MIR (p. 55–56) after ʿl šlm dy, Milik restores {m}[kyn [ʿ]l[mʾ “dominateurs du monde entier” to match kosmokrator in the Greek of inscription I.1. He also restores ʾrmnyʾ following the dy after [wr]s even though this does not appear in the Greek of I.1, but in (Greek) inscription II (MaRI p. 51). In line 2 see MaRI p. 51 for the restoration of {qwn}ṭ{s} {ʾnṭs)ṭ{ys}.

The lintel bears a Greek and Nabataean bilingual inscription and was placed over the main entrance of a small temple at Ruwāfah, c. 210 km north-west of al-ʿUlā as the crow flies. That the Nabataean is a translation of the Greek (MaRI p. 17 and GTRPR p. 255), is suggested by the word “nwsʾ” (“temple”) adapting the Greek word “naos”, rather than the normal Nabataean word for temple, bytʾ which is found in MIR 5 line 1.
The Nabataean is carved in a very elegant form of the script but, alas, both the Greek and the Nabataean are badly damaged in places.
The most contentious words in the two inscriptions are “ethnos” in the Greek translated by “šrkt” in the Nabataean. The latter is a loan word from Arabic which MIR (p. 56–57) translated as “féderation” (followed by GSDAF and OESA). However, MaRI (8–10) pointed out that the Arabic word “šarikah” means “a group into which one enters voluntarily” not one into which one is born (such as a tribe, or tribal confederation). To the Bedouin this is a very important distinction. In Greek, “ethnos” can be used of a broad range of groups from “nations” to “trade associations”. Pseudo-Hyginus' “De munitionibus castrorum” which is probably to be dated to this period (MaRI p. 9–11), uses the term “natio” (for which the literal translation into Greek would be “ethnos”) for military units drawn from particular ethnic groups. “Šrkt” would then be an attempt to translate the Greek “ethnos” (< Latin “natio”) for such a unit, into which individuals were levied not born. It should be noted that in (Greek) inscription III, “phulēs” (“tribe”) is used to describe Thamūd.  However, see GTRPR for a rejection of this interpretation but without resolving the problem of why “ethnos” in this case should be translated as “šrkt”.
The inscriptions are dated to the joint reigns of Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus (AD 161–169) and the imperial titulature in (Greek) inscription II (see MaRI p. 51–53) at the site narrows this down to 166–169 (see GTRPR p. 261–262).