Code of Hammurabi

Prologue

When Anu the Exalted, king of the Anunaki, and Enlil, the lord of heaven and earth, who decrees the fate of the land, assigned to Marduk, the firstborn son of Ea, dominion over all people, and made him great among the Igigi, they called Babylon by his illustrious name, made it great on earth, and founded in it an everlasting kingdom whose foundations are laid as solidly as those of heaven and earth, then Anu and Enlil called me by name:⁠a Hammurabi, the exalted prince, who revered the gods, to bring about the rule of righteousness in the land, to destroy the wicked and the evildoers,⁠b so that the strong should not harm the weak,⁠c so that I should rule over the black-headed people like Shamash and enlighten the land, and promote the well-being of humanity.⁠d

I am Hammurabi, the shepherd chosen by Enlil, who heaped up riches and plenty, who enriched Nippur, the bond between heaven and earth, in every way, the exalted patron of E-kur, who restored Eridu and purified the worship of E-apsu. I conquered the four quarters of the world, made the name of Babylon great, and brought joy to the heart of Marduk, my lord. I offer daily worship in Saggil. I am the royal heir whom Sin created.⁠e I enriched Ur. I am humble and reverent, bringing wealth to Gish-shir-gal. I am the wise king who obeys mighty Shamash, who laid the foundations of Sippara and covered the sacred building of Aya with green. I made E-babbar great, which is like the heavens. I am the warrior who spared Larsa and renewed E-babbar with Shamash as his helper. I am the lord who gave new life to Uruk. I brought abundant water to its inhabitants, raised the head of E-anna, provided abundant offerings for Anu and Ishtar. I am the shield of the land. I reunited the scattered inhabitants of Isin,⁠f and richly endowed E-gal-mach.

I am the dragon among kings, brother of the god Zamama, who founded the settlement of Kish, crowned E-me-te-ursag with glory, and arranged the great sacred rites of Ishtar. I managed the temple of Harsag-kalama. I am the net that catches the enemy. My companion Erra brought me victory. I increased the power of Cuthah and made all glorious in E-shidlam. I am the fierce wild bull who gores the enemy.⁠g I am beloved of the god Tutu. I brought joy to the inhabitants of Borsippa. I am exalted and tireless in caring for E-zida, the dwelling of the god of kings. I am wise and discerning. I broadened the fields of Dilbat and heaped up the harvests for Urash. I am the mighty one, the lord to whom scepter and crown come, who clothes himself with them, endowed by wise Mama, who fixed the temple boundaries of Kesh and made the holy feasts of Nin-tu rich.

I am the provident and attentive one, who provided pasture and watering places for Lagash and Girsu, who gave large offerings for the Eninnu temple, who captured the enemy, beloved of the able goddess, who fulfilled the oracle of Zabala. I brought joy to the heart of Ishtar. I am the pure prince whose prayer Adad accepts, who satisfied the heart of Adad the warrior in Karkar and restored the vessels of worship in E-ud-gal-gal. I am the king who gave life to the city of Adab, the guide of E-mach, the princely king of the city, the irresistible warrior, who gave life to the inhabitants of Mashkan Shapir and brought abundance to the temple of Emeslam. I am wise and capable. I mastered the depths of wisdom, saved the inhabitants of Malgium from misfortune and settled them in prosperity. I established pure offerings for Ea and Dam-gal-nun-na.

Ea and Dam-gal-nun-na made my kingdom great forever. I am the leader of kings. I subjected the districts on the Euphrates to Dagan my creator, spared the inhabitants of Mari and Tuttul. I am the exalted prince who makes the face of Tishpak shine. I present holy meals to the divinity of Nin-a-zu, cared for its inhabitants in their need, provided their portion in Babylon in peace. I am the shepherd of the people. I am the one whose deeds find favor with Ishtar, who provided for Ishtar in the Eulmash temple in Agade, who recognizes what is right, who rules by law, who gave back to the city of Ashur its protecting god. I suppressed rebellion and established the rites of Ishtar of Nineveh in E-mish-mish. I am the exalted one, who prays continually to the great gods, successor of Sumu-la-el, mighty son of Sin-muballit, the royal heir of eternity. I am the mighty monarch, the sun of Babylon, whose rays shed light over the land⁠h of Sumer and Akkad, the king obeyed by the four quarters of the world, beloved of Ishtar.

When Marduk sent me to rule over men⁠i and to give the land the protection of justice, I did what was right and just and promoted the well-being of the people.

Justice and Legal Procedure

1 If anyone accuses another of murder but cannot prove it, the accuser shall be put to death.

2 If anyone brings an accusation of witchcraft against a man, and the accused goes to the river and leaps into it, and if he sinks in the river, his accuser shall take possession of his estate. But if the river proves him innocent and he escapes unhurt, the one who brought the accusation shall be put to death, and the one who leaped into the river shall take possession of his accuser’s estate.

3 If anyone gives false testimony in a case before the judges and does not prove the charge, and the charge carries the death penalty, he shall be put to death.⁠j

4 If he gives false testimony in a case involving grain or silver, he shall pay the penalty imposed in that case.

5 If a judge tries a case, reaches a decision, and presents his judgment in writing, and he later reverses that decision and is convicted of doing so, he shall pay twelve times the fine he set in the case,⁠k he shall be publicly removed from the judge’s bench, and he shall never sit there again to give judgment.

Theft and Robbery

6 If anyone steals the property of a temple or of the palace, he shall be put to death, and the one who receives the stolen goods from him shall also be put to death.

7 If anyone buys silver or gold, a male or female slave, an ox or a sheep, a donkey or anything else from another man’s son or slave without witnesses or a contract, or takes it for safekeeping, he is considered a thief and shall be put to death.

8 If anyone steals cattle or sheep, or a donkey, a pig, or a boat, and if it belongs to a god or to the palace, the thief shall repay thirty times its value;⁠l if it belonged to a commoner, he shall repay ten times its value; if the thief has nothing to pay with, he shall be put to death.

9 If anyone loses an article and finds it in another’s possession, and if the person holding it says, “A merchant sold it to me, I paid for it before witnesses,” and the owner says, “I will bring witnesses who know my property,” then the buyer shall 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 the witnesses before whom the price was paid and 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,⁠m and the buyer receives the money he paid from the merchant’s estate.

10 If the buyer does not bring the merchant and the witnesses before whom he bought the article, but the owner brings 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 does not bring witnesses to identify the lost article, he is a wrongdoer who has made a false accusation, and he shall be put to death.

12 If the seller has died, the buyer shall take from the seller’s estate five times the claim in the case.

13 If the witnesses are unavailable, the judge shall set a deadline of six months. If his witnesses have not appeared within the six months, he is a wrongdoer and shall pay the fine of the pending case.

14 If anyone steals the minor son of another, he shall be put to death.⁠n

15 If anyone takes a male or female slave of the palace, or of a commoner, outside the city gates, he shall be put to death.

16 If anyone takes a runaway male or female slave of the palace or of a commoner into his house and does not bring the slave out at the public proclamation of the herald, the master of the house shall be put to death.⁠o

17 If anyone finds runaway male or female slaves in the open country and brings them to their masters, the master of the slaves shall pay him two shekels of silver.

18 If the slave will not name his 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 keeps the slaves in his house and they are caught there, he shall be put to death.

20 If the slave he caught runs away from him, he shall swear an oath to the slave’s owners, and he is free of all blame.

21 If anyone breaks a hole into a house to break in and steal,⁠p he shall be put to death in front of that hole and be hung there.

22 If anyone is caught committing a robbery, he shall be put to death.

23 If the robber is not caught, the one who was robbed shall declare under oath the amount of his loss; then the city and the governor in whose territory and district the robbery took place shall compensate him for the stolen goods.

24 If a person is killed in the robbery, the city and the governor shall pay one mina of silver to their relatives.

25 If fire breaks out in a house, and someone who comes to put it out notices the property of the owner and takes it, he shall be thrown into that same fire.

Military Service and Land

26 If a soldier or a fisherman who has been ordered to join the king’s campaign does not go or hires and sends a substitute, the soldier or fisherman shall be put to death, and the person who reports him shall take possession of his estate.

27 If a soldier or a fisherman is taken captive while serving in a royal fortress, and his field and garden are given to someone else who performs the service obligation, and if he returns and reaches his home, his field and garden shall be given back to him, and he shall perform his service obligation again.

28 If a soldier or a fisherman is taken captive while serving in a royal fortress, and his son is able to perform the service obligation, the field and garden shall be given to him, and he shall perform his father’s service obligation.

29 If his son is still young and cannot perform his father’s service obligation, a third of the field and garden shall be given to his mother, and she shall raise him.

30 If a soldier or a fisherman abandons his house, garden, and field to escape his service obligation, and someone else takes possession of his house, garden, and field and performs the service obligation for three years, and if the first owner returns and claims his house, garden, and field, they shall not be given to him; the one who took possession and performed the service obligation shall continue to perform it.

31 If he is absent for only one year and then returns, the house, garden, and field shall be given back to him, and he shall perform his service obligation again.

32 If a soldier or a fisherman is captured on the king’s campaign and a merchant ransoms him and brings him back to his home, and if he has the means in his house to pay the ransom, he shall ransom himself; if he has nothing in his house to pay with, he shall be ransomed by the temple of his community; if there is nothing in the temple to pay with, the palace shall ransom him. His field, garden, and house shall not be given to pay for his ransom.

33 If a captain or a sergeant recruits deserters or accepts a hired substitute and leads him on the king’s campaign, the captain or sergeant shall be put to death.

34 If a captain or a sergeant takes a soldier’s belongings, wrongs a soldier, hires a soldier out, hands a soldier over to a powerful man in a lawsuit, or takes a gift that the king gave to a soldier, the captain or sergeant shall be put to death.

35 If anyone buys from a soldier the cattle or sheep which the king gave him, he loses his money.

36 The field, garden, and house of a soldier, a fisherman, or a state tenant cannot be sold.

37 If anyone buys the field, garden, or house of a soldier, a fisherman, or a state tenant, his sales contract tablet shall be broken and declared invalid,⁠q and he loses his money. The field, garden, and house return to their owners.

38 A soldier, a fisherman, or a state tenant cannot assign his official holding of field, house, and garden to his wife or daughter, nor give it for a debt.

39 He may, however, assign to his wife or daughter a field, garden, or house that he has bought and holds as his own property, or give it for a debt.

40 A naditu priestess, a merchant, or another holder of a special service obligation may sell his field, garden, and house; the buyer then must perform the service obligation attached to the field, house, and garden.

41 If anyone accepts in exchange the field, garden, and house of a soldier, a fisherman, or a state tenant, and pays the difference in value, and if the soldier, fisherman, or tenant returns to his field, garden, and house, he shall also keep the payment he received.

Fields and Irrigation

42 If anyone takes over a field to farm it and harvests nothing from it, and it is proved that he did no work on the field, he shall deliver grain to the field’s owner matching his neighbor’s yield.

43 If he does not farm the field but lets it lie fallow, he shall give the owner grain matching his neighbor’s yield, and he must plow and harrow the field he left fallow before returning it to its owner.

44 If anyone takes over a neglected field on a three-year lease 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 farm it, and give it back to its owner, and he shall pay ten gur of grain for every eighteen iku.

45 If a man rents out his field for farming at a fixed rent and receives the rent, but bad weather then destroys the harvest, the loss falls on the farmer working the soil.

46 If he does not receive a fixed rent for his field but leases it for half or a third of the harvest, the grain in the field shall be divided proportionally between the farmer and the owner.

47 If the farmer, did not recover his expenses in the first year and wishes to farm the field again, the owner may not object; the same farmer shall cultivate it, and the owner shall receive his share of the harvest according to the agreement.

48 If anyone owes a debt on a loan, and a storm flattens his grain, or the harvest fails, or the grain does not grow for lack of water, he need not give his creditor any grain that year. He shall suspend his debt contract and pay no interest for the year.

49 If anyone takes money from a merchant and gives the merchant a field fit for growing grain or sesame,⁠r and orders him to plant grain or sesame in the field and harvest the crop, and if the cultivator plants grain or sesame in the field, then at the harvest the grain or sesame in the field belongs to the owner of the field, and he shall pay the merchant grain for the borrowed principal and its interest, along with the cost of the cultivator’s upkeep.

50 If he hands over a field already planted with grain or sesame, the grain or sesame in the field belongs to the owner of the field, and he shall return the money to the merchant with its interest.

51 If he has no money to repay, he shall pay the merchant in grain or sesame, at the royal rate, for the borrowed principal and its interest.

52 If the cultivator does not plant grain or sesame in the field, the debtor’s contract is not weakened.

53 If anyone is too lazy to keep his dam in proper condition and fails to maintain it, and the dam breaks and all the fields are flooded, the man in whose dam the break occurred shall replace the grain he caused to be ruined.

54 If he cannot replace the grain, he and his possessions shall be sold, and the proceeds divided among the farmers whose grain he flooded.

55 If anyone opens his ditches to water his crop but is careless and the water floods his neighbor’s field, he shall pay his neighbor grain for the loss.

56 If a man lets in the water and it floods his neighbor’s planted ground, he shall pay ten gur of grain for every eighteen iku of land.

Gardens and Orchards

57 If a shepherd, without the permission of the owner of a field⁠s and without the field owner’s agreement, lets the sheep graze in the field, the owner of the field shall harvest his crop, and the shepherd who pastured his flock there without permission shall pay the owner twenty gur of grain for every eighteen iku.

58 If a shepherd lets his flock into a field to graze after the flocks have left the pasture and the pennants marking the end of the grazing season have been wound around the city gate, the shepherd shall take charge of the field he allowed to be grazed, and at the harvest he shall pay sixty gur of grain for every eighteen iku.

59 If any man cuts down a tree in a garden without the knowledge of its owner, he shall pay half a mina of silver.

60 If anyone gives a field to a gardener to plant as a garden, and the gardener works it and cares for it for four years, in the fifth year the owner and the gardener shall divide its yield equally, and the owner shall take his share first.

61 If the gardener has not finished planting the field and leaves part of it unused, the unused part shall be assigned to him as his share.

62 If he does not plant the field given to him as a garden, and if it is arable land, the gardener shall pay the owner the yield of the field for the years he left it idle, matching neighboring fields, and he shall put the field into arable condition and return it to its owner.

63 If he turns wasteland into arable fields and returns it to its owner, he shall pay the owner ten gur for every eighteen iku each year.

64 If anyone hands his garden over to a gardener to pollinate the date palms, the gardener shall pay the owner two-thirds of the garden’s produce for as long as he holds it, and he shall keep the other third.

65 If the gardener does not pollinate the date palms in the garden and the yield falls off, the gardener shall pay according to the yield of neighboring gardens.

Property and Loans

a If a man borrows silver from a merchant, and the merchant presses him for payment but he has nothing to repay with, and so he gives the merchant his orchard after pollination and says to him, “Take as many dates as grow in the orchard as payment for your silver,” the merchant shall not agree. The owner of the orchard himself shall take the dates grown in the orchard, repay the merchant the silver and its interest according to the terms of his contract, and keep the dates left over.

b If a man intends to build a house and his neighbor ...

c If ... he will not give it to him ... for a price; if he intends to give grain, silver, or any other goods for a house bound by a service obligation and belonging to his neighbor’s estate which he wishes to buy, he shall forfeit whatever he gave, and it shall return to its owner. If the house is not bound by a service obligation, he may buy it and may give grain, silver, or any other goods for it.

d If a man works his neighbor’s uncultivated plot without his neighbor’s permission, in the house ... his neighbor ...

e–f If a man says to the owner of a run-down house, “Reinforce your wall; someone could climb over it into my house from yours,” or says to the owner of an uncultivated plot, “Work your plot; someone could break into my house from it,” and he secures witnesses, and if a thief breaks in by climbing the wall, the owner of the run-down house shall replace everything lost through the climbing; if a thief breaks in through the uncultivated plot, the owner of the plot shall replace everything lost; if ... If ... house ...

g If a man rents out a house ... and the tenant gives the owner the full silver for his year’s rent, but the owner orders the tenant to leave before the term of his lease is up, the owner forfeits the silver the tenant gave him, because he put the tenant out of his house before the lease ran out.

h–k If a tenant intends to buy the house of a commoner ... the rent duty he must perform in order to buy the house ... which he shall place ... he shall place it ... if he is away ... of the commoner ...; if he does not buy the house, he forfeits the silver he took, and the house of the commoner returns to its owner. ...

l If a man borrows silver ... he shall repay the silver and its interest at the harvest; if he has nothing to give, he shall give any of his property, goods or grain; if he has ... to give ...

m If a merchant who for ... for five shekels of silver ... did not write a sealed document for him ... the son of a man ... they shall put that man to death.

n–q If a man’s slave ... he shall pay twenty shekels of silver, and that slave ... complete ... shall be put to death. If a man ... another man ... silver ...

r If ... to ... wages ... silver ...; if that man who ... does not ..., he forfeits the silver he gave.

s If either a male slave or a female slave ..., they shall return him to his master; if ... he beats him, they will not return him to his master.

t If a merchant lends grain at interest, he shall take one hundred ka of grain per gur as interest; if he lends silver at interest, he shall take thirty-six barleycorns per shekel of silver.⁠t

u If a man who owes an interest-bearing loan has no silver to repay it, the merchant shall take grain and silver according to the royal edict, with interest for the year at sixty ka per gur; if the merchant tries to raise and collect the interest beyond one hundred ka of grain per gur, or beyond thirty-six barleycorns per shekel of silver, he forfeits whatever he lent.

v If a merchant lends grain or silver at interest and then takes ... grain or silver as interest according to the amount of his capital ... the grain and silver, his capital and interest ..., and the tablet recording his debt shall be broken.

w If a merchant ... takes ... interest and ... then does not deduct the payments of grain or silver as much as he received, or does not write a new tablet, or adds the interest payments to the capital, that merchant shall return double the grain he received.

x If a merchant lends grain or silver at interest, and when he makes the loan he pays out the silver by the small weight or the grain by the small measure, but when he is repaid he takes the silver by the large weight or the grain by the large measure, that merchant forfeits whatever he lent.⁠u

y If a merchant lends ... at interest, ... he forfeits whatever he gave.

z–aa If a man borrows grain or silver from a merchant and has no grain or silver to repay it, but does have other goods, he shall give his merchant whatever he has on hand, before witnesses, according to its value; the merchant shall not object, and he shall accept it. If a man ... like ...

bb If ... he shall be put to death.

cc If a man gives silver to another man for a partnership venture, they shall divide the profit or loss equally before the god.

Merchants and Trading Agents

100 If a merchant gives silver to a trading agent to do business with and sends him off on a journey, and the agent ... on his travels, if he makes a profit, he shall calculate the interest on all the silver he received, according to the transactions and the time elapsed, and pay his merchant.

101 If he makes no profit in the place he went to, the agent shall repay the merchant twice the silver he received.

102 If a merchant entrusts money to an agent for an investment, and the agent suffers a loss in the place he goes to, he shall repay the capital to the merchant.

103 If an enemy robs him of whatever he is carrying while on the journey, the agent shall swear an oath by the god and go free.

104 If a merchant gives an agent grain, wool, oil, or any other goods to sell, the agent shall return the silver from each transaction to the merchant. Then he shall obtain a receipt from the merchant for the money he gives the merchant.

105 If the agent is careless and does not take a receipt for the money he gave the merchant, money without a receipt shall not be included in the final accounts.

106 If the agent accepts money from the merchant but then disputes it with the merchant and denies receiving it, the merchant shall prove before the god and witnesses that the agent received the money, and the agent shall pay him three times the sum.

107 If the merchant cheats the agent by denying that the agent returned everything given to him, the agent shall convict the merchant before the god and the judges, and the merchant, because he denied receiving what the agent gave him, shall pay the agent six times the sum.

Taverns

108 If a woman tavern-keeper⁠v does not accept grain as payment for beer but takes silver using the large weight, and the value of the beer is in this way reduced relative to the grain, she shall be convicted and thrown into the water.

109 If conspirators meet in the house of a tavern-keeper and are not captured and delivered to the court, the tavern-keeper shall be put to death.

110 If a naditu or ugbabtu priestess who does not live in the cloister opens a tavern or enters a tavern to drink, that woman shall be burned to death.

111 If an innkeeper supplies sixty ka of beer ..., she shall receive fifty ka of grain at the harvest.

Debts and Safekeeping

112 If anyone is on a journey and entrusts silver, gold, precious stones, or any movable property to another and wants to recover it from him, and if the other man does not bring all the property to the appointed place but keeps it for his own use, then this man who failed to deliver what was entrusted to him shall be convicted, and he shall pay five times the value of everything entrusted to him.

113 If anyone has a claim for grain or silver against another man and takes from the granary or the threshing floor without the owner’s knowledge, he shall be convicted of taking grain or money without the owner’s knowledge, and he shall repay the grain he took. He shall also lose the principal of his loan.

114 If a man has no claim against another for grain or money and seizes a member of his household as security, he shall pay one-third of a mina of silver for each person seized.

115 If anyone has a claim against another for grain or money and imprisons him, and the prisoner dies a natural death in prison, the case goes no further.

116 If the prisoner dies in prison from blows or mistreatment, the prisoner’s master shall convict the merchant before the judge. If the prisoner was the debtor’s son, the merchant’s son shall be put to death;⁠w if he was a slave, the merchant shall pay one-third of a mina of silver, and he shall forfeit the principal of his loan.

117 If anyone fails to pay a debt and sells his wife, his son, or his daughter for money, or gives them into forced labor, they shall work for three years⁠x in the house of the man who bought them or holds them, and in the fourth year they shall be set free.⁠y

118 If he gives a male or female slave into forced labor, and the merchant extends their service or sells them, no objection can be raised.

119 If anyone fails to pay a debt and sells for money a slave woman who has borne him children, the slave’s owner shall repay the money the merchant paid, and he shall recover his slave woman.

120 If anyone stores grain for safekeeping in another person’s house, and harm comes to the grain in storage, or the owner of the house opens the granary and takes some of the grain, or he denies altogether that the grain was stored in his house, the owner of the grain shall declare his grain under oath before the god, and the owner of the house shall repay him twice the grain deposited.⁠z

121 If anyone stores grain in another man’s house, he shall pay storage of five ka for each gur of grain per year.

122 If anyone gives another silver, gold, or anything else for safekeeping, he shall show everything to a witness, draw up a contract, and then hand it over for safekeeping.

123 If he hands it over without witnesses or a contract, and the keeper denies receiving it, he has no legal claim.

124 If anyone gives silver, gold, or anything else to another for safekeeping before a witness, and the keeper denies it, he shall be brought before a judge, and he shall repay twice everything he denied.

125 If anyone places his property with another for safekeeping, and the property is lost there along with property of the owner of the house, whether through burglary or robbery, the owner of the house, through whose neglect the loss happened, shall fully compensate the owner for what was given to him in safekeeping. The owner of the house shall then pursue his lost property and take it back from the thief.

126 If anyone who has not lost his goods claims they are lost and makes false claims, and if he accuses his city quarter and the quarter establishes before the god that his goods were not lost, he shall pay the quarter twice the amount he falsely claimed.

Marriage and Family

127 If anyone points the finger⁠a at a ugbabtu priestess or at another man’s wife and cannot prove the charge, that man shall be taken before the judges, and he shall be flogged and half his hair shaved off.

128 If a man takes a woman as his wife but does not draw up a marriage contract, this woman is no wife to him.

129 If a man’s wife is caught lying with another man, both shall be bound and thrown into the water, but if the husband spares his wife, the king shall spare his subject.⁠b

130 If a man rapes the betrothed wife of another man, who has never known a man and still lives in her father’s house, and he is caught lying with her, that man shall be put to death, but the woman is blameless.

131 If a man accuses his own wife but she has not been caught lying with another man, she shall take an oath and may return to her house.

132 If the finger is pointed at a man’s wife because of another man, but she has not been caught lying with him, she shall leap into the river for her husband’s⁠c sake.

133 If a man is taken prisoner in war and there is food in his house, but his wife leaves the house and household and goes to another house, because this wife did not keep her household and went to another house, she shall be judicially condemned and thrown into the water.

134 If anyone is captured in war and there is no food in his house, and his wife goes to another house, this woman is blameless.

135 If a man is taken prisoner in war and there is no food in his house, and his wife goes to another house and bears children, and her husband later returns and comes home, the wife shall return to her husband, but the children shall inherit from their father.

136 If anyone abandons his house and runs away, and his wife then goes to another house, and if he returns and wants to take his wife back, the wife of the runaway shall not return to her husband, because he fled his home and ran away.

137 If a man wishes to separate from a sugitu wife who has borne him children, or from a naditu priestess who has provided him with children, he shall give that wife her dowry and the use of half of the field, garden, and property, so that she can raise her children. When she has raised her children, she shall be given a share of everything left to the children equal to one son’s share, and 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 bridewealth and the dowry she brought from her father’s house, and let her go.

139 If there was no bridewealth, he shall give her one mina of silver as a parting gift.

140 If he is a commoner, he shall give her one-third of a mina of silver.

141 If a man’s wife who lives in his house decides to leave it, runs into debt, tries to ruin her house, and neglects her husband, and she is judicially convicted, and if her husband releases her, she may go her way, and he gives her no parting gift. If her husband does not release her and takes another wife, she shall remain in her husband’s house as a servant.

142 If a woman quarrels with her husband and says, “I will not have marital relations with you,” the reasons for her complaint must be examined. If she is blameless and has no fault, while her husband 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 thrown into the water.

144 If a man marries a naditu priestess, and she gives her husband a slave woman⁠d who bears him children, and the man then decides to take a sugitu wife, this shall not be permitted to him; he shall not take a sugitu wife.

145 If a man marries a naditu priestess and she provides him with no children, and he decides to marry a sugitu wife, and if he marries the sugitu wife and brings her into the house, the sugitu wife shall not be allowed equality with his wife.

146 If a man marries a naditu priestess, and she gives this man a slave woman as a wife who bears him children, and the slave woman then claims equality with the wife,⁠e because she has borne him children, her mistress shall not sell her for money, but she shall mark her with the slave hairlock and count her among the slave women.

147 If she has not borne him children, her mistress may sell her for money.

148 If a man takes a wife and she is seized by disease, and if he then decides to take a second wife, he shall not divorce the wife the disease has struck; she shall live in the house he has built, and he shall support her as long as she lives.⁠f

149 If this woman does not wish to remain in her husband’s house, he shall repay her the dowry she brought from her father’s house, and she may go.

150 If a man gives his wife a field, garden, house, or movable property, with a deed for them, after her husband’s death her children shall raise no claim against her. The mother may leave it all to whichever of her children she prefers, but she shall leave none to an outsider.

151 If a woman living in a man’s house made an agreement with her husband that no creditor of his may seize her, and obtained a document stating this, and if the man had a debt before he married the woman, his creditor cannot seize the woman for it. And if the woman had a debt before she entered the man’s house, her creditor cannot seize her husband for it.

152 If they contract a debt together after the woman has entered the man’s house, both of them must pay the merchant.

153 If a man’s wife has her husband murdered because of another man, she shall be impaled.

154 If a man is guilty of incest with his daughter,⁠g he shall be driven out of the city.

155 If a man betroths a girl to his son, and his son has intercourse with her, but the father afterward defiles her and is caught, he shall be bound and thrown into the water.

156 If a man betroths a girl to his son, but his son has not had intercourse with her, and the father defiles her, he shall pay her half a mina of silver and repay her everything she brought from her father’s house, and she may marry the man of her heart.

157 If anyone is guilty of incest with his mother after his father’s death, both shall be burned.⁠h

158 If anyone is caught after his father’s death with his father’s chief wife, who has borne children, he shall be driven out of his father’s house.

159 If anyone who has brought goods into his father-in-law’s house and paid the bridewealth turns to another woman and says to his father-in-law, “I do not want your daughter,” the girl’s father may keep everything he brought.⁠i

160 If a man brings goods into the house of his father-in-law and pays the bridewealth, and the girl’s father then says, “I will not give you my daughter,” the father shall give back twice everything that was brought to him.

161 If a man brings goods into his father-in-law’s house and pays the bridewealth, and his friend then slanders him, and his father-in-law says to the young husband, “You shall not marry my daughter,” the father shall give back twice everything that was brought; and the man’s wife shall not be married to the friend.

Inheritance

162 If a man marries a woman and she bears him sons, and if the woman dies, her father has no claim on her dowry; it belongs to her sons.

163 If a man marries a woman and she bears him no sons, and if the woman dies, and the bridewealth he paid into his father-in-law’s house is repaid to him, the husband has no claim on the woman’s dowry; it belongs to her father’s house.

164 If his father-in-law does not repay the bridewealth, the husband may deduct its amount from the dowry and pay the rest back to her father’s house.

165 If a man gives a field, garden, and house, with a deed, to the son he prefers,⁠j and if the father then dies and the brothers divide the estate, they shall first give the preferred son his father’s gift, and he shall accept it; the rest of the father’s property they shall divide among themselves.

166 If a man takes wives for his sons but takes no wife for his youngest son, and he then dies, when the sons divide the estate, they shall set aside, in addition to his portion, money for a bridewealth for the youngest brother who has not yet taken a wife, and they shall secure a wife for him.

167 If a man marries a wife and she bears him children, and if the wife dies and he takes another wife who also bears children, and the father then dies, the sons shall not divide the estate by their mothers. They shall divide only their mothers’ dowries that way; the father’s property they shall divide equally among themselves.

168 If a man wants to put his son out of his house and declares before the judge, “I want to put my son out,” the judge shall look into his reasons. If the son has committed no serious offense that would justify removing him, the father shall not put him out.

169 If the son has committed a serious offense against his father that justifies cutting him off, the father shall forgive him the first time. If he commits a serious offense a second time, the father may cut his son off entirely.

170 If a man’s wife bears him sons and his slave woman also bears him sons, and during his lifetime the father says to the sons the slave woman bore him, “My sons,” counting them with the sons of his wife, when the father dies, the sons of the wife and the sons of the slave woman shall divide the father’s property together. The preferred heir, if he is a son of the wife, shall choose his share first.

171 If, however, the father during his lifetime did not say “My sons” to the sons the slave woman bore him, when the father dies, the sons of the slave woman shall not share the property with the sons of the wife, but the slave woman and her sons shall be given their freedom, and the sons of the wife have no claim to enslave them. The wife shall take her dowry and the gift her husband gave and deeded to her, and live in her husband’s home. As long as she lives she shall use them; they shall not be sold for money. Whatever she leaves belongs to her children.

172 If her husband gave her no gift, her dowry shall be restored in full, and she shall receive from her husband’s estate a share equal to one child’s. If her sons press her hard to drive her out of the house, the judge shall look into the matter, and if the sons are at fault, they shall be punished and the woman shall not leave her husband’s house. If the woman herself wishes to leave, she must leave to her sons the gift her husband gave her, but she may take the dowry from her father’s house. Then she may marry the man of her heart.

173 If this woman bears sons to her second husband in the place she went to, and then dies, her earlier and later sons shall divide the dowry between them.

174 If she bears no sons to her second husband, the sons of her first husband shall have the dowry.

175 If a slave of the state or the slave of a commoner marries the daughter of a free man and children are born, the slave’s master has no right to enslave the children of the free woman.

176 If, however, a slave of the state or the slave of a commoner marries a man’s daughter, and after the marriage she brings a dowry from her father’s house, and the two of them enjoy it, set up a household, and accumulate goods, and if the slave then dies, the free-born woman shall take her dowry and everything she and her husband earned. She shall divide the earnings into two parts; the slave’s master shall take one half, and the free-born woman shall take the other half for her children. If the free-born woman had no dowry, she shall take everything she and her husband earned and divide it into two parts; the slave’s master 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, she shall not do so without the judge’s knowledge. If she enters another house, the judge shall examine the estate of her first husband’s house. The house of her first husband shall then be entrusted to the second husband and the woman as managers, and a record shall be made of it. She shall keep the house in order, raise the children, and sell none of the household goods. Whoever buys the household goods of a widow’s children loses his money, and the goods return to their owners.

178 If an ugbabtu priestess, a naditu priestess, or a sekretu woman receives a dowry from her father, with a deed, but the deed does not state that she may leave it to whom she pleases and does not grant her full right of disposal, and if her father then dies, her brothers shall hold her field and garden and give her grain, oil, and clothing according to her share, and satisfy her. If her brothers do not give her grain, oil, and clothing according to her share, she may give her field and garden to a tenant farmer of her choice, who shall support her. She shall have the use of the field and garden and everything her father gave her for as long as she lives, but she cannot sell them or use them to pay another person’s debt. Her inheritance belongs to her brothers.

179 If an ugbabtu priestess, a naditu priestess, or a sekretu woman receives a gift from her father, with a deed that states explicitly that she may dispose of it as she pleases, when her father dies, she may leave her property to whomever she pleases, and her brothers can raise no claim against it.

180 If a father does not give a dowry to his daughter who is a cloistered naditu priestess or a sekretu woman, and then dies, she shall receive a child’s share from the father’s estate and have its use as long as she lives. Her estate belongs to her brothers.

181 If a father dedicates his daughter as a naditu, qadistu, or kulmasitu priestess to a god and gives her no gift, when the father dies, she shall receive from her father’s estate one-third of a child’s share and have its use as long as she lives. Her estate belongs to her brothers.

182 If a father dedicates his daughter as a naditu priestess of Marduk of Babylon and gives her no gift and no deed, when her father dies, she shall receive from her brothers one-third of a child’s share of her father’s estate. She shall have no service obligation, and she may leave her estate to whomever she wishes.

183 If a man gives his daughter who is a sugitu a dowry and a husband, with a deed, when her father dies, she receives no share of the father’s estate.

184 If a man gives no dowry to his daughter who is a sugitu and no husband, when her father dies, her brothers shall give her a dowry according to her father’s wealth and secure her a husband.

Adoption

185 If a man adopts a child as his son,⁠k at birth, and raises him, the grown son cannot be demanded back.

186 If a man adopts a son, and the boy seeks his birth father or mother when he is adopted, the adopted son shall return to his father’s house.

187 The son of a palace official or the son of a woman secluded in the palace cannot be demanded back.

188 If a craftsman takes a child to raise and teaches him his craft, the child cannot be demanded back.

189 If he has not taught him his craft, the adopted son may return to his father’s house.

190 If a man does not treat the child he adopted and raised as equal to his other children, the adopted son may return to his father’s house.

191 If a man who adopted and raised a son then establishes his own household and has children, and decides to put the adopted son out, the son shall not leave empty-handed. His adoptive father shall give him one-third of a child’s share of his wealth, and then he may go. He shall not give him any of the field, garden, or house.

192 If the son of a palace official or of a woman secluded in the palace says to his adoptive father or mother, “You are not my father”⁠l or “You are not my mother,” his tongue shall be cut off.

193 If the son of a palace official or of a woman secluded in the palace longs for his father’s house, deserts his adoptive father and mother, and goes back to his father’s house, his eye shall be put out.

194 If a man gives his child to a wet nurse and the child dies in her care, and the nurse, without the father and mother knowing, nurses another child, they shall convict her of nursing another child without the parents’ knowledge, and her breasts shall be cut off.

Assault and Injury

195 If a son strikes his father,⁠m his hands shall be cut off.

196 If a man puts out the eye of another man, his eye shall be put out.⁠n

197 If he breaks another man’s bone, his bone shall be broken.

198 If he puts out the eye of a commoner or breaks the bone of a commoner, he shall pay one mina of silver.

199 If he puts out the eye of a man’s slave or breaks the bone of a man’s slave, he shall pay half the slave’s value.⁠o

200 If a man knocks out the teeth of his equal, his teeth shall be knocked out.

201 If he knocks out the teeth of a commoner, he shall pay one-third of a mina of silver.

202 If anyone strikes the cheek of a man of higher rank, he shall receive sixty blows with an ox-whip in public.⁠p

203 If a free-born man strikes the cheek of another free-born man of equal rank, he shall pay one mina of silver.

204 If a commoner strikes the cheek of another commoner, he shall pay ten shekels of silver.

205 If the slave of a free man strikes the cheek of a free man, his ear shall be cut off.

206 If one man strikes another in a quarrel and wounds him, he shall swear, “I did not injure him deliberately,” and pay the physicians.⁠q

207 If the man dies of his wound, he shall swear the same oath,⁠r and if the dead man was free-born, he shall pay half a mina of silver.

208 If he was a commoner, he shall pay one-third of a mina.

209 If a man strikes a free-born woman so that she loses her unborn child, he shall pay ten shekels for her loss.⁠s

210 If the woman dies, his daughter shall be put to death.

211 If a woman of the commoner class loses her unborn child from a blow, he shall pay five shekels of silver.

212 If this woman dies, he shall pay half a mina.

213 If he strikes a man’s slave woman and she loses her unborn child, he shall pay two shekels of silver.

214 If this slave woman dies, he shall pay one-third of a mina.

Physicians and Craftsmen

215 If a physician makes a large incision with a bronze operating knife and cures the patient, or opens the temple with a bronze operating knife and saves the eye, he shall receive ten shekels of silver.

216 If the patient is a commoner, he receives five shekels.

217 If he is someone’s slave, the slave’s owner shall give the physician two shekels.

218 If a physician makes a large incision with the operating knife and kills the patient, or opens the temple with the operating knife and blinds the eye, his hands shall be cut off.

219 If a physician makes a large incision in the slave of a commoner and kills him, he shall replace the slave with another slave.

220 If he opened the temple with the operating knife and put out the slave’s eye, he shall pay half the slave’s value.

221 If a physician heals a man’s broken bone or diseased soft tissue, the patient shall pay the physician five shekels of silver.

222 If he is a commoner, he shall pay three shekels.

223 If he is a slave, his owner shall pay the physician two shekels.

224 If a veterinary surgeon performs a serious operation on a donkey or an ox and cures it, the owner shall pay the surgeon one-sixth of a shekel as his fee.

225 If he performs a serious operation on a donkey or an ox and kills it, he shall pay the owner one-fourth of its value.

226 If a barber, without the slave owner’s consent, shaves off the hairlock marking another person’s slave, the barber’s hands shall be cut off.

227 If anyone deceives a barber into shaving off another person’s slave’s hairlock, he shall be put to death and hung in his doorway. The barber shall swear, “I did not shave it off knowingly,” and shall go free.

228 If a builder builds a house for someone and completes it, the owner shall pay him a fee of two shekels of silver for each sar of surface.

229 If a builder builds a house for someone and does not build it properly,⁠t and the house he built collapses and kills its owner, the builder shall be put to death.

230 If it kills the owner’s son, the builder’s son shall be put to death.⁠u

231 If it kills the owner’s slave, the builder shall give the owner a slave for the slave.

232 If it destroys property, he shall replace everything that was destroyed, and because he did not build the house properly and it collapsed, he shall rebuild the house at his own expense.

233 If a builder builds a house for someone and, a wall buckles because the work does not meet the specifications, the builder must strengthen the walls at his own expense.

Boats and Sailors

234 If a shipbuilder builds a sixty-gur boat for a man, the man shall pay him a fee of two shekels of silver.

235 If a shipbuilder builds a boat for someone and does not make it watertight, and during that same year the boat is sent out and is damaged, the shipbuilder shall take the boat apart and rebuild it watertight at his own expense, and give the watertight boat to the boat’s owner.

236 If a man rents his boat to a sailor, and the sailor is careless and the boat is wrecked or runs aground, the sailor shall give the boat’s owner another boat as compensation.

237 If a man hires a sailor and his boat and loads it with grain, wool, oil, dates, and whatever else is needed to outfit it, and if the sailor is careless and the boat is wrecked and its contents ruined, the sailor shall replace the boat that was wrecked and everything in it that he ruined.

238 If a sailor wrecks someone’s ship but salvages it, he shall pay half its value in silver.

239 If a man hires a sailor, he shall pay him six gur of grain per year.

240 If a boat traveling upstream runs into a boat traveling downstream and wrecks it, the master of the wrecked boat shall declare before the god what property was lost; the master of the boat traveling upstream that wrecked the boat traveling downstream shall compensate its owner for the boat and everything he ruined.

Livestock and Agricultural Labor

241 If anyone seizes an ox as security for a debt,⁠v he shall pay one-third of a mina of silver.

242 If anyone hires oxen for a year, he shall pay four gur of grain as hire for an ox working at the rear of a team.

243 As hire for an ox working in the middle of a team he shall pay three gur of grain to the owner.

244 If anyone hires an ox or a donkey, and a lion kills it in the open field, the loss falls on the owner.⁠w

245 If anyone hires oxen and kills them through mistreatment or blows, he shall compensate the owner, oxen for oxen.

246 If a man hires an ox and breaks its leg or cuts its neck tendon, he shall compensate the owner with an ox for the ox.

247 If anyone hires an ox and puts out its eye, he shall pay the owner half its value.

248 If anyone hires an ox and breaks off a horn, cuts off its tail, or injures its hoof tendon, he shall pay one-fourth of its value in money.

249 If anyone hires an ox, and a god strikes it and it dies, the man who hired it shall swear an oath by the god and be held blameless.

250 If an ox is passing along the street and it gores a person to death, the owner can bring no claim in the case.

251 If an ox is a known gorer, and it has been shown that it gores,⁠x and the owner does not blunt its horns or tie up the ox, and the ox gores a free-born man and kills him, the owner shall pay half a mina of silver.⁠y

252 If it kills a man’s slave, he shall pay one-third of a mina.

253 If anyone agrees with another to tend his field, receives seed from him, is entrusted with a yoke of oxen, and is bound to cultivate the field, and if he steals the grain or the plants and takes them for himself, his hands shall be cut off.

254 If he takes the seed grain for himself and weakens the cattle, he shall repay twice the amount of the seed grain.

255 If he hires out the man’s yoke of oxen or steals the seed grain, planting nothing in the field, he shall be convicted, and for every eighteen iku he shall pay sixty gur of grain.

256 If he cannot pay what he owes, he shall be dragged through that field by the cattle.

257 If anyone hires a field laborer, he shall pay him eight gur of grain per year.

258 If anyone hires an ox-driver, he shall pay him six gur of grain per year.

259 If anyone steals a plow from a field, he shall pay five shekels of silver to its owner.

260 If anyone steals a clod-breaking plow or a harrow, he shall pay three shekels of silver.

261 If anyone hires a herdsman for cattle or sheep, he shall pay him eight gur of grain per year.

262 If a man gives an ox or a sheep to a herdsman ...

263 If he loses the cattle or sheep given to him, he shall compensate the owner with cattle for cattle and sheep for sheep.

264 If a herdsman who has been entrusted with cattle or sheep to tend, and who has received his agreed wages and is satisfied, lets the number of cattle or sheep decrease or lessens the rate of increase by birth, he shall make good the increase or profit lost, according to the terms of his agreement.

265 If a herdsman entrusted with the care of cattle or sheep acts fraudulently, alters the brand, or sells the animals for money, he shall be convicted and shall repay the owner ten times his loss.⁠z

266 If an act of a god occurs in the stable and an animal dies, or a lion kills it, the herdsman shall declare his innocence before the god,⁠a and the owner bears the loss in the stable.

267 If the herdsman is negligent and a disease spreads in the stable, the herdsman is at fault for allowing the disease to spread, and he shall compensate the owner for the cattle or sheep.

Hire and Wages

268 If anyone hires an ox for threshing, the hire is twenty ka of grain.

269 If he hires a donkey for threshing, the hire is ten ka of grain.

270 If he hires a goat for threshing, the hire is one ka of grain.

271 If anyone hires oxen, a cart, and a driver, he shall pay one hundred eighty ka of grain per day.

272 If anyone hires a cart alone, he shall pay forty ka of grain per day.

273 If anyone hires a day laborer, he shall pay him six barleycorns of silver per day from the New Year until the fifth month, and five barleycorns per day from the sixth month to the end of the year.

274 If anyone hires a skilled craftsman, he shall pay as daily wages, five barleycorns of silver for a ..., five for a textile worker, ... for a linen worker, ... for a stonecutter, ... for a bowmaker, ... for a metalworker, four for a carpenter, ... for a leatherworker, ... for a reedworker, and ... for a builder.

275 If anyone hires a ... boat, he shall pay three barleycorns of silver per day.

276 If he hires a boat traveling upstream, he shall pay two and a half barleycorns per day.

277 If anyone hires a ship of sixty gur, he shall pay one-sixth of a shekel of silver per day as its hire.

Slaves

278 If anyone buys a male or female slave, and epilepsy breaks out before a month has passed, he shall return the slave to the seller and receive back the money he paid.

279 If anyone buys a male or female slave and a third party claims the slave, the seller is liable for the claim.

280 If a man buys a male or female slave in a foreign country, and the slave’s former owner recognizes the slave when he comes home, and if the male or female slave is a native of the country, the slave shall be released without any payment.

281 If they are from another country, the buyer shall declare before the god how much he paid, and the slave’s owner shall repay that amount to the buyer and recover the male or female slave.

282 If a slave says to his master, “You are not my master,” and he is convicted, his master shall cut off his ear.⁠b

Epilogue

These are the laws of justice which Hammurabi, the wise king, established. He gave the land a righteous law and a pious statute. I am Hammurabi, the protecting king. I have not abandoned the people whom Enlil gave me and whom Marduk entrusted to my rule. I was not negligent; I made them a peaceful dwelling place. I solved every great difficulty; I made light shine on them.

With the mighty weapons that Zamama and Ishtar entrusted to me, with the keen vision that Ea gave me, with the wisdom that Marduk gave me, I have uprooted the enemy in the north and the south, ended warfare, brought prosperity to the land, and guaranteed the inhabitants security in their homes. No one was allowed to disturb them. The great gods have called me. I am the shepherd who brings salvation, whose staff is straight, the good shadow spread over my city. I carry the inhabitants of the land of Sumer and Akkad on my breast; they prospered under my protection and I kept them in peace; in my deep wisdom I have sheltered them.

So that the strong might not wrong the weak, and so that the widow and the orphan might be protected,⁠c I have set up these precious words of mine in Babylon, the city where Anu and Enlil have raised to greatness, in E-Sagil, the temple whose foundations stand firm like heaven and earth, to declare justice in the land, to settle all disputes, and to heal all injuries; I have written them on my memorial stone, before my image as king of righteousness.

I am the king who rules among the kings of the cities. My words are well considered; there is no wisdom like mine.⁠d By the command of Shamash, the great judge of heaven and earth, let righteousness go out over the land; by the order of Marduk, my lord, do not let my monument be destroyed.

In E-Sagil, which I love, let my name be repeated forever.⁠e Let the oppressed man who has a case at law come and stand before this image of me as king of righteousness; let him have the inscription read aloud to him and hear my precious words; the inscription will explain his case to him. He will see what is just, and his heart will be glad, so that he will say: “Hammurabi is a ruler who is like a father and creator to his subjects, who holds the words of Marduk in reverence, who has won victory for Marduk in the north and the south, who brings joy to the heart of Marduk his lord, who has secured blessings for his subjects forever, and who has established order in the land.”

When he reads the record, let him pray for me with a full heart to Marduk, my lord, and to Zarpanit, my lady, and then the protecting deities and the gods who frequent E-Sagil, and its very brickwork will make my daily omens favorable before Marduk, my lord, and Zarpanit, my lady.

Instructions to Future Rulers

In days to come, through all coming generations, let the king who is in the land observe the words of righteousness I have written on my monument. Do not let him alter the law of the land that I have given or the decisions I have handed down, and do not let him damage my monument. If such a ruler has wisdom and is able to keep his land in order, he shall follow the words I have written on this inscription. It will show him the rule, the statute, and the law of the land that I have given, and the decisions I have made.

Let him rule his subjects by these words, speak justice to them, give right decisions,⁠f root out criminals and wrongdoers from his land, and give his people prosperity. I am Hammurabi, the king of righteousness, on whom Shamash has conferred the law. My words are well considered; my deeds have no equal; they are meaningless to fools but worthy of praise to the wise.

If a future ruler follows my words, which I have written on my inscription, and does not annul my law, corrupt my words, or alter my monument, then may Shamash lengthen that king’s reign as he has lengthened mine, the king of righteousness, so that he may rule his subjects in righteousness.⁠g

Curses Against Violators

If this ruler does not value my words, despises my curses, does not fear the curse of the gods, abolishes the law I have given, corrupts my words,⁠h alters my monument, erases my name and writes his own name there, or because of the curses orders someone else to do so, then may the great god Anu, the father of the gods, who ordained my rule, take from that man the glory of royalty,⁠i whether he is a king, a lord, a governor, or a commoner, break his scepter, and curse his destiny.

May Enlil, the lord who fixes destiny, whose command cannot be altered, who has made my kingdom great, stir up against him a rebellion that his hand cannot control. May he stir up a rebellion in his own dwelling that destroys him; may he decree for him years of groaning in his rule, years of scarcity, years of famine, darkness without light, and sudden death. May Enlil command with his mighty voice the destruction of his city, the scattering of his subjects, the cutting off of his rule, and the complete erasure of his name and memory from the land.⁠j

May Ninlil, the great mother, whose command carries weight in E-Kur, the mistress who makes my omens favorable, turn his affairs to evil before Enlil in the place of judgment and decision, and put into the mouth of King Enlil the devastation of his land, the destruction of his subjects, and the pouring out of his life like water.

May Ea, the great ruler, whose decrees of destiny come true, the thinker among the gods, the all-knowing, who lengthens the days of my life, take from him understanding and wisdom and lead him into forgetfulness; may he shut off his rivers at their sources and let no grain or food for man grow in his land. May Shamash, the great judge of heaven and earth, who sustains all living things, the lord in whom I trust, shatter his dominion, annul his law,⁠k destroy his way, make the march of his troops fail, and send him divinatory omens foretelling the uprooting of the foundations of his throne and the destruction of his land.

May the condemnation of Shamash overtake him at once; may he be uprooted from the living above, and may his ghost thirst for water below, in the underworld. May Sin, my creator, whose oracular judgment prevails among the gods, take away from him the crown and the throne of kingship, and burden him with a severe punishment and a great penalty that never leaves his body.

May Sin decree for him days, months, and years of rule filled with sighing and tears, a rival for his kingship, and a life that is like death. May Adad, the lord of abundance, the overseer of the canals of heaven and earth, my helper, withhold from him the rain from heaven and the floodwater from the springs, and destroy his land with famine and deprivation. May he rage fiercely over his city and turn his land into the mounds left by a flood.

May Zamama, the great warrior, the first-born son of E-Kur, who walks at my right side, shatter his weapons on the field of battle, turn day into night for him, and let his enemy triumph over him. May Ishtar, the goddess of battle and war, who unsheathes my weapons, my gracious protecting spirit, who loves my reign, curse his kingdom in her angry heart and, in her great anger, turn his good fortune to evil and shatter his weapons on the field of battle and war.

May she create disorder and rebellion for him; may she strike down his warriors, so that the earth drinks their blood; may she pile up the corpses of his warriors in heaps on the field; may she show his soldiers no mercy, but deliver him into the hands of his enemies and lead him bound into the land of his enemies.

May Nergal, the mighty one among the gods, whose onslaught cannot be resisted, who grants me victory, burn up his people in his great might like fire in a reed thicket, cut off his limbs with his mighty weapons, and shatter him like a clay image.

May Nin-tu, the exalted mistress of the lands, the fruitful mother, deny him a son, give him no offspring, and allow no human child to be born among his people. May Nin-karak, the daughter of Anu, who decrees favor for me, bring on his body in E-kur a high fever, severe wounds that cannot be healed, whose nature no physician understands, which he cannot treat with dressings, and which, like the bite of death, cannot be removed, until they have drained away his life.

May he mourn the loss of his life’s strength, and may the great gods of heaven and earth, the Anunaki, together with the temple’s protecting spirit and the very brickwork of E-babbar, lay a terrible curse on him, his descendants, his land, his warriors, his subjects, and his troops. May Enlil curse him with the mighty curses of his mouth, which cannot be altered, and may they fall on him at once.