Esarhaddon Succession Treaty
Treaty at Tell Tayinat
Ancient Near East
Whoever changes, neglects, violates, or voids the oath of this tablet and transgresses against the father, the lord, and the adê of the great gods and breaks their entire oath, or whoever discards this adê-tablet, a tablet of Aššur, king of the gods, and the great gods, my lords, or whoever removes the statue of Esarhaddon, king of Assyria, the statue of Assurbanipal, the great crown prince designate, or the statues of his brothers and his sons which are over him—you will guard like your god this sealed tablet of the great ruler on which is written the adê of Assurbanipal, the great crown prince designate, the son of Esarhaddon, king of Assyria, your lord, which is sealed with the seal of Aššur, king of the gods, and which is set up before you. May Aramiš, lord of the city and land of Qarnê and lord of the city and land of Azaʾi, fill you with green water. May Adad and Šāla of Kurbaʾil create piercing pain and ill health everywhere in your land. May Šarrat-Ekron make a worm fall from your insides. Just as a shoot is ... and seeds and the sikkitu of beer are placed within, and just as these seeds do not sprout, and the sikkitu of beer does not turn to its …, may your name, your seed, and the seed of your brothers and your sons completely disappear from the face of the earth.
Date: 672 B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
Deuteronomy 29:20
Hebrew Bible
18 Beware that the heart of no man, woman, clan, or tribe among you turns away from the Lord our God today to pursue and serve the gods of those nations; beware that there is among you no root producing poisonous and bitter fruit. 19 When such a person hears the words of this oath he secretly blesses himself and says, ‘I will have peace though I continue to walk with a stubborn spirit.’ This will destroy the watered ground with the parched. 20 The Lord will be unwilling to forgive him, and his intense anger will rage against that man; all the curses written in this scroll will fall upon him, and the Lord will obliterate his name from memory. 21 The Lord will single him out for judgment from all the tribes of Israel according to all the curses of the covenant written in this scroll of the law.
Date: 6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition) (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
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Notes and References
"... The Hittite and Aramaic treaties, then, like Deuteronomy 29 also deal with the eventuality of tacit rebellion. However, as the authorities cannot act as they do in chapter 13 against such passive violators of the covenant, their punishment must consequently be left to Heaven ... Similar formulations are repeatedly encountered in the epilogue sections or on the seal impressions of the ancient Near Eastern treaties ..."
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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