# Nebo-Sarsekim Tablet ## Intro When Jerusalem fell to Babylon in 587/586 BC, Jeremiah lists the Babylonian officers who came in and took their seats in the city's middle gate ([Jeremiah 39:3](/codex/jeremiah-39/)). One of them carries a title usually translated "chief eunuch" or "chief officer," and a name that English Bibles spell in different ways: Sarsechim, or Nebo-Sarsekim. In 2007 the Assyriologist Michael Jursa of the University of Vienna was reading unpublished tablets in the British Museum when he came across a small receipt from a Babylonian temple archive. It records that an official named Nabu-sharrussu-ukin, holding the title "chief of the courtiers," sent a quantity of gold to the great temple of Marduk in Babylon. The tablet was written about eight years before the fall of Jerusalem. Jursa argued that this is the same man Jeremiah names. If he is right, a minor name in a list of Babylonian officers in Jeremiah turns out to belong to a real, high-ranking official at Nebuchadnezzar's court. The identification is strong but not beyond question: it depends on reading the Hebrew of Jeremiah 39:3 in a particular way, and some scholars have urged caution. ## In full The Nebo-Sarsekim Tablet (British Museum BM 114789; registration 1920,1213.81) is a Neo-Babylonian administrative receipt from the Ebabbar temple archive of Sippar, dated 18 Shabatu, year 10 of Nebuchadnezzar II (594 BC). It records 1.5 minas (roughly three-quarters of a kilogram) of gold belonging to Nabû-šarrussu-ukīn, the *rab ša-rēši* ("chief of the courtiers," often rendered "chief eunuch"), which the courtier Arad-Banitu delivered to Esangila, the temple of Marduk in Babylon. Michael Jursa published the text in *Nouvelles Assyriologiques Brèves et Utilitaires* (NABU 2008, no. 5), identifying the official with *nbwsrskym*, the *rab-sārîs* of [Jeremiah 39:3](/codex/jeremiah-39/), an identification first proposed as a hypothesis by David Vanderhooft in 1999. Jursa held the identity to be secure on three grounds: only one man held the office of *rab ša-rēši* at a time, the name is extremely rare, and the dates are close. The identification requires a particular division of the words in Jeremiah 39:3 and a small emendation of the Hebrew spelling, and Henry Stadhouders (Utrecht) wrote that the question of identity still deserved scholarly debate. ## The object and its discovery - **What it is.** A small clay tablet written in Babylonian cuneiform, a routine record of a transaction. It is one of a vast number of such notes from the archive of the Ebabbar, the temple of the sun god Shamash at Sippar. - **Where it has been.** The tablet was registered in the British Museum in 1920 (registration number 1920,1213.81) and sat unpublished among the museum's large holdings of Babylonian administrative tablets. - **The identification.** Jursa, working on the economic history of first-millennium Babylonia, recognized the name and title in 2007. His edition, dated December 2007, appeared in NABU 2008 with permission of the Trustees of the British Museum. Henry Stadhouders of Utrecht University published an independent transliteration, translation, and commentary from British Museum photographs as an appendix to Bob Becking's 2009 article on the identification. - **Where it is now.** The British Museum, London, museum number 114789. ## What it says In Henry Stadhouders' English translation, the tablet records a quantity of gold belonging to Nabû-šarrussu-ukīn, chief of courtiers, which he forwarded to the Esaggil through the agency of the courtier Arad-Banitu, and which Arad-Banitu delivered at the Esaggil. Two witnesses are named, Bel-usati son of Apla, a member of the royal guard, and Nadin son of Marduk-zer-ibni. The date is the 18th of Shebat in the 10th year of Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon. Jursa's German translation gives the same content: 1.5 minas of gold, the property of Nabû-šarrussu-ukīn, the *rab ša-rēši*, in the care of the courtier Arad-Banitu, sent to Esangila and handed over there, before two witnesses, one of them a royal bodyguard. Stadhouders noted that the receipt's wording rules out a debt payment or a deposit; the gold was the official's own, sent to Babylon's chief temple for a purpose the tablet does not state. ## The biblical match *"that all the princes of the king of Babylon came in, and sat in the middle gate, to wit, Nergal-sharezer, Samgar-nebo, Sarsechim, Rab-saris, Nergal-sharezer, Rab-mag, with all the rest of the princes of the king of Babylon."* (Jeremiah 39:3, ASV) The ASV, following the traditional division of the Hebrew, reads *Samgar-nebo* as one name and *Sarsechim* as another. Jursa and others divide the words differently: *Samgar* is a title (Babylonian *simmagir*), and *Nebo* begins the next name, giving *Nebo-sarsekim, the Rab-saris*. Read that way, the verse lists three officials with their titles, not four or five names, and the name *Nebo-sarsekim* corresponds closely to Babylonian *Nabû-šarrussu-ukīn*. Shalom Holtz (Yeshiva University) sets out this re-division at TheTorah.com. The title also matches. Hebrew *rab-sārîs* is the counterpart of Babylonian *rab ša-rēši*, the head of the king's courtiers. Jursa wrote that the agreement between the Akkadian name and the Hebrew spelling is almost perfect once one letter is corrected: the consonants *nbwsrskym* should be read *nbw-srs-kyn*, a Hebrew scribe having taken the ending *-yn* for an Aramaic-style plural and "corrected" it to the Hebrew plural *-ym*. The same verse names *Nergal-sharezer* with the title *simmagir*, and Jursa noted that the historical reliability of the names in Jeremiah 39 had already been shown long before through that officer, the later king Neriglissar. The British Museum's catalogue entry describes this tablet as only the second time that the name and title of a Babylonian officer appearing in Jeremiah 39 have been found in a cuneiform text. ## The scholarly caution The identification is widely accepted, but it is not proof in the strict sense, and honest use of the tablet should say why. 1. **It depends on reading the Hebrew a certain way.** The match requires both re-dividing the words of Jeremiah 39:3 and emending the final letters of the name. Both moves are reasonable and widely accepted, but they are reconstructions. The traditional division, followed by the ASV and other older translations, yields *Sarsechim*, not *Nebo-sarsekim*. 2. **Stadhouders' reservations.** Henry Stadhouders, who published his own transliteration and translation of the tablet, opened by describing the 2007 publicity as an internet hype and noted that some had claimed the tablet proved the Bible historically reliable while others dismissed it as *"a mere name detached from any historical context."* He wrote that whether this *rab ša-rēši* is likely to be identical with the biblical figure *"deserves scholarly debate,"* and he raised a further question about how the name itself should be read. 3. **Other men of the same name.** A courtier with the same name, holding the lower title *ša rēš šarri*, appears in a document from the reign of Amel-Marduk (561 BC). Vanderhooft had suggested that this man might be Jeremiah's official but, as Stadhouders reports, considered it impossible to prove. Jursa held that the Amel-Marduk courtier has nothing to do with the *rab ša-rēši*, since the two titles are not interchangeable. Stadhouders thought the two might be the same man later in his career. Either way, the name was borne by more than one person in the period, which slightly weakens the argument from rarity. 4. **The time gap.** The receipt dates to 594 BC; the scene in Jeremiah 39:3 is about eight years later. The office was held by one man at a time, but nothing in the tablet shows that Nabû-šarrussu-ukīn was still in office in 587/586 BC. 5. **A second Rab-saris in the same chapter.** Ten verses later, [Jeremiah 39:13](/codex/jeremiah-39/) names a Rab-saris called *Nebushazban*: *"So Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard sent, and Nebushazban, Rab-saris, and Nergal-sharezer, Rab-mag, and all the chief officers of the king of Babylon"* (ASV). How this relates to the officer of 39:3 is a question any careful treatment has to leave open. 6. **The meaning of the title.** Stadhouders, following A. C. V. M. Bongenaar, rendered *ša-rēši* neutrally as "courtier," noting that such palace officials may or may not have been eunuchs in the strict sense. "Chief eunuch" is a common translation, not a settled fact. ## What it does and does not prove **What it confirms, on the most likely reading:** - A Babylonian official whose name and title correspond to an officer named in [Jeremiah 39:3](/codex/jeremiah-39/) held high office at Nebuchadnezzar's court a few years before the fall of Jerusalem. - The writer of Jeremiah 39 had accurate knowledge of Babylonian court officials, their names, and their titles. Together with Nergal-sharezer (Neriglissar), this places the list of officers in Jeremiah 39 among the best-anchored lists of foreign officials in the Old Testament. **What it does not show:** - It does not mention Jerusalem, Judah, the siege, or Jeremiah. The tablet is a temple receipt, and the link to the Bible rests entirely on the name and title. - It does not prove the identification beyond doubt, for the reasons given above. - It does not confirm Jeremiah's prophecies or the theological interpretation of the fall of Jerusalem. It confirms a historical detail in the narrative. ## Evidential status **Strong identification, widely accepted, with acknowledged caveats.** The tablet's reading and date are secure. Jursa, the editor, regarded the identification with the biblical officer as certain, and the British Museum's catalogue presents the two as the same person. Other specialists, notably Stadhouders, have treated the identification as likely but still open to debate. Apologetic use should present it as a probable confirmation of a detail in Jeremiah, not as a proof. ## See also - [Biblical Archaeology](/codex/biblical-archaeology/), parent hub - [Jeremiah Bullae](/codex/jeremiah-bullae/), seal impressions of Judean officials named in Jeremiah, the Judean side of the same story - [Lachish Letters](/codex/lachish-letters/), Judean dispatches from the Babylonian campaign that ended in 587/586 BC - [Babylonian Chronicle and the Capture of Jerusalem](/codex/babylonian-chronicle-and-the-capture-of-jerusalem/), the Babylonian record of the earlier capture in 597 BC - [Jehoiachin Ration Tablets](/codex/jehoiachin-ration-tablets/), Babylonian palace records naming Judah's exiled king - [Nabonidus Cylinder and Belshazzar](/codex/nabonidus-cylinder-and-belshazzar/), another Babylonian text vindicating a disputed biblical name - [Nebuchadrezzar](/codex/nebuchadrezzar/), the king this official served - [Jeremiah 39](/codex/jeremiah-39/), the fall of Jerusalem and the officers in the middle gate ## Common questions this page answers **Q: What is the Nebo-Sarsekim Tablet?** A small Babylonian clay receipt in the British Museum (BM 114789), dated to 594 BC, recording that Nabu-sharrussu-ukin, chief of the courtiers (often translated "chief eunuch") at Nebuchadnezzar's court, sent 1.5 minas of gold to Esangila, the temple of Marduk in Babylon. Michael Jursa identified its significance in 2007. **Q: Is Nebo-Sarsekim mentioned in the Bible?** Yes, in [Jeremiah 39:3](/codex/jeremiah-39/), among the Babylonian officers who sat in Jerusalem's middle gate when the city fell. Older translations such as the ASV divide the Hebrew to read "Samgar-nebo, Sarsechim, Rab-saris." Many scholars now divide it as "Nebo-sarsekim, the Rab-saris," which matches the Babylonian name and title on the tablet. **Q: Does the Nebo-Sarsekim Tablet prove the Bible is accurate?** It supports the accuracy of a specific detail in Jeremiah: a high Babylonian official with this name and title served Nebuchadnezzar in the right period. Jursa considered the identification certain. Other scholars, such as Henry Stadhouders, have said the identity still deserves debate, because it depends on re-dividing and slightly correcting the Hebrew text and because the tablet is eight years earlier than the events of Jeremiah 39. **Q: What does "Rab-saris" mean?** It is a Babylonian court title, the Hebrew form of *rab ša-rēši*, "chief of the courtiers." It is often translated "chief eunuch" or "chief officer." Scholars debate whether the officials called *ša-rēši* in Babylonia were always eunuchs, so a neutral translation such as "chief courtier" is the cautious choice. **Q: Why was the tablet only recognized in 2007?** It had been in the British Museum since 1920 among a very large number of unpublished Babylonian administrative tablets. Such routine receipts are read systematically only by specialists working through the archives, and Jursa noticed the name and title while studying the economic records of the period.