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PROLOGUE
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 E-shidlam, 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 LAWS
- 1. If a
man has accused another of laying a nertu
[death spell?] upon him, but has not proved it, he shall be put to
death.
- 2. If a
man has accused another of laying a kispu
[spell] upon him, but has not proved it, the accused shall go to the
sacred river, he shall plunge into the sacred river, and if the river
shall conquer him, he that accused him shall take possession of his
house. If the sacred river shall show his innocence and he is saved, his
accuser shall be put to death. He that plunged into the sacred river
shall appropriate the house of him that accused.
- 3. If a
man has borne false witness in a trial, or has not established the
statement that he has made, if that case be a capital trial, that man
shall be put to death.
- 4. If he
has borne false witness in a civil law case, he shall pay the damages in
that suit.
- 5. If a
judge has given a verdict, rendered a decision, granted a written
judgment, and afterward has altered his judgment, that judge shall be
prosecuted for altering the judgment he gave and shall pay twelvefold
the penalty laid down in that judgment. Further, he shall be publicly
expelled from his judgment-seat and shall not return nor take his seat
with the judges at a trial.
- 6. If a
man has stolen goods from a temple, or house, he shall be put to death;
and he that has received the stolen property from him shall be put to
death.
- 7. If a
man has bought or received on deposit from a minor or a slave, either silver, gold, male or female slave, ox, ass,
or sheep, or anything else, except by consent of elders, or power of
attorney, he shall be put to death for theft.
- 8. If a
patrician has stolen ox, sheep, ass, pig, or ship, whether from a
temple, or a house, he shall pay thirtyfold. If he be a plebeian, he
shall return tenfold. If the thief cannot pay, he shall be put to death.
- 9. If a
man has lost property and some of it be detected in the possession of
another, and the holder has said, "A man sold it to me, I bought it
in the presence of witnesses"; and if the claimant has said,
"I can bring witnesses who know it to be property lost by me";
then the alleged buyer on his part shall produce the man who sold it to
him and the witnesses before whom he bought it; the claimant shall on
his part produce the witnesses who know it to be his lost property. The
judge shall examine their pleas. The witnesses to the sale and the
witnesses who identify the lost property shall state on oath what they
know. Such a seller is the thief and shall be put to death. The owner of
the lost property shall recover his lost property. The buyer
shall recoup himself from the seller's estate.
- 10. If the
alleged buyer on his part has not produced the seller or the witnesses
before whom the sale took place, but the owner of the lost property on
his part has produced the witnesses who identify it as his, then the
[pretended] buyer is the thief; he shall be put to death. The owner of
the lost property shall take his lost property.
- 11. If, on
the other hand, the claimant of the lost property has not brought the
witnesses that know his lost property, he has been guilty of slander, he
has stirred up strife, he shall be put to
death.
- 12. If the
seller has in the meantime died, the buyer shall take from his estate
fivefold the value sued for.
- 13. If a
man has not his witnesses at hand, the judge shall set him a fixed time
not exceeding six months, and if within six months he has not produced
his witnesses, the man has lied; he shall bear the penalty of the suit.
- 14. If a
man has stolen a child, he shall be put to death.
- 15. If a
man has induced either a male or a female slave from the house of a
patrician, or plebeian, to leave the city, he shall be put to death.
- 16. If a
man has harbored in his house a male or female
slave from a patrician's or plebeian's house, and has not caused the
fugitive to leave on the demand of the officer over the slaves condemned
to public forced labor, that householder shall
be put to death.
- 17. If a
man has caught either a male or female runaway slave in the open field
and has brought him back to his owner, the owner of the slave shall give
him two shekels of silver.
- 18. If
such a slave will not name his owner, his captor shall bring him to the
palace, where he shall be examined as to his past and returned to his
owner.
- 19. If the
captor has secreted that slave in his house and afterward that slave has
been caught in his possession, he shall be put to death.
- 20. If the
slave has fled from the hands of his captor, the latter shall swear to
the owner of the slave and he shall be free from blame.
- 21. If a
man has broken into a house he shall be killed before the breach and
buried there.
- 22. If a
man has committed highway robbery and has been caught, that man shall be
put to death.
- 23. If the
highwayman has not been caught, the man that has been robbed shall state
on oath what he has lost and the city or district governor in whose
territory or district the robbery took place shall restore to him what
he lost.
- 24. If a
life [has been lost], the city or district governor shall pay one mina
of silver to the deceased's relatives.
- 25. If a
fire has broken out in a man's house and one who has come to put it out
has coveted the property of the householder and appropriated any of it,
that man shall be cast into the self-same fire.
- ... [The
creator of this site omits sections 26 through 65 and sections 100
through 127. The intervening sections 66 through 99 appear to be erased
and not decipherable on the stone.]
- 128. If a
man has taken a wife and has not executed a marriage contract, that
woman is not a wife.
- 129. If a
man's wife be caught lying with another, they shall be strangled and
cast into the water. If the wife's husband would save his wife, the king
can save his servant.
- 130. If a
man has ravished another's betrothed wife, who is a virgin, while still
living in her father's house, and has been caught in the act, that man
shall be put to death; the woman shall go free.
- 131. If a
man's wife has been accused by her husband, and has not been caught
lying with another, she shall swear her innocence, and return to her
house.
- 132. If a
man's wife has the finger pointed at her on account of another, but has
not been caught lying with him, for her husband's sake she shall plunge
into the sacred river.
- 133. If a
man has been taken captive, and there was maintenance in his house, but
his wife has left her house and entered another man's house; because
that woman has not preserved her body, and has entered into the house of
another, that woman shall be prosecuted and shall be drowned.
- 134. If a
man has been taken captive, but there was not maintenance in his house,
and his wife has entered into the house of another, that woman has no
blame.
- 135. If a
man has been taken captive, but there was no maintenance in his house
for his wife, and she has entered into the house of another, and has
borne him children, if in the future her [first] husband shall return
and regain his city, that woman shall return to her first husband, but
the children shall follow their own father.
- 136. If a
man has left his city and fled, and, after he has gone, his wife has
entered into the house of another; if the man return and seize his wife,
the wife of the fugitive shall not return to her husband, because he
hated his city and fled.
- 137. If a
man has determined to divorce a concubine who has borne him children, or
a votary who has granted him children, he shall return to that woman her
marriage-portion, and shall give her the usufruct of field, garden, and
goods, to bring up her children. After her children have grown up, out
of whatever is given to her children, they shall give her one son's
share, and the husband of her choice shall marry her.
- 138. If a
man has divorced his wife, who has not borne him children, he shall pay
over to her as much money as was given for her bride-price and the
marriage-portion which she brought from her father's house, and so shall
divorce her.
- 139. If
there was no bride-price, he shall give her one mina of silver, as a
price of divorce.
- 140. If he
be a plebeian, he shall give her one-third of a mina of silver.
- 141. If a
man's wife, living in her husband's house, has persisted in going out,
has acted the fool, has wasted her house, has belittled her husband, he
shall prosecute her. If her husband has said, "I divorce her,"
she shall go her way; he shall give her nothing as her price of divorce.
If her husband has said, "I will not divorce her," he may take
another woman to wife; the wife shall live as a slave in her husband's
house.
- 142. If a
woman has hated her husband and has said, "You shall not possess
me," her past shall be inquired into, as to what she lacks. If she
has been discreet, and has no vice, and her husband has gone out, and
has greatly belittled her, that woman has no blame,
she shall take her marriage-portion and go off to her father's house.
- 143. If
she has not been discreet, has gone out, ruined her house, belittled her
husband, she shall be drowned.
- 144. If a
man has married a votary, and that votary has
given a maid to her husband, and so caused him to have children, and, if
that man is inclined to marry a concubine, that man shall not be allowed
to do so, he shall not marry a concubine.
- 145. If a man
has married a votary, and she has not granted him children, and he is
determined to marry a concubine, that man shall marry the concubine, and
bring her into his house, but the concubine shall not place herself on
an equality with the votary.
- 146. If a
man has married a votary, and she has given a maid to her husband, and
the maid has borne children, and if afterward that maid has placed
herself on an equality with her mistress, because she has borne
children, her mistress shall not sell her, she shall place a slave-mark
upon her, and reckon her with the slave-girls.
- 147. If
she has not borne children, her mistress shall sell her.
- 148. If a
man has married a wife and a disease has seized her, if he is determined
to marry a second wife, he shall marry her. He shall not divorce the
wife whom the disease has seized. In the home they made together she
shall dwell, and he shall maintain her as long as she lives.
- 149. If
that woman was not pleased to stay in her husband's house, he shall pay
over to her the marriage-portion which she brought from her father's
house, and she shall go away.
- 150. If a
man has presented field, garden, house, or goods to his wife, has
granted her a deed of gift, her children, after her husband's death,
shall not dispute her right; the mother shall leave it after her death
to that one of her children whom she loves best. She shall
not leave it to her kindred.
- 151. If a
woman, who is living in a man's house, has persuaded her husband to bind
himself, and grant her a deed to the effect that she shall not be held
for debt by a creditor of her husband's; if that man had a debt upon him
before he married that woman, his creditor shall not take his wife for
it. Also, if that woman had a debt upon her before she entered that man's
house, her creditor shall not take her husband for it.
- 152. From
the time that the woman entered into the man's house they together shall
be liable for all debts subsequently incurred.
- 153. If a
man's wife, for the sake of another, has caused her husband to be
killed, that woman shall be impaled.
- 154. If a
man has committed incest with his daughter, that man shall be banished
from the city.
- 155. If a
man has betrothed a maiden to his son and his son has known her, and
afterward the man has lain in her bosom, and been caught, that man shall
be strangled and she shall be cast into the water.
- 156. If a
man has betrothed a maiden to his son, and his son has not known her,
and that man has lain in her bosom, he shall pay her half a mina of
silver, and shall pay over to her whatever she brought from her father's
house, and the husband of her choice shall marry her.
- 157. If a
man, after his father's death, has lain in the bosom of his mother, they
shall both of them be burnt together.
- 158. If a
man, after his father's death, be caught in the bosom of his
step-mother, who has borne children, that man shall be cut off from his
father's house.
- 159. If a
man, who has presented a gift to the house of his prospective
father-in-law and has given the bride-price, has afterward looked upon
another woman and has said to his father-in-law, "I will not marry
your daughter"; the father of the girl shall keep whatever he has
brought as a present.
- 160. If a
man has presented a gift to the house of his prospective father-in-law,
and has given the bride-price, but the father of the girl has said,
"I will not give you my daughter," the father shall return
double all that was presented him.
- 161. If a
man has presented a gift to the house of his prospective father-in-law,
and has given the bride price, but his comrade has slandered him and his
father-in-law has said to the suitor, "You shall not marry my
daughter," [the father] shall return double all that was presented
him. Further, the comrade
shall not marry the
girl.
- 162. If a
man has married a wife, and she has borne him children, and that woman
has gone to her fate, her father shall lay no claim to her
marriage-portion. Her
marriage-portion is her children's only.
- 163. If a
man has married a wife, and she has not borne him children, and that
woman has gone to her fate; if his father-in-law has returned to him the
bride-price, which that man brought into the house of his father-in-law,
her husband shall have no claim on the marriage portion of that woman. Her marriage-portion
indeed belongs to her father's house.
- 164. If
the father-in-law has not returned the bride-price, the husband shall
deduct the amount of her bride-price from her marriage-portion, and
shall return her marriage-portion to her father's house.
- 165. If a
man has presented field, garden, or house to his son, the first in his
eyes, and has written him a deed of gift; after the father has gone to
his fate, when the brothers share, he shall keep the present his father
gave him, and over and above shall share equally with them in the goods
of his father's estate.
- 166. If a
man has taken wives for the other sons he had, but has not taken a wife
for his young son, after the father has gone to his fate, when the
brothers share, they shall set aside from the goods of their father's
estate money, as a bride-price, for their young brother, who has not
married a wife, over and above his share, and they shall cause him to
take a wife.
- 167. If a
man has taken a wife, and she has borne him children and that woman has
gone to her fate, and he has taken a second wife, and she also has borne
children; after the father has gone to his fate, the sons shall not
share according to mothers, but each family shall take the
marriage-portion of its mother, and all shall share the goods of the
father's estate equally.
- 168. If a
man has determined to disinherit his son and has declared before the
judge, "I cut off my son," the judge shall inquire into the
son's past, and, if the son has not committed a grave misdemeanor such as should cut him off from sonship, the father shall [not] disinherit the son.
[The word "not" as inserted here does not occur in the
original C. H. W. Johns text, and is inserted by the creator of this site.]
- 169. If he
has committed a grave crime against his father, which
cuts off from sonship, for the first offense
he shall pardon him. If he has committed a grave crime a second time,
the father shall cut off his son from sonship.
- ...[The
creator of this site omits sections 170 through 191.]
- 192. If
the son of a palace favorite or the son of a
vowed woman has said to the father that brought him up, "You are
not my father," or to the mother that brought him up, "You are
not my mother," his tongue shall be cut out.
- 193. If
the son of a palace favorite or the son of a
vowed woman has come to know his father's house and has hated his father
that brought him up, or his mother that brought him up, and shall go off
to his father's house, his eyes shall be torn out.
- 194. If a
man has given his son to a wet-nurse to suckle, and that son has died in
the hands of the nurse, and the nurse, without consent of the child's
father or mother, has nursed another child, they shall prosecute her;
because she has nursed another child, without consent of the father or
mother, her breasts shall be cut off.
- 195. If a
son has struck his father, his hands shall be cut off.
- 196. If a
man has knocked out the eye of a patrician, his eye shall be knocked
out.
- 197. If he
has broken the limb of a patrician, his limb shall be broken.
- 198. If he
has knocked out the eye of a plebeian or has broken the limb of a
plebeian, he shall pay one mina of silver.
- 199. If he
has knocked out the eye of a patrician's servant, or broken the limb of
a patrician's servant, he shall pay half his value.
- 200. If a
patrician has knocked out the tooth of a man that is his equal, his
tooth shall be knocked out.
- 201. If he
has knocked out the tooth of a plebeian, he shall pay one-third of a
mina of silver.
- 202. If a
man has smitten the privates of a man, higher in rank than he, he shall
be sourged with sixty blows of an ox-hide
scourge, in the assembly.
- 203. If a
man has smitten the privates of a patrician of his own rank, he shall
pay one mina of silver.
- 204. If a
plebeian has smitten the privates of a plebeian, he shall pay ten
shekels of silver.
- 205. If a
slave of anyone has smitten the privates of a free-born man, his ear
shall be cut off.
- 206. If a
man has struck another in a quarrel, and caused him a permanent injury,
that man shall swear, "I struck him without malice," and shall
pay the doctor.
- 207. If he
has died of his blows, [the man] shall swear [similarly], and pay
one-half a mina of silver; or,
- 208. If
[the deceased] was a plebeian, he shall pay one-third of a mina of
silver.
- 209. If a
man has struck a free woman with child, and has caused her to miscarry,
he shall pay ten shekels for her miscarriage.
- 210. If that woman die, his daughter shall be killed.
- 211. If it
be the daughter of a plebeian, that has miscarried
through his blows, he shall pay five shekels of silver.
- 212. If that woman die, he shall pay half a mina of silver.
- 213. If he
has struck a man's maid and caused her to miscarry, he shall pay two
shekels of silver.
- 214. If that woman die, he shall pay one-third of a mina of
silver.
- 215. If a
surgeon has operated with the bronze lancet on a patrician for a serious
injury, and has cured him, or has removed with a bronze lancet a
cataract for a patrician, and has cured his eye, he shall take ten
shekels of silver.
- 216. If it
be a plebeian, he shall take five shekels of silver.
- 217. If it
be a man's slave, the owner of the slave shall give two shekels of silver
to the surgeon.
- 218. If a
surgeon has operated with the bronze lancet on a patrician for a serious
injury, and has caused his death, or has removed a cataract for a
patrician, with the bronze lancet, and has made him lose his eye, his
hands shall be cut off.
- 219. If
the surgeon has treated a serious injury of a plebeian's slave, with the
bronze lancet, and has caused his death, he shall render slave for
slave.
- 220. If he
has removed a cataract with the bronze lancet, and made the slave lose
his eye, he shall pay half his value.
- 221. If a
surgeon has cured the limb of a patrician, or has doctored a diseased
bowel, the patient shall pay five shekels of silver to the surgeon.
- 222. If he
be a plebeian, he shall pay three shekels of silver.
- 223. If he
be a man's slave, the owner of the slave shall give two shekels of
silver to the doctor.
- 224. If a
veterinary surgeon has treated an ox, or an ass, for a severe injury,
and cured it, the owner of the ox, or the ass, shall pay the surgeon
one-sixth of a shekel of silver, as his fee.
- 225. If he
has treated an ox, or an ass, for a severe injury, and caused it to die,
he shall pay one-quarter of its value to the owner of the ox, or the
ass.
- 226. If a
brander has cut out a mark on a slave, without the consent of his owner,
that brander shall have his hands cut off.
- 227. If
someone has deceived the brander, and induced him to cut out a mark on a
slave, that man shall be put to death and buried in his house; the
brander shall swear, "I did not mark him knowingly," and shall
go free.
- 228. If a
builder has built a house for a man, and finished it, he shall pay him a
fee of two shekels of silver, for each SAR built on.
- 229. If a
builder has built a house for a man, and has not made his work sound, and the house he built has fallen, and caused
the death of its owner, that builder shall be put to death.
- 230. If it
is the owner's son that is killed, the builder's son shall be put to
death.
- 231. If it
is the slave of the owner that is killed, the builder shall give slave
for slave to the owner of the house.
- 232. If he
has caused the loss of goods, he shall render back whatever he has
destroyed. Moreover, because he did not make sound the house he built,
and it fell, at his own cost he shall rebuild the house that fell.
- 233. If a
builder has built a house for a man, and has not keyed his work, and the
wall has fallen, that builder shall make that wall firm at his own
expense.
- 234. If a
boatman has built a boat of sixty GUR for a man, he shall pay him
a fee of two shekels of silver.
- 235. If a
boatman has built a boat for a man, and has not made his work sound, and
in that same year that boat is sent on a voyage and suffers damage, the
boatman shall rebuild that boat, and, at his own expense, shall make it
strong, or shall give a strong boat to the owner.
- 236. If a
man has let his boat to a boatman, and the boatman has been careless and
the boat has been sunk or lost, the boatman shall restore a boat to the
owner.
- 237. If a
man has hired a boat and boatman, and loaded it with corn, wool, oil, or
dates, or whatever it be, and the boatman has
been careless, and sunk the boat, or lost what is in it, the boatman
shall restore the boat which he sank, and whatever he lost that was in
it.
- 238. If a
boatman has sunk a man's boat, and has floated it again, he shall pay
half its value in silver.
- 239. If a
man has hired a boatman, he shall pay him six GUR of corn yearly.
- 240. If a
boat, on its course, has run into a boat at anchor, and sunk it, the owner
of the boat that was sunk shall estimate on oath whatsoever was lost in
his boat, and the owner of the moving vessel, which sank the boat at
anchor, shall make good his boat and what was lost in it.
- ...[The
creator of this site omits sections 241 through 277.]
- 278. If a
man has bought a male or female slave and the slave has not fulfilled
his month, but the bennu disease has
fallen upon him, he shall return the slave to the seller and the buyer
shall take back the money he paid.
- 279. If a
man has bought a male or female slave and a claim has been raised, the
seller shall answer the claim.
- 280. If a
man, in a foreign land, has bought a male, or female, slave of another,
and if when he has come home the owner of the male or female slave has
recognized his slave, and if the slave be a native of the land, he shall
grant him liberty without money.
- 281. If
the slave was a native of another country, the buyer shall declare on
oath the amount of money he paid, and the owner of the slave shall repay
the merchant what he paid and keep his slave.
- 282. If a
slave has said to his master, "You are not my master," he
shall be brought to account as his slave, and his master shall cut off
his ear.
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 declare 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 rules among the kings of the cities am I. My words are well considered; there is no wisdom
like 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 have 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; the lord, who fixes 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 Mistress, who
harkens graciously to my petitions, in the seat of judgment and decision,
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 makes 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
supports 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; may he be deprived of water above among the living, and his spirit below
in the earth.
May Sin, 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 goes 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 loves 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.
Translated by
L.W. King (1910)
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