The Old Testament in the Light of the Historical Records and Legends of Assyria and Babylonia

by Theophilus G. Pinches

2. If a man has thrown a spell upon a man, and has not justified it, he upon whom the spell has been thrown shall go to the river,[174] (and) shall plunge into the river, and if the river take him, he who banned him may take his house. If the river show that man to be innocent, and save (him), he who threw the spell upon him shall be killed; he who plunged into the river may take possession of the house of him who banned him.

3. If a man in a lawsuit has come forward (to bear) false witness, and has not justified the word he has spoken, if that lawsuit be a lawsuit of life,[175] that man shall be killed.

4. If he has come forward (to bear) witness concerning wheat or silver, he shall bear the guilt of that lawsuit.

5. If a judge has given judgment, and decided a decision, and delivered a tablet (thereupon), and afterwards his judgment is found faulty, that judge, for the fault in the judgment he had judged, they shall summon, and the claim which is in question[176] he shall (re)pay twelvefold, and in the assembly they shall make him rise up from his judgment-seat, and he shall not return, and he shall not sit again with the judges in judgment.

6. If a man has stolen the property of a god, or of the palace, that man shall be killed; and he who has received the stolen thing from his hand shall be killed.

7. If a man has bought either silver, or gold, or a man-slave, or a woman-slave, or an ox, or a sheep, or an ass, or anything whatever, from the hands of the son of a man or the slave of a man, without witness or contract, or has received it on deposit, that man is a thief—he shall be killed.

8. If a man has stolen either an ox, or a sheep, or an ass, or a pig, or a ship—if it be from a god or from the palace, he shall (re)pay thirtyfold; if it be from a poor man, he shall restore tenfold. If the thief have not wherewith to (re)pay, he shall be killed.

9. If a man who has lost his property meet with his lost property in the hands of a man, (and) the man in whose hands the lost thing has been found say “a certain seller sold it—I bought it before certain witnesses,” and the owner of the lost object say “Let me bring witnesses who will recognize my lost object,” the buyer shall bring forward the seller who sold it, and the witnesses before whom he bought (it), and the owner of the lost object shall bring forward the witnesses who will recognize his lost object. The judge shall see what they have to say, and the witnesses before whom the purchase was made, and the witnesses knowing the object lost shall speak before God,[177] and (if) the seller is the thief, he shall be killed. The owner of the lost object shall take (back) his lost object; the buyer shall receive (back) from the house of the seller the silver which he has paid.

10. If the buyer has not brought forward the seller who sold it to him and the witnesses before whom he bought (it), (and) the owner of the lost object has brought forward witnesses recognizing his lost object, the buyer is a thief—he shall be killed; the owner of the object lost shall take (back) the lost object.

11. If the owner of the lost object has not brought forward witnesses recognizing his lost object, he is a rogue, (and) has made a false accusation—he shall be killed.