
16. took it, killed all, seven thousand ... [to please Astor].
IT. ... for Chemosh devoted to Astor. ... I took from there all
15. the vessels of Jehovah, and [ofTcred] them to Che- mosh. And the Kuvj: of Israel l^ilt
10. Yaluiz, and dwell ihere, when I made war upon him. Chemosh drove him <ml from thence; I
20. took fioin Moab two hiindied men, all chiefs, trans- ferred them to ^ ihi- nll'cgan
21. to niak' V , I 1 Dibon. I built Kirhah, Ha- math-ha-Yi' ,' , :. . , ii i.iih.
22. II . . . ; 1 1 -:•! their gates and their towers; I
23. bnilt the palace, and I made aqueducts (?) in the in- terior
24. of the town. There were no cisterns in the interior of the town of Kirhah, and I said to all the people, Make
25. every one a cistern in his house. And I made a ditch round Kirhah with [the men]
20. of Israel. I built (Aro)er, and I made the passage over the Aruon.
27. I built Beth-Bamoth, which had been overthrown, and Bezer, which had been destroyed.
2S. I fortified Dibon to hold it in subjection, and I con- structed
211. fortresses in the towns which I added to [my] land. I built
:w. . . . Beth-Diblathan, Beth-Baal-Meon, and trans- ported thither [Moabites]
31. [in Older to take possession of] the laud. At Iloro- uan dwelt [the children of Keuhen] . . .
32. Chemosh told me, Go, fight against Horonau [I fought against it and took it],
33. [and there dwelt] Chemosh in my days . . .
34. ...
Me'shach (Heb. or Chald. Meyshah', "'^*'^p, of foreign etymology; Sept. MiffOK v. r. M((T«x,Yulg. Mi- such), the title given b\' the Babylonian court to Mi- CH.\EL (q. v.), one of the Hebrew youths in training for the ranli of magi (Dan. i, 7 ; ii, 49 ; iii, 12-30). " Ge- senlus resolves the name into the Persic miz-shah, ' the f/uest of tho shah' {Thesaur.s.v.'); Hitzig {Exer/et.Ihlb. ad loc.) and Fiirst (/leb.-Lex. s. v.) refer it to the San- scrit Meshah, 'a ram,'' and regard it as a name of the sun-god. The changing of the names of persons taken into a familj' as servants or slaves was common in an- cient times among both the Orientals and the Greeks (Jahn, A rchdoL pt. i, vol. ii, p. 280 ; Theodoret on Dan. i, 7: Chrj-sostom, Opj). v, 280; Hiivernick, Comm. iib. Bun. p. 30)" (Kitto). '• That Mcshach was the name of some god of the Chaldaeans is extremely probable, from the fact that Daniel, who had the name of Bclte- shazzar, was so called after the god of Nebuchadnezzar (Dan. iv, 8), and that Abednego was named after Nego, or Nebo, the ChakUean name for the planet Mercury" (Smitli). See DANiiiL.