英譯文:
"The (foreign) chieftains lie prostrate, saying "Peace."
Not one lifts his head among the Nine Bows.
Libya is captured, while Hattia is pacified. Canaan is plundered,
Ashkelon is carried off, and Gezer is captured.
Yenoam is made into non-existence; Israel is wasted, its seed is not;
and Hurru is become a widow because of Egypt.
All lands united themselves in peace. Those who went about are subdued by the king of Upper and Lower Egypt … Merneptah."
[4] Petrie, W. M. F. 1897. Six Temples at Thebes: 1896. London: Bernard Quaritch, pls. 13–14.
[5] Kitchen, Kenneth A. 1982. Pharaoh Triumphant: The Life and Times of Ramesses II. Warminster: Aris and Phillips, p. 215. 在美崙帕之前的100多年裡,石碑實際上是由阿蒙霍特普三世(Amenhotep III)打造的,其中一側有一長銘文。在美崙帕統治的第五年,大約在公元前1209年,他在此石碑的另一面刻上這首詩,紀念他的軍事戰績。利比亞人入侵埃及的其一原因,是當時東地中海發生嚴重的食物短缺。另外,北面的赫人帝國面對食物短缺之危,在蘭塞二世和美崙帕統治埃及時期,赫人非常關注從埃及入口的穀物(見Rainey, Anson F. and R. Steven Notley. 2006. The Sacred Bridge: Carta's Atlas of the Biblical World. Jerusalem: Carta, p. 100)
[8] Ashkelon,見書13:3; 士1:18; 14:19; 撒上6:17。從第十九王朝的文獻,可知迦南是埃及帝國策劃地區,迦沙(Gaza)是埃及在迦南地的首府,迦南地包括亞實基倫、基色和耶魯林。見 Yurco, Frank J. "Merenptah's Canaanite Campaign." Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 23 (1986): 189-215, p. 190.
[10] Yenoam,學者認為是加利利海南面的土丘Tell el-Ubeidiya (Aḥituv, Shmuel. 1984. Canaanite Toponyms in Ancient Egyptian Documents. Jerusalem/Leiden: Magnes/Brill, pp. 206–208; Yohanan Aharoni. 1979. The Land of the Bible, rev. and enl. ed., edited and translated by Anson F. Rainey. Philadelphia, pp. 177-78)。另外,埃及法老圖特摩斯三世(Thutmose III,1479-1425年)於《圖特摩斯三世史冊》(Annals of Thutmose III)記述攻打米吉多時,亦提到耶魯林(COS 2.2A)。塞提一世(Seti I,1479-1425年)的《首征伯善戰碑,元年》(First Beth-Shan Stela, Year 1),見COS 2.4B。
[11] 關於文句中是否指「以色列」(Israel),歷史極少派(Minimalist)引起十分多爭議,William Dever 早已駁斥所有不是指以色列的翻譯,見 William G. Dever. 2009. Merenptah's "Israel," the Bible's, and Ours. In: Exploring the Longue Duree: Essays in Honor of Lawrence E. Stager. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, pp. 89-96。埃及詞 prt 可指「種子/糧食」(seed/grain),也可指「子孫」(offspring)。Hasel 認為是「糧食」(1994:48–50),但是大部分學者認為是「子孫」,亦較乎文理 (Stager, Lawrence E. 1985. “Merneptah, Israel and the Sea Peoples: New Light on an Old Relief.” Eretz-Israel 18:56–64, p. 61)。Hoffmeier指出,埃及文 prt 相等於希伯來文pri,可指「種子」或「子孫」,但埃及文 prt 意指「子孫」時,會使用「陽具」限定符號(determinative),參Hoffmeier, James K. 1997. Israel in Egypt: The Evidence for the Authenticity of the Exodus Tradition. New York/Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 28, 45n26.
[12] Hurru,古埃及對敘利亞-迦南地的統稱。見 Yurco 1986: 190.
[13] Michael G. Hasel. 1994. Israel in the Merneptah Stela. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, No. 296 (Nov., 1994), pp. 45-61, p. 48, Fig. 1
[14] Kitchen, K. A. 1969-90. Ramesside Inscriptions: Historical and Biographical, vol. IV. Oxford: B.H. Blackwell, 19, 1-9。古埃及學者Hoffmeier認為不應在結構分析上太武斷,反而應留意文法的細節。Hoffmeier, James K. 1997. Israel in Egypt: The Evidence for the Authenticity of the Exodus Tradition. New York/Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 27-31.
[15] Hoffmeier, James K. 2000. The (Israel) Stela of Merneptah. In: Context of Scripture. Volume Two: Monumental Inscriptions from the Biblical World, eds. William W. Hallo and K. Lawson Younger. Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2.6。
[16] Yurco 認為美崙帕攻打了耶魯林後,最有可能是向南攻打以色列民。因為在主前十三世紀末(蘭塞二世晚年),最早和最稠密的以色列居址均集中在北面山地、中央山地、南加利利和約旦河東面(Yurco 1986: 210-211)。耶魯林後往約旦河東方向的可能,見 Rainey and Notley 2006: 99。
[18] Iskander 指出,這時近東和埃及充滿內憂外患,美崙帕是最後一位能夠抵抗外患,維持著帝國的法老 (Iskander, Sameh. 2002. "The Reign of Merneptah." Ph.D. Dissertation, New York University, pp. 1-2)。不過,埃及法老的戰記不一定有考古佐證,也不一定合乎事實和其他史料,Iskander 甚至認為美崙帕根本沒有征伐迦南,戰記只是埃及的政治宣傳,想表明法老是全地的王(Iskander 2002: 420-421)。不過 Yurco 研究卡加納廟浮雕,結論美崙帕實在有征伐迦南地。尤其是卡加納廟浮雕的次序,第四幕(Scene 4)上半部,極有可能是描述法老美崙帕打敗以色列人(Yurco 1986: 193, Fig. 5. Scene 4. Upper register; Merenptah attacks a mass of enemies, probably Israel),見下圖:
此外,為什麼以色列會在同一個法老征戰中被攻打?以色列民可能在這時攻擊法老的某些附庸城市(vassal cities),所以引來埃及的復仇 (Drews, Robert. The End of the Bronze Age: Changes in Warfare and the Catastrophe 1200 B.C. Princeton, N.J .: Princeton University Press, 1993, p. 20)