Hammurabi's Code of Laws
Translated by L. W. King
When Anu the Sublime, King of the Anunaki,
and Bel, the lord of Heaven and earth, who decreed the fate of the land,
assigned to Marduk, the over-ruling son of Ea, God of righteousness, dominion
over earthly man, and made him great among the Igigi, they called Babylon
by his illustrious name, made it great on earth, and founded an everlasting
kingdom in it, whose foundations are laid so solidly as those of heaven
and earth; then Anu and Bel called by name me, Hammurabi, the exalted prince,
who feared God, to bring about the rule of righteousness in the land, to
destroy the wicked and the evil-doers; so that the strong should not harm
the weak; so that I should rule over the black-headed people like Shamash,
and enlighten the land, to further the well-being of mankind.
Hammurabi, the prince, called of Bel am
I, making riches and increase, enriching Nippur and Dur-ilu beyond compare,
sublime patron of E-kur; who reestablished Eridu and purified the worship
of E-apsu; who conquered the four quarters of the world, made great the
name of Babylon, rejoiced the heart of Marduk, his lord who daily pays
his devotions in Saggil; the royal scion whom Sin made; who enriched Ur;
the humble, the reverent, who brings wealth to Gish-shir-gal; the white
king, heard of Shamash, the mighty, who again laid the foundations of Sippara;
who clothed the gravestones of Malkat with green; who made E-babbar great,
which is like the heavens, the warrior who guarded Larsa and renewed E-babbar,
with Shamash as his helper; the lord who granted new life to Uruk, who
brought plenteous water to its inhabitants, raised the head of E-anna,
and perfected the beauty of Anu and Nana; shield of the land, who reunited
the scattered inhabitants of Isin; who richly endowed E-gal-mach; the protecting
king of the city, brother of the god Zamama; who firmly founded the farms
of Kish, crowned E-me-te-ursag with glory, redoubled the great holy treasures
of Nana, managed the temple of Harsag-kalama; the grave of the enemy, whose
help brought about the victory; who increased the power of Cuthah; made
all glorious in Eshidlam, the black steer, who gored the enemy; beloved
of the god Nebo, who rejoiced the inhabitants of Borsippa, the Sublime;
who is indefatigable for E-zida; the divine king of the city; the White,
Wise; who broadened the fields of Dilbat, who heaped up the harvests for
Urash; the Mighty, the lord to whom come scepter and crown, with which
he clothes himself; the Elect of Ma-ma; who fixed the temple bounds of
Kesh, who made rich the holy feasts of Nin-tu; the provident, solicitous,
who provided food and drink for Lagash and Girsu, who provided large sacrificial
offerings for the temple of Ningirsu; who captured the enemy, the Elect
of the oracle who fulfilled the prediction of Hallab, who rejoiced the
heart of Anunit; the pure prince, whose prayer is accepted by Adad; who
satisfied the heart of Adad, the warrior, in Karkar, who restored the vessels
for worship in E-ud-gal-gal; the king who granted life to the city of Adab;
the guide of E-mach; the princely king of the city, the irresistible warrior,
who granted life to the inhabitants of Mashkanshabri, and brought abundance
to the temple of Shidlam; the White, Potent, who penetrated the secret
cave of the bandits, saved the inhabitants of Malka from misfortune, and
fixed their home fast in wealth; who established pure sacrificial gifts
for Ea and Dam-gal-nun-na, who made his kingdom everlastingly great; the
princely king of the city, who subjected the districts on the Ud-kib-nun-na
Canal to the sway of Dagon, his Creator; who spared the inhabitants of
Mera and Tutul; the sublime prince, who makes the face of Ninni shine;
who presents holy meals to the divinity of Nin-a-zu, who cared for its
inhabitants in their need, provided a portion for them in Babylon in peace;
the shepherd of the oppressed and of the slaves; whose deeds find favor
before Anunit, who provided for Anunit in the temple of Dumash in the suburb
of Agade; who recognizes the right, who rules by law; who gave back to
the city of Ashur its protecting god; who let the name of Ishtar of Nineveh
remain in E-mish-mish; the Sublime, who humbles himself before the great
gods; successor of Sumula-il; the mighty son of Sin-muballit; the royal
scion of Eternity; the mighty monarch, the sun of Babylon, whose rays shed
light over the land of Sumer and Akkad; the king, obeyed by the four quarters
of the world; Beloved of Ninni, am I.
When Marduk sent me to rule over men, to
give the protection of right to the land, I did right and righteousness
in ..., and brought about the well-being of the oppressed.
The Code of Law
1. If any one ensnare another, putting
a ban upon him, but he can not prove it, then he that ensnared him shall
be put to death.
2. If any one bring an accusation against
a man, and the accused go to the river and leap into the river, if he sink
in the river his accuser shall take possession of his house. But if the
river prove that the accused is not guilty, and he escape unhurt, then
he who had brought the accusation shall be put to death, while he who leaped
into the river shall take possession of the house that had belonged to
his accuser.
3. If any one bring an accusation of any
crime before the elders, and does not prove what he has charged, he shall,
if it be a capital offense charged, be put to death.
4. If he satisfy the elders to impose a
fine of grain or money, he shall receive the fine that the action produces.
5. If a judge try a case, reach a decision,
and present his judgment in writing; if later error shall appear in his
decision, and it be through his own fault, then he shall pay twelve times
the fine set by him in the case, and he shall be publicly removed from
the judge's bench, and never again shall he sit there to render judgement.
6. If any one steal the property of a temple
or of the court, he shall be put to death, and also the one who receives
the stolen thing from him shall be put to death.
7. If any one buy from the son or the slave
of another man, without witnesses or a contract, silver or gold, a male
or female slave, an ox or a sheep, an ass or anything, or if he take it
in charge, he is considered a thief and shall be put to death.
8. If any one steal cattle or sheep, or
an ass, or a pig or a goat, if it belong to a god or to the court, the
thief shall pay thirtyfold therefor; if they belonged to a freed man of
the king he shall pay tenfold; if the thief has nothing with which to pay
he shall be put to death.
9. If any one lose an article, and find
it in the possession of another: if the person in whose possession the
thing is found say "A merchant sold it to me, I paid for it before witnesses,"
and if the owner of the thing say, "I will bring witnesses who know my
property," then shall the purchaser bring the merchant who sold it to him,
and the witnesses before whom he bought it, and the owner shall bring witnesses
who can identify his property. The judge shall examine their testimony
-- both of the witnesses before whom the price was paid, and of the witnesses
who identify the lost article on oath. The merchant is then proved to be
a thief and shall be put to death. The owner of the lost article receives
his property, and he who bought it receives the money he paid from the
estate of the merchant.
10. If the purchaser does not bring the
merchant and the witnesses before whom he bought the article, but its owner
bring witnesses who identify it, then the buyer is the thief and shall
be put to death, and the owner receives the lost article.
11. If the owner do not bring witnesses
to identify the lost article, he is an evil-doer, he has traduced, and
shall be put to death.
12. If the witnesses be not at hand, then
shall the judge set a limit, at the expiration of six months. If his witnesses
have not appeared within the six months, he is an evil-doer, and shall
bear the fine of the pending case.
14. If any one steal the minor son of another,
he shall be put to death.
15. If any one take a male or female slave
of the court, or a male or female slave of a freed man, outside the city
gates, he shall be put to death.
16. If any one receive into his house a
runaway male or female slave of the court, or of a freedman, and does not
bring it out at the public proclamation of the major domus, the master
of the house shall be put to death.
17. If any one find runaway male or female
slaves in the open country and bring them to their masters, the master
of the slaves shall pay him two shekels of silver.
18. If the slave will not give the name
of the master, the finder shall bring him to the palace; a further investigation
must follow, and the slave shall be returned to his master.
19. If he hold the slaves in his house,
and they are caught there, he shall be put to death.
20. If the slave that he caught run away
from him, then shall he swear to the owners of the slave, and he is free
of all blame.
21. If any one break a hole into a house
(break in to steal), he shall be put to death before that hole and be buried.
22. If any one is committing a robbery
and is caught, then he shall be put to death.
23. If the robber is not caught, then shall
he who was robbed claim under oath the amount of his loss; then shall the
community, and ... on whose ground and territory and in whose domain it
was compensate him for the goods stolen.
24. If persons are stolen, then shall the
community and ... pay one mina of silver to their relatives.
25. If fire break out in a house, and some
one who comes to put it out cast his eye upon the property of the owner
of the house, and take the property of the master of the house, he shall
be thrown into that self-same fire.
26. If a chieftain or a man (common soldier),
who has been ordered to go upon the king's highway for war does not go,
but hires a mercenary, if he withholds the compensation, then shall this
officer or man be put to death, and he who represented him shall take possession
of his house.
27. If a chieftain or man be caught in
the misfortune of the king (captured in battle), and if his fields and
garden be given to another and he take possession, if he return and reaches
his place, his field and garden shall be returned to him, he shall take
it over again.
28. If a chieftain or a man be caught in
the misfortune of a king, if his son is able to enter into possession,
then the field and garden shall be given to him, he shall take over the
fee of his father.
29. If his son is still young, and can
not take possession, a third of the field and garden shall be given to
his mother, and she shall bring him up.
30. If a chieftain or a man leave his house,
garden, and field and hires it out, and some one else takes possession
of his house, garden, and field and uses it for three years: if the first
owner return and claims his house, garden, and field, it shall not be given
to him, but he who has taken possession of it and used it shall continue
to use it.
31. If he hire it out for one year and
then return, the house, garden, and field shall be given back to him, and
he shall take it over again.
32. If a chieftain or a man is captured
on the "Way of the King" (in war), and a merchant buy him free, and bring
him back to his place; if he have the means in his house to buy his freedom,
he shall buy himself free: if he have nothing in his house with which to
buy himself free, he shall be bought free by the temple of his community;
if there be nothing in the temple with which to buy him free, the court
shall buy his freedom. His field, garden, and house shall not be given
for the purchase of his freedom.
33. If a ... or a ... enter himself as
withdrawn from the "Way of the King," and send a mercenary as substitute,
but withdraw him, then the ... or ... shall be put to death.
34. If a ... or a ... harm the property
of a captain, injure the captain, or take away from the captain a gift
presented to him by the king, then the ... or ... shall be put to death.
35. If any one buy the cattle or sheep
which the king has given to chieftains from him, he loses his money.
36. The field, garden, and house of a chieftain,
of a man, or of one subject to quit-rent, can not be sold.
37. If any one buy the field, garden, and
house of a chieftain, man, or one subject to quit-rent, his contract tablet
of sale shall be broken (declared invalid) and he loses his money. The
field, garden, and house return to their owners.
38. A chieftain, man, or one subject to
quit-rent can not assign his tenure of field, house, and garden to his
wife or daughter, nor can he assign it for a debt.
39. He may, however, assign a field, garden,
or house which he has bought, and holds as property, to his wife or daughter
or give it for debt.
40. He may sell field, garden, and house
to a merchant (royal agents) or to any other public official, the buyer
holding field, house, and garden for its usufruct.
41. If any one fence in the field, garden,
and house of a chieftain, man, or one subject to quit-rent, furnishing
the palings therefor; if the chieftain, man, or one subject to quit-rent
return to field, garden, and house, the palings which were given to him
become his property.
42. If any one take over a field to till
it, and obtain no harvest therefrom, it must be proved that he did no work
on the field, and he must deliver grain, just as his neighbor raised, to
the owner of the field.
43. If he do not till the field, but let
it lie fallow, he shall give grain like his neighbor's to the owner of
the field, and the field which he let lie fallow he must plow and sow and
return to its owner.
44. If any one take over a waste-lying
field to make it arable, but is lazy, and does not make it arable, he shall
plow the fallow field in the fourth year, harrow it and till it, and give
it back to its owner, and for each ten gan (a measure of area) ten gur
of grain shall be paid.
45. If a man rent his field for tillage
for a fixed rental, and receive the rent of his field, but bad weather
come and destroy the harvest, the injury falls upon the tiller of the soil.
46. If he do not receive a fixed rental
for his field, but lets it on half or third shares of the harvest, the
grain on the field shall be divided proportionately between the tiller
and the owner.
47. If the tiller, because he did not succeed
in the first year, has had the soil tilled by others, the owner may raise
no objection; the field has been cultivated and he receives the harvest
according to agreement.
48. If any one owe a debt for a loan, and
a storm prostrates the grain, or the harvest fail, or the grain does not
grow for lack of water; in that year he need not give his creditor any
grain, he washes his debt-tablet in water and pays no rent for this year.
49. If any one take money from a merchant,
and give the merchant a field tillable for corn or sesame and order him
to plant corn or sesame in the field, and to harvest the crop; if the cultivator
plant corn or sesame in the field, at the harvest the corn or sesame that
is in the field shall belong to the owner of the field and he shall pay
corn as rent, for the money he received from the merchant, and the livelihood
of the cultivator shall he give to the merchant.
50. If he give a cultivated corn-field
or a cultivated sesame-field, the corn or sesame in the field shall belong
to the owner of the field, and he shall return the money to the merchant
as rent.
51. If he have no money to repay, then
he shall pay in corn or sesame in place of the money as rent for what he
received from the merchant, according to the royal tariff.
52. If the cultivator do not plant corn
or sesame in the field, the debtor's contract is not weakened.
53. If any one be too lazy to keep his
dam in proper condition, and does not so keep it; if then the dam break
and all the fields be flooded, then shall he in whose dam the break occurred
be sold for money, and the money shall replace the corn which he has caused
to be ruined.
54. If he be not able to replace the corn,
then he and his possessions shall be divided among the farmers whose corn
he has flooded.
55. If any one open his ditches to water
his crop, but is careless, and the water flood the field of his neighbor,
then he shall pay his neighbor corn for his loss.
56. If a man let in the water, and the
water overflow the plantation of his neighbor, he shall pay ten gur of
corn for every ten gan of land.
57. If a shepherd, without the permission
of the owner of the field, and without the knowledge of the owner of the
sheep, lets the sheep into a field to graze, then the owner of the field
shall harvest his crop, and the shepherd, who had pastured his flock there
without permission of the owner of the field, shall pay to the owner twenty
gur of corn for every ten gan.
58. If after the flocks have left the pasture
and been shut up in the common fold at the city gate, any shepherd let
them into a field and they graze there, this shepherd shall take possession
of the field which he has allowed to be grazed on, and at the harvest he
must pay sixty gur of corn for every ten gan.
59. If any man, without the knowledge of
the owner of a garden, fell a tree in a garden he shall pay half a mina
in money.
60. If any one give over a field to a gardener,
for him to plant it as a garden, if he work at it, and care for it for
four years, in the fifth year the owner and the gardener shall divide it,
the owner taking his part in charge.
61. If the gardener has not completed the
planting of the field, leaving one part unused, this shall be assigned
to him as his.
62. If he do not plant the field that was
given over to him as a garden, if it be arable land (for corn or sesame)
the gardener shall pay the owner the produce of the field for the years
that he let it lie fallow, according to the product of neighboring fields,
put the field in arable condition and return it to its owner.
63. If he transform waste land into arable
fields and return it to its owner, the latter shall pay him for one year
ten gur for ten gan.
64. If any one hand over his garden to
a gardener to work, the gardener shall pay to its owner two-thirds of the
produce of the garden, for so long as he has it in possession, and the
other third shall he keep.
65. If the gardener do not work in the
garden and the product fall off, the gardener shall pay in proportion to
other neighboring gardens.
[The text for laws 66 through 99 is missing]
100. ... interest for the money, as much
as he has received, he shall give a note therefor, and on the day, when
they settle, pay to the merchant.
101. If there are no mercantile arrangements
in the place whither he went, he shall leave the entire amount of money
which he received with the broker to give to the merchant.
102. If a merchant entrust money to an
agent (broker) for some investment, and the broker suffer a loss in the
place to which he goes, he shall make good the capital to the merchant.
103. If, while on the journey, an enemy
take away from him anything that he had, the broker shall swear by God
and be free of obligation.
104. If a merchant give an agent corn,
wool, oil, or any other goods to transport, the agent shall give a receipt
for the amount, and compensate the merchant therefor. Then he shall obtain
a receipt form the merchant for the money that he gives the merchant.
105. If the agent is careless, and does
not take a receipt for the money which he gave the merchant, he can not
consider the unreceipted money as his own.
106. If the agent accept money from the
merchant, but have a quarrel with the merchant (denying the receipt), then
shall the merchant swear before God and witnesses that he has given this
money to the agent, and the agent shall pay him three times the sum.
107. If the merchant cheat the agent, in
that as the latter has returned to him all that had been given him, but
the merchant denies the receipt of what had been returned to him, then
shall this agent convict the merchant before God and the judges, and if
he still deny receiving what the agent had given him shall pay six times
the sum to the agent.
108. If a tavern-keeper (feminine) does
not accept corn according to gross weight in payment of drink, but takes
money, and the price of the drink is less than that of the corn, she shall
be convicted and thrown into the water.
109. If conspirators meet in the house
of a tavern-keeper, and these conspirators are not captured and delivered
to the court, the tavern-keeper shall be put to death.
110. If a "sister of a god" open a tavern,
or enter a tavern to drink, then shall this woman be burned to death.
111. If an inn-keeper furnish sixty ka
of usakani-drink to ... she shall receive fifty ka of corn at the harvest.
112. If any one be on a journey and entrust
silver, gold, precious stones, or any movable property to another, and
wish to recover it from him; if the latter do not bring all of the property
to the appointed place, but appropriate it to his own use, then shall this
man, who did not bring the property to hand it over, be convicted, and
he shall pay fivefold for all that had been entrusted to him.
113. If any one have consignment of corn
or money, and he take from the granary or box without the knowledge of
the owner, then shall he who took corn without the knowledge of the owner
out of the granary or money out of the box be legally convicted, and repay
the corn he has taken. And he shall lose whatever commission was paid to
him, or due him.
114. If a man have no claim on another
for corn and money, and try to demand it by force, he shall pay one-third
of a mina of silver in every case.
115. If any one have a claim for corn or
money upon another and imprison him; if the prisoner die in prison a natural
death, the case shall go no further.
116. If the prisoner die in prison from
blows or maltreatment, the master of the prisoner shall convict the merchant
before the judge. If he was a free-born man, the son of the merchant shall
be put to death; if it was a slave, he shall pay one-third of a mina of
gold, and all that the master of the prisoner gave he shall forfeit.
117. If any one fail to meet a claim for
debt, and sell himself, his wife, his son, and daughter for money or give
them away to forced labor: they shall work for three years in the house
of the man who bought them, or the proprietor, and in the fourth year they
shall be set free.
118. If he give a male or female slave
away for forced labor, and the merchant sublease them, or sell them for
money, no objection can be raised.
119. If any one fail to meet a claim for
debt, and he sell the maid servant who has borne him children, for money,
the money which the merchant has paid shall be repaid to him by the owner
of the slave and she shall be freed.
120. If any one store corn for safe keeping
in another person's house, and any harm happen to the corn in storage,
or if the owner of the house open the granary and take some of the corn,
or if especially he deny that the corn was stored in his house: then the
owner of the corn shall claim his corn before God (on oath), and the owner
of the house shall pay its owner for all of the corn that he took.
121. If any one store corn in another man's
house he shall pay him storage at the rate of one gur for every five ka
of corn per year.
122. If any one give another silver, gold,
or anything else to keep, he shall show everything to some witness, draw
up a contract, and then hand it over for safe keeping.
123. If he turn it over for safe keeping
without witness or contract, and if he to whom it was given deny it, then
he has no legitimate claim.
124. If any one deliver silver, gold, or
anything else to another for safe keeping, before a witness, but he deny
it, he shall be brought before a judge, and all that he has denied he shall
pay in full.
125. If any one place his property with
another for safe keeping, and there, either through thieves or robbers,
his property and the property of the other man be lost, the owner of the
house, through whose neglect the loss took place, shall compensate the
owner for all that was given to him in charge. But the owner of the house
shall try to follow up and recover his property, and take it away from
the thief.
126. If any one who has not lost his goods
state that they have been lost, and make false claims: if he claim his
goods and amount of injury before God, even though he has not lost them,
he shall be fully compensated for all his loss claimed. (I.e., the oath
is all that is needed.)
127. If any one "point the finger" (slander)
at a sister of a god or the wife of any one, and can not prove it, this
man shall be taken before the judges and his brow shall be marked. (by
cutting the skin, or perhaps hair.)
128. If a man take a woman to wife, but
have no intercourse with her, this woman is no wife to him.
129. If a man's wife be surprised (in flagrante
delicto) with another man, both shall be tied and thrown into the water,
but the husband may pardon his wife and the king his slaves.
130. If a man violate the wife (betrothed
or child-wife) of another man, who has never known a man, and still lives
in her father's house, and sleep with her and be surprised, this man shall
be put to death, but the wife is blameless.
131. If a man bring a charge against one's
wife, but she is not surprised with another man, she must take an oath
and then may return to her house.
132. If the "finger is pointed" at a man's
wife about another man, but she is not caught sleeping with the other man,
she shall jump into the river for her husband.
133. If a man is taken prisoner in war,
and there is a sustenance in his house, but his wife leave house and court,
and go to another house: because this wife did not keep her court, and
went to another house, she shall be judicially condemned and thrown into
the water.
134. If any one be captured in war and
there is not sustenance in his house, if then his wife go to another house
this woman shall be held blameless.
135. If a man be taken prisoner in war
and there be no sustenance in his house and his wife go to another house
and bear children; and if later her husband return and come to his home:
then this wife shall return to her husband, but the children follow their
father.
136. If any one leave his house, run away,
and then his wife go to another house, if then he return, and wishes to
take his wife back: because he fled from his home and ran away, the wife
of this runaway shall not return to her husband.
137. If a man wish to separate from a woman
who has borne him children, or from his wife who has borne him children:
then he shall give that wife her dowry, and a part of the usufruct of field,
garden, and property, so that she can rear her children. When she has brought
up her children, a portion of all that is given to the children, equal
as that of one son, shall be given to her. She may then marry the man of
her heart.
138. If a man wishes to separate from his
wife who has borne him no children, he shall give her the amount of her
purchase money and the dowry which she brought from her father's house,
and let her go.
139. If there was no purchase price he
shall give her one mina of gold as a gift of release.
140. If he be a freed man he shall give
her one-third of a mina of gold.
141. If a man's wife, who lives in his
house, wishes to leave it, plunges into debt, tries to ruin her house,
neglects her husband, and is judicially convicted: if her husband offer
her release, she may go on her way, and he gives her nothing as a gift
of release. If her husband does not wish to release her, and if he take
another wife, she shall remain as servant in her husband's house.
142. If a woman quarrel with her husband,
and say: "You are not congenial to me," the reasons for her prejudice must
be presented. If she is guiltless, and there is no fault on her part, but
he leaves and neglects her, then no guilt attaches to this woman, she shall
take her dowry and go back to her father's house.
143. If she is not innocent, but leaves
her husband, and ruins her house, neglecting her husband, this woman shall
be cast into the water.
144. If a man take a wife and this woman
give her husband a maid-servant, and she bear him children, but this man
wishes to take another wife, this shall not be permitted to him; he shall
not take a second wife.
145. If a man take a wife, and she bear
him no children, and he intend to take another wife: if he take this second
wife, and bring her into the house, this second wife shall not be allowed
equality with his wife.
146. If a man take a wife and she give
this man a maid-servant as wife and she bear him children, and then this
maid assume equality with the wife: because she has borne him children
her master shall not sell her for money, but he may keep her as a slave,
reckoning her among the maid-servants.
147. If she have not borne him children,
then her mistress may sell her for money.
148. If a man take a wife, and she be seized
by disease, if he then desire to take a second wife he shall not put away
his wife, who has been attacked by disease, but he shall keep her in the
house which he has built and support her so long as she lives.
149. If this woman does not wish to remain
in her husband's house, then he shall compensate her for the dowry that
she brought with her from her father's house, and she may go.
150. If a man give his wife a field, garden,
and house and a deed therefor, if then after the death of her husband the
sons raise no claim, then the mother may bequeath all to one of her sons
whom she prefers, and need leave nothing to his brothers.
151. If a woman who lived in a man's house
made an agreement with her husband, that no creditor can arrest her, and
has given a document therefor: if that man, before he married that woman,
had a debt, the creditor can not hold the woman for it. But if the woman,
before she entered the man's house, had contracted a debt, her creditor
can not arrest her husband therefor.
152. If after the woman had entered the
man's house, both contracted a debt, both must pay the merchant.
153. If the wife of one man on account
of another man has their mates (her husband and the other man's wife) murdered,
both of them shall be impaled.
154. If a man be guilty of incest with
his daughter, he shall be driven from the place (exiled).
155. If a man betroth a girl to his son,
and his son have intercourse with her, but he (the father) afterward defile
her, and be surprised, then he shall be bound and cast into the water (drowned).
156. If a man betroth a girl to his son,
but his son has not known her, and if then he defile her, he shall pay
her half a gold mina, and compensate her for all that she brought out of
her father's house. She may marry the man of her heart.
157. If any one be guilty of incest with
his mother after his father, both shall be burned.
158. If any one be surprised after his
father with his chief wife, who has borne children, he shall be driven
out of his father's house.
159. If any one, who has brought chattels
into his father-in-law's house, and has paid the purchase-money, looks
for another wife, and says to his father-in-law: "I do not want your daughter,"
the girl's father may keep all that he had brought.
160. If a man bring chattels into the house
of his father-in-law, and pay the "purchase price" (for his wife): if then
the father of the girl say: "I will not give you my daughter," he shall
give him back all that he brought with him.
161. If a man bring chattels into his father-in-law's
house and pay the "purchase price," if then his friend slander him, and
his father-in-law say to the young husband: "You shall not marry my daughter,"
the he shall give back to him undiminished all that he had brought with
him; but his wife shall not be married to the friend.
162. If a man marry a woman, and she bear
sons to him; if then this woman die, then shall her father have no claim
on her dowry; this belongs to her sons.
163. If a man marry a woman and she bear
him no sons; if then this woman die, if the "purchase price" which he had
paid into the house of his father-in-law is repaid to him, her husband
shall have no claim upon the dowry of this woman; it belongs to her father's
house.
164. If his father-in-law do not pay back
to him the amount of the "purchase price" he may subtract the amount of
the "Purchase price" from the dowry, and then pay the remainder to her
father's house.
165. If a man give to one of his sons whom
he prefers a field, garden, and house, and a deed therefor: if later the
father die, and the brothers divide the estate, then they shall first give
him the present of his father, and he shall accept it; and the rest of
the paternal property shall they divide.
166. If a man take wives for his son, but
take no wife for his minor son, and if then he die: if the sons divide
the estate, they shall set aside besides his portion the money for the
"purchase price" for the minor brother who had taken no wife as yet, and
secure a wife for him.
167. If a man marry a wife and she bear
him children: if this wife die and he then take another wife and she bear
him children: if then the father die, the sons must not partition the estate
according to the mothers, they shall divide the dowries of their mothers
only in this way; the paternal estate they shall divide equally with one
another.
168. If a man wish to put his son out of
his house, and declare before the judge: "I want to put my son out," then
the judge shall examine into his reasons. If the son be guilty of no great
fault, for which he can be rightfully put out, the father shall not put
him out.
169. If he be guilty of a grave fault,
which should rightfully deprive him of the filial relationship, the father
shall forgive him the first time; but if he be guilty of a grave fault
a second time the father may deprive his son of all filial relation.
170. If his wife bear sons to a man, or
his maid-servant have borne sons, and the father while still living says
to the children whom his maid-servant has borne: "My sons," and he count
them with the sons of his wife; if then the father die, then the sons of
the wife and of the maid-servant shall divide the paternal property in
common. The son of the wife is to partition and choose.
171. If, however, the father while still
living did not say to the sons of the maid-servant: "My sons," and then
the father dies, then the sons of the maid-servant shall not share with
the sons of the wife, but the freedom of the maid and her sons shall be
granted. The sons of the wife shall have no right to enslave the sons of
the maid; the wife shall take her dowry (from her father), and the gift
that her husband gave her and deeded to her (separate from dowry, or the
purchase-money paid her father), and live in the home of her husband: so
long as she lives she shall use it, it shall not be sold for money. Whatever
she leaves shall belong to her children.
172. If her husband made her no gift, she
shall be compensated for her gift, and she shall receive a portion from
the estate of her husband, equal to that of one child. If her sons oppress
her, to force her out of the house, the judge shall examine into the matter,
and if the sons are at fault the woman shall not leave her husband's house.
If the woman desire to leave the house, she must leave to her sons the
gift which her husband gave her, but she may take the dowry of her father's
house. Then she may marry the man of her heart.
173. If this woman bear sons to her second
husband, in the place to which she went, and then die, her earlier and
later sons shall divide the dowry between them.
174. If she bear no sons to her second
husband, the sons of her first husband shall have the dowry.
175. If a State slave or the slave of a
freed man marry the daughter of a free man, and children are born, the
master of the slave shall have no right to enslave the children of the
free.
176. If, however, a State slave or the
slave of a freed man marry a man's daughter, and after he marries her she
bring a dowry from a father's house, if then they both enjoy it and found
a household, and accumulate means, if then the slave die, then she who
was free born may take her dowry, and all that her husband and she had
earned; she shall divide them into two parts, one-half the master for the
slave shall take, and the other half shall the free-born woman take for
her children. If the free-born woman had no gift she shall take all that
her husband and she had earned and divide it into two parts; and the master
of the slave shall take one-half and she shall take the other for her children.
177. If a widow, whose children are not
grown, wishes to enter another house (remarry), she shall not enter it
without the knowledge of the judge. If she enter another house the judge
shall examine the state of the house of her first husband. Then the house
of her first husband shall be entrusted to the second husband and the woman
herself as managers. And a record must be made thereof. She shall keep
the house in order, bring up the children, and not sell the house-hold
utensils. He who buys the utensils of the children of a widow shall lose
his money, and the goods shall return to their owners.
178. If a "devoted woman" or a prostitute
to whom her father has given a dowry and a deed therefor, but if in this
deed it is not stated that she may bequeath it as she pleases, and has
not explicitly stated that she has the right of disposal; if then her father
die, then her brothers shall hold her field and garden, and give her corn,
oil, and milk according to her portion, and satisfy her. If her brothers
do not give her corn, oil, and milk according to her share, then her field
and garden shall support her. She shall have the usufruct of field and
garden and all that her father gave her so long as she lives, but she can
not sell or assign it to others. Her position of inheritance belongs to
her brothers.
179. If a "sister of a god," or a prostitute,
receive a gift from her father, and a deed in which it has been explicitly
stated that she may dispose of it as she pleases, and give her complete
disposition thereof: if then her father die, then she may leave her property
to whomsoever she pleases. Her brothers can raise no claim thereto.
180. If a father give a present to his
daughter -- either marriageable or a prostitute (unmarriageable) -- and
then die, then she is to receive a portion as a child from the paternal
estate, and enjoy its usufruct so long as she lives. Her estate belongs
to her brothers.
181. If a father devote a temple-maid or
temple-virgin to God and give her no present: if then the father die, she
shall receive the third of a child's portion from the inheritance of her
father's house, and enjoy its usufruct so long as she lives. Her estate
belongs to her brothers.
182. If a father devote his daughter as
a wife of Mardi of Babylon (as in 181), and give her no present, nor a
deed; if then her father die, then shall she receive one-third of her portion
as a child of her father's house from her brothers, but Marduk may leave
her estate to whomsoever she wishes.
183. If a man give his daughter by a concubine
a dowry, and a husband, and a deed; if then her father die, she shall receive
no portion from the paternal estate.
184. If a man do not give a dowry to his
daughter by a concubine, and no husband; if then her father die, her brother
shall give her a dowry according to her father's wealth and secure a husband
for her.
185. If a man adopt a child and to his
name as son, and rear him, this grown son can not be demanded back again.
186. If a man adopt a son, and if after
he has taken him he injure his foster father and mother, then this adopted
son shall return to his father's house.
187. The son of a paramour in the palace
service, or of a prostitute, can not be demanded back.
188. If an artizan has undertaken to rear
a child and teaches him his craft, he can not be demanded back.
189. If he has not taught him his craft,
this adopted son may return to his father's house.
190. If a man does not maintain a child
that he has adopted as a son and reared with his other children, then his
adopted son may return to his father's house.
191. If a man, who had adopted a son and
reared him, founded a household, and had children, wish to put this adopted
son out, then this son shall not simply go his way. His adoptive father
shall give him of his wealth one-third of a child's portion, and then he
may go. He shall not give him of the field, garden, and house.
192. If a son of a paramour or a prostitute
say to his adoptive father or mother: "You are not my father, or my mother,"
his tongue shall be cut off.
193. If the son of a paramour or a prostitute
desire his father's house, and desert his adoptive father and adoptive
mother, and goes to his father's house, then shall his eye be put out.
194. If a man give his child to a nurse
and the child die in her hands, but the nurse unbeknown to the father and
mother nurse another child, then they shall convict her of having nursed
another child without the knowledge of the father and mother and her breasts
shall be cut off.
195. If a son strike his father, his hands
shall be hewn off.
196. If a man put out the eye of another
man, his eye shall be put out.
197. If he break another man's bone, his
bone shall be broken.
198. If he put out the eye of a freed man,
or break the bone of a freed man, he shall pay one gold mina.
199. If he put out the eye of a man's slave,
or break the bone of a man's slave, he shall pay one-half of its value.
200. If a man knock out the teeth of his
equal, his teeth shall be knocked out.
201. If he knock out the teeth of a freed
man, he shall pay one-third of a gold mina.
202. If any one strike the body of a man
higher in rank than he, he shall receive sixty blows with an ox-whip in
public.
203. If a free-born man strike the body
of another free-born man or equal rank, he shall pay one gold mina.
204. If a freed man strike the body of
another freed man, he shall pay ten shekels in money.
205. If the slave of a freed man strike
the body of a freed man, his ear shall be cut off.
206. If during a quarrel one man strike
another and wound him, then he shall swear, "I did not injure him wittingly,"
and pay the physicians.
207. If the man die of his wound, he shall
swear similarly, and if he (the deceased) was a free-born man, he shall
pay half a mina in money.
208. If he was a freed man, he shall pay
one-third of a mina.
209. If a man strike a free-born woman
so that she lose her unborn child, he shall pay ten shekels for her loss.
210. If the woman die, his daughter shall
be put to death.
211. If a woman of the free class lose
her child by a blow, he shall pay five shekels in money.
212. If this woman die, he shall pay half
a mina.
213. If he strike the maid-servant of a
man, and she lose her child, he shall pay two shekels in money.
214. If this maid-servant die, he shall
pay one-third of a mina.
215. If a physician make a large incision
with an operating knife and cure it, or if he open a tumor (over the eye)
with an operating knife, and saves the eye, he shall receive ten shekels
in money.
216. If the patient be a freed man, he
receives five shekels.
217. If he be the slave of some one, his
owner shall give the physician two shekels.
218. If a physician make a large incision
with the operating knife, and kill him, or open a tumor with the operating
knife, and cut out the eye, his hands shall be cut off.
219. If a physician make a large incision
in the slave of a freed man, and kill him, he shall replace the slave with
another slave.
220. If he had opened a tumor with the
operating knife, and put out his eye, he shall pay half his value.
221. If a physician heal the broken bone
or diseased soft part of a man, the patient shall pay the physician five
shekels in money.
222. If he were a freed man he shall pay
three shekels.
223. If he were a slave his owner shall
pay the physician two shekels.
224. If a veterinary surgeon perform a
serious operation on an ass or an ox, and cure it, the owner shall pay
the surgeon one-sixth of a shekel as a fee.
225. If he perform a serious operation
on an ass or ox, and kill it, he shall pay the owner one-fourth of its
value.
226. If a barber, without the knowledge
of his master, cut the sign of a slave on a slave not to be sold, the hands
of this barber shall be cut off.
227. If any one deceive a barber, and have
him mark a slave not for sale with the sign of a slave, he shall be put
to death, and buried in his house. The barber shall swear: "I did not mark
him wittingly," and shall be guiltless.
228. If a builder build a house for some
one and complete it, he shall give him a fee of two shekels in money for
each sar of surface.
229 If a builder build a house for some
one, and does not construct it properly, and the house which he built fall
in and kill its owner, then that builder shall be put to death.
230. If it kill the son of the owner the
son of that builder shall be put to death.
231. If it kill a slave of the owner, then
he shall pay slave for slave to the owner of the house.
232. If it ruin goods, he shall make compensation
for all that has been ruined, and inasmuch as he did not construct properly
this house which he built and it fell, he shall re-erect the house from
his own means.
233. If a builder build a house for some
one, even though he has not yet completed it; if then the walls seem toppling,
the builder must make the walls solid from his own means.
234. If a shipbuilder build a boat of sixty
gur for a man, he shall pay him a fee of two shekels in money.
235. If a shipbuilder build a boat for
some one, and do not make it tight, if during that same year that boat
is sent away and suffers injury, the shipbuilder shall take the boat apart
and put it together tight at his own expense. The tight boat he shall give
to the boat owner.
236. If a man rent his boat to a sailor,
and the sailor is careless, and the boat is wrecked or goes aground, the
sailor shall give the owner of the boat another boat as compensation.
237. If a man hire a sailor and his boat,
and provide it with corn, clothing, oil and dates, and other things of
the kind needed for fitting it: if the sailor is careless, the boat is
wrecked, and its contents ruined, then the sailor shall compensate for
the boat which was wrecked and all in it that he ruined.
238. If a sailor wreck any one's ship,
but saves it, he shall pay the half of its value in money.
239. If a man hire a sailor, he shall pay
him six gur of corn per year.
240. If a merchantman run against a ferryboat,
and wreck it, the master of the ship that was wrecked shall seek justice
before God; the master of the merchantman, which wrecked the ferryboat,
must compensate the owner for the boat and all that he ruined.
241. If any one impresses an ox for forced
labor, he shall pay one-third of a mina in money.
242. If any one hire oxen for a year, he
shall pay four gur of corn for plow-oxen.
243. As rent of herd cattle he shall pay
three gur of corn to the owner.
244. If any one hire an ox or an ass, and
a lion kill it in the field, the loss is upon its owner.
245. If any one hire oxen, and kill them
by bad treatment or blows, he shall compensate the owner, oxen for oxen.
246. If a man hire an ox, and he break
its leg or cut the ligament of its neck, he shall compensate the owner
with ox for ox.
247. If any one hire an ox, and put out
its eye, he shall pay the owner one-half of its value.
248. If any one hire an ox, and break off
a horn, or cut off its tail, or hurt its muzzle, he shall pay one-fourth
of its value in money.
249. If any one hire an ox, and God strike
it that it die, the man who hired it shall swear by God and be considered
guiltless.
250. If while an ox is passing on the street
(market) some one push it, and kill it, the owner can set up no claim in
the suit (against the hirer).
251. If an ox be a goring ox, and it shown
that he is a gorer, and he do not bind his horns, or fasten the ox up,
and the ox gore a free-born man and kill him, the owner shall pay one-half
a mina in money.
252. If he kill a man's slave, he shall
pay one-third of a mina.
253. If any one agree with another to tend
his field, give him seed, entrust a yoke of oxen to him, and bind him to
cultivate the field, if he steal the corn or plants, and take them for
himself, his hands shall be hewn off.
254. If he take the seed-corn for himself,
and do not use the yoke of oxen, he shall compensate him for the amount
of the seed-corn.
255. If he sublet the man's yoke of oxen
or steal the seed-corn, planting nothing in the field, he shall be convicted,
and for each one hundred gan he shall pay sixty gur of corn.
256. If his community will not pay for
him, then he shall be placed in that field with the cattle (at work).
257. If any one hire a field laborer, he
shall pay him eight gur of corn per year.
258. If any one hire an ox-driver, he shall
pay him six gur of corn per year.
259. If any one steal a water-wheel from
the field, he shall pay five shekels in money to its owner.
260. If any one steal a shadduf (used to
draw water from the river or canal) or a plow, he shall pay three shekels
in money.
261. If any one hire a herdsman for cattle
or sheep, he shall pay him eight gur of corn per annum.
262. If any one, a cow or a sheep ...
263. If he kill the cattle or sheep that
were given to him, he shall compensate the owner with cattle for cattle
and sheep for sheep.
264. If a herdsman, to whom cattle or sheep
have been entrusted for watching over, and who has received his wages as
agreed upon, and is satisfied, diminish the number of the cattle or sheep,
or make the increase by birth less, he shall make good the increase or
profit which was lost in the terms of settlement.
265. If a herdsman, to whose care cattle
or sheep have been entrusted, be guilty of fraud and make false returns
of the natural increase, or sell them for money, then shall he be convicted
and pay the owner ten times the loss.
266. If the animal be killed in the stable
by God (an accident), or if a lion kill it, the herdsman shall declare
his innocence before God, and the owner bears the accident in the stable.
267. If the herdsman overlook something,
and an accident happen in the stable, then the herdsman is at fault for
the accident which he has caused in the stable, and he must compensate
the owner for the cattle or sheep.
268. If any one hire an ox for threshing,
the amount of the hire is twenty ka of corn.
269. If he hire an ass for threshing, the
hire is twenty ka of corn.
270. If he hire a young animal for threshing,
the hire is ten ka of corn.
271. If any one hire oxen, cart and driver,
he shall pay one hundred and eighty ka of corn per day.
272. If any one hire a cart alone, he shall
pay forty ka of corn per day.
273. If any one hire a day laborer, he
shall pay him from the New Year until the fifth month (April to August,
when days are long and the work hard) six gerahs in money per day; from
the sixth month to the end of the year he shall give him five gerahs per
day.
274. If any one hire a skilled artizan,
he shall pay as wages of the ... five gerahs, as wages of the potter five
gerahs, of a tailor five gerahs, of ... gerahs, ... of a ropemaker four
gerahs, of ... gerahs, of a mason ... gerahs per day.
275. If any one hire a ferryboat, he shall
pay three gerahs in money per day.
276. If he hire a freight-boat, he shall
pay two and one-half gerahs per day.
277. If any one hire a ship of sixty gur,
he shall pay one-sixth of a shekel in money as its hire per day.
278. If any one buy a male or female slave,
and before a month has elapsed the benu-disease be developed, he shall
return the slave to the seller, and receive the money which he had paid.
279. If any one by a male or female slave,
and a third party claim it, the seller is liable for the claim.
280. If while in a foreign country a man
buy a male or female slave belonging to another of his own country; if
when he return home the owner of the male or female slave recognize it:
if the male or female slave be a native of the country, he shall give them
back without any money.
281. If they are from another country,
the buyer shall declare the amount of money paid therefor to the merchant,
and keep the male or female slave.
282. If a slave say to his master: "You
are not my master," if they convict him his master shall cut off his ear.
The Epilogue
Laws of justice which Hammurabi, the wise
king, established. A righteous law, and pious statute did he teach the
land. Hammurabi, the protecting king am I. I have not withdrawn myself
from the men, whom Bel gave to me, the rule over whom Marduk gave to me,
I was not negligent, but I made them a peaceful abiding-place. I expounded
all great difficulties, I made the light shine upon them. With the mighty
weapons which Zamama and Ishtar entrusted to me, with the keen vision with
which Ea endowed me, with the wisdom that Marduk gave me, I have uprooted
the enemy above and below (in north and south), subdued the earth, brought
prosperity to the land, guaranteed security to the inhabitants in their
homes; a disturber was not permitted. The great gods have called me, I
am the salvation-bearing shepherd, whose staff is straight, the good shadow
that is spread over my city; on my breast I cherish the inhabitants of
the land of Sumer and Akkad; in my shelter I have let them repose in peace;
in my deep wisdom have I enclosed them. That the strong might not injure
the weak, in order to protect the widows and orphans, I have in Babylon
the city where Anu and Bel raise high their head, in E-Sagil, the Temple,
whose foundations stand firm as heaven and earth, in order to bespeak justice
in the land, to settle all disputes, and heal all injuries, set up these
my precious words, written upon my memorial stone, before the image of
me, as king of righteousness.
The king who ruleth among the kings of
the cities am I. My words are well considered; there is no wisdom like
unto mine. By the command of Shamash, the great judge of heaven and earth,
let righteousness go forth in the land: by the order of Marduk, my lord,
let no destruction befall my monument. In E-Sagil, which I love, let my
name be ever repeated; let the oppressed, who has a case at law, come and
stand before this my image as king of righteousness; let him read the inscription,
and understand my precious words: the inscription will explain his case
to him; he will find out what is just, and his heart will be glad, so that
he will say:
"Hammurabi is a ruler, who is as a father
to his subjects, who holds the words of Marduk in reverence, who has achieved
conquest for Marduk over the north and south, who rejoices the heart of
Marduk, his lord, who has bestowed benefits for ever and ever on his subjects,
and has established order in the land."
When he reads the record, let him pray
with full heart to Marduk, my lord, and Zarpanit, my lady; and then shall
the protecting deities and the gods, who frequent E-Sagil, graciously grant
the desires daily presented before Marduk, my lord, and Zarpanit, my lady.
In future time, through all coming generations,
let the king, who may be in the land, observe the words of righteousness
which I have written on my monument; let him not alter the law of the land
which I have given, the edicts which I have enacted; my monument let him
not mar. If such a ruler have wisdom, and be able to keep his land in order,
he shall observe the words which I have written in this inscription; the
rule, statute, and law of the land which I have given; the decisions which
I have made will this inscription show him; let him rule his subjects accordingly,
speak justice to them, give right decisions, root out the miscreants and
criminals from this land, and grant prosperity to his subjects.
Hammurabi, the king of righteousness, on
whom Shamash has conferred right (or law) am I. My words are well considered;
my deeds are not equaled; to bring low those that were high; to humble
the proud, to expel insolence. If a succeeding ruler considers my words,
which I have written in this my inscription, if he do not annul my law,
nor corrupt my words, nor change my monument, then may Shamash lengthen
that king's reign, as he has that of me, the king of righteousness, that
he may reign in righteousness over his subjects. If this ruler do not esteem
my words, which I have written in my inscription, if he despise my curses,
and fear not the curse of God, if he destroy the law which I have given,
corrupt my words, change my monument, efface my name, write his name there,
or on account of the curses commission another so to do, that man, whether
king or ruler, patesi, or commoner, no matter what he be, may the great
God (Anu), the Father of the gods, who has ordered my rule, withdraw from
him the glory of royalty, break his scepter, curse his destiny. May Bel,
the lord, who fixeth destiny, whose command can not be altered, who has
made my kingdom great, order a rebellion which his hand can not control;
may he let the wind of the overthrow of his habitation blow, may he ordain
the years of his rule in groaning, years of scarcity, years of famine,
darkness without light, death with seeing eyes be fated to him; may he
(Bel) order with his potent mouth the destruction of his city, the dispersion
of his subjects, the cutting off of his rule, the removal of his name and
memory from the land. May Belit, the great Mother, whose command is potent
in E-Kur (the Babylonian Olympus), the Mistress, who harkens graciously
to my petitions, in the seat of judgment and decision (where Bel fixes
destiny), turn his affairs evil before Bel, and put the devastation of
his land, the destruction of his subjects, the pouring out of his life
like water into the mouth of King Bel. May Ea, the great ruler, whose fated
decrees come to pass, the thinker of the gods, the omniscient, who maketh
long the days of my life, withdraw understanding and wisdom from him, lead
him to forgetfulness, shut up his rivers at their sources, and not allow
corn or sustenance for man to grow in his land. May Shamash, the great
Judge of heaven and earth, who supporteth all means of livelihood, Lord
of life-courage, shatter his dominion, annul his law, destroy his way,
make vain the march of his troops, send him in his visions forecasts of
the uprooting of the foundations of his throne and of the destruction of
his land. May the condemnation of Shamash overtake him forthwith; may he
be deprived of water above among the living, and his spirit below in the
earth. May Sin (the Moon-god), the Lord of Heaven, the divine father, whose
crescent gives light among the gods, take away the crown and regal throne
from him; may he put upon him heavy guilt, great decay, that nothing may
be lower than he. May he destine him as fated, days, months and years of
dominion filled with sighing and tears, increase of the burden of dominion,
a life that is like unto death. May Adad, the lord of fruitfulness, ruler
of heaven and earth, my helper, withhold from him rain from heaven, and
the flood of water from the springs, destroying his land by famine and
want; may he rage mightily over his city, and make his land into flood-hills
(heaps of ruined cities). May Zamama, the great warrior, the first-born
son of E-Kur, who goeth at my right hand, shatter his weapons on the field
of battle, turn day into night for him, and let his foe triumph over him.
May Ishtar, the goddess of fighting and war, who unfetters my weapons,
my gracious protecting spirit, who loveth my dominion, curse his kingdom
in her angry heart; in her great wrath, change his grace into evil, and
shatter his weapons on the place of fighting and war. May she create disorder
and sedition for him, strike down his warriors, that the earth may drink
their blood, and throw down the piles of corpses of his warriors on the
field; may she not grant him a life of mercy, deliver him into the hands
of his enemies, and imprison him in the land of his enemies. May Nergal,
the might among the gods, whose contest is irresistible, who grants me
victory, in his great might burn up his subjects like a slender reedstalk,
cut off his limbs with his mighty weapons, and shatter him like an earthen
image. May Nin-tu, the sublime mistress of the lands, the fruitful mother,
deny him a son, vouchsafe him no name, give him no successor among men.
May Nin-karak, the daughter of Anu, who adjudges grace to me, cause to
come upon his members in E-kur high fever, severe wounds, that can not
be healed, whose nature the physician does not understand, which he can
not treat with dressing, which, like the bite of death, can not be removed,
until they have sapped away his life. May he lament the loss of his life-power,
and may the great gods of heaven and earth, the Anunaki, altogether inflict
a curse and evil upon the confines of the temple, the walls of this E-barra
(the Sun temple of Sippara), upon his dominion, his land, his warriors,
his subjects, and his troops. May Bel curse him with the potent curses
of his mouth that can not be altered, and may they come upon him forthwith.