PART II

TRANSLATIONS OF ANCIENT DOCUMENTS WHICH CONFIRM OR ILLUMINATE THE BIBLE

PHILADELPHIA AMERICAN SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION 1816 Chestnut Street

Copyright, 1916, by AMERICAN SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION

All rights vested in and reserved by AMERICAN SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION

First Edition, May, 1916. Second Edition, June, 1917.

To CAROLINE B. D. BARTON Faithful Comrade in the Campaign of Life

PREFACE

For a hundred years or more the explorer and the excavator have been busy in many parts of the world. They have brought to light monuments and texts that have in many cases revolutionized our conceptions of history and have in other cases thrown much new light on what was previously known.

In no part of the world have these labors been more fruitful than in the lands of the Bible. In Egypt and Babylonia vistas of history have been opened to view that were undreamed of before exploration began. The same is true for that part of the history of Palestine which antedates the coming of Israel. Information has also been obtained which illumines later portions of the history, and makes the Biblical narrative seem much more