Even closer to Israel geographically and linguistically is the seventh-century Aramaic Balaam document from Deir ʿAlla in Jordan.33 Speaking of “Balaam, son of Beor,” it indicates a knowledge of the biblical character of that name in the geographical area of his activities as recorded in the Old Testament text (Num. 22–24). This earliest extant Canaanite prophetic text does not exactly parallel the biblical accounts, but it is useful in studying the redactional transmission of prophetic material,