Early Israel and the Surrounding Nations eBook

Archibald Sayce
This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 247 pages of information about Early Israel and the Surrounding Nations.

Early Israel and the Surrounding Nations eBook

Archibald Sayce
This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 247 pages of information about Early Israel and the Surrounding Nations.

I give not orders for murder.

I cause not suffering to men.

I reduce not the offering in the temples.

I lessen not the cakes of the gods.

I rob not the dead of their funereal food.

I am not an adulterer.

I am undefiled in the sanctuary of the god of my domain.

I neither increase nor diminish the measures of grain.

I am not one who shorteneth the palm’s length.

I am not one who cutteth short the field’s measurement.

I put not pressure upon the beam of the balance.

I snatch not the milk from the mouth of infants.

I drive not the cattle from their pastures.

I net not the birds of the manors of the gods.

I catch not the fish of their ponds.

I stop not the water at its appointed time.

I divide not an arm of the water in its course.

I extinguish not the lamp during its appointed time.

I do not defraud the Divine Circle of their sacrificial joints.

I drive not away the cattle of the sacred estate.

I stop not a god when he cometh forth.

I am pure, I am pure, I am pure, I am pure!

X

LETTERS OF KHAMMURABI OR AMMURAPI (THE AMRAPHEL OP GEN. xiv. 1) TO
SIN-IDINNAM, KING OF LARSA (THE ELLASAR OF GENESIS)

I.  “To Sin-idinnam thus says Khammurabi:  The goddesses of the land of Emudbalum restored your courage to you on the day of the defeat of Kudur-Laghghamar (Chedor-laomer).  Because they have supported you among the army of thy hand, turn back the army and let them restore the goddesses to their own seats.”

II.  “To Sin-idinnam thus says Khummarabi:  When you have seen this letter you will understand in regard to Amil-Samas and Nur-Nintu, the sons of Gisdubba, that if they are in Larsa or in the territory of Larsa you will order them to be sent away, and that one of your servants on whom you can depend shall take them and bring them to Babylon.”

III.  “To Sin-idinnam thus says Khammurabi:  As to the officials who have resisted you in the accomplishment of their work, do not impose upon them any additional task, but oblige them to do what they ought to have performed, and then remove them from the influence of him who has brought them.”

Sin-idinnam seems to have been the legitimate prince of Larsa, who had been expelled from his dominions by the Elamite invader Eri-Aku or Arioch, and had taken refuge at the court of Khammurabi in Babylon.  After the overthrow of the Elamites, Sin-idinnam was restored by Khammurabi to his ancestral principality.

XI

THE BABYLONIAN ACCOUNT OF THE DELUGE

1.  Sisuthros spake thus unto him, even to Gilgames: 

2.  ’Let me reveal unto thee, O Gilgames, the tale of my preservation,

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Early Israel and the Surrounding Nations from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.