Lemche 1998, p. 47; quote: "A good case can be made on the basis of the paleography to date the inscription in the Iron Age. The inscription itself, on the other hand, does not tell us this. It is only a secondary source, which in this case may be right but which can also be wrong, because nobody can really say on the basis of this anonymous inscription whether it was Hezekiah or some other Judean king from the eighth or seventh century who constructed the tunnel. As it stands, it is the only clear example of an inscription from either Israel or Judah commemorating a public construction work. As such it is a poor companion to similar inscriptions not least from Egypt and Mesopotamia." Lemche, Niels Peter (1998). The Israelites in History and Tradition. Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN9780664227272.
The Jewish Encyclopedia (1906) states: "The inscription was broken in an attempt made to steal it; but the fragments are now in the museum at Constantinople; and from casts that have been taken, copies of which are in Paris, London, and Berlin, it has been possible to gain an exact idea of its arrangement and to decipher it almost entirely."
Shanks, Hershel (2008). "Sound Proof". Biblical Archaeology Society. Archived from the original on 2011-06-05. Retrieved 2008-09-05.
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Guthe (1890). Quote: "Es ist sehr zu bedauern, dass das alte Denkmal durch ein so rohes, ungeschicktes Verfahren zerstört worden ist. Die sorgfältigen Gypsabgüsse, die ich 1881 habe anfertigen lassen, haben dadurch einen höheren Werth erhalten, da sie jetzt allein ein getreues und vollständiges Bild der Inschrift vor ihrer Zerstörung darbieten. Von den beiden ersten, die ich vor der Reinigung der Inschrift anfertigen liess, befindet sich einer im Besitz des Herrn Schneller (Syrisches Waisenhaus) in Jerusalem; der zweite ist während des Transportes nach Deutschland zerbrochen. Ein dritter, der ebenso wie jene die ganze geglättete Fläche der Felswand, auch den nicht mit Schriftzeichen versehenen Theil derselben darstellt und nach der Reinigung der Inschrift angefertigt wurde, ist Eigenthum des Deutschen Vereins zur Erforschung Palästinas und wird gegenwärtig auf der hiesigen Universitätsbibliothek aufbewahrt." ["It is very regrettable that the antiquity should have been destroyed by such a crude and clumsy procedure. The carefully made plaster casts, which I had commissioned in 1881, have now acquired a higher value, since they are now the only faithful and complete reproduction of the inscription as it was before its destruction. Of the first two of those I commissioned before the inscription was cleaned, one is now the property of Mr Schneller [de] (Syrian Orphanage) in Jerusalem; the second went to pieces while being transported to Germany. A third, which represents, much like the other ones, the entire smoothed surface of the rock wall, including the non-inscribed areas, which has been taken after the inscription was cleansed, is the property of the German Society for the Exploration of Palestine and is currently being kept here at the university library."]
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Barkay, Gabriel (1980). "The Tunnel (הנקבה)". In Chaim Rubenstein (ed.). Israel Guide – Jerusalem (A useful encyclopedia for the knowledge of the country) (in Hebrew). Vol. 10. Jerusalem, Israel: Keter Publishing House, in affiliation with the Israel Ministry of Defence. p. 170. OCLC745203905.
