Its first entry into extra-biblical history appears, in the late thirteenth century BC, on a victory stele of the Pharaoh Merneptah, which contains his boastful report of Israel's defeat in Canaan: "Israel is laid waste and its seed no longer exists."
Khumbi leri leri endliweke hi ribye ra ntima ra granite ri ni rungula leri vulavulaka hi ku hlula ka Hosi Merneptah ya le Egipta, leyi ku vuriwaka leswaku yi fume eku heleni ka lembe-xidzana ra vu-13 B.C.E. Ekhumbini rero ku kovotliwe marito ya risimu leri xiphemu xa rona xi hlayekaka hi ndlela leyi: "Tiko ra Israyele ri lovisiwile, mbewu ya rona a ya ha ri kona."