281. If they are children of another land, the buyer shall declare before God the money[261] he has paid, and the (former) owner of the male or female slave shall give to the agent the money he has paid, and shall recover his male or female slave.
282. If a slave has said to his master: “Thou art not my master,” he shall summon him as his slave, and his master shall cut off his ear.
Decrees of equity, which Ḫammurabi, the able king, has established, and has procured (for) the country lasting security and a happy rule. Ḫammurabi, the accomplished king, am I. For the head-dark (ones),[262] whom Bel assigned, (and whose) shepherding Merodach has given, I have not been neglectful, I have not relaxed—peaceful localities have I found for them,[263] I have opened the narrow defiles, light have I caused to go forth to them. With the powerful weapon which Zagaga and Ištar have conferred upon me, with the acuteness which Aê has bestowed, with the might which Merodach has bestowed, I have rooted out the enemy above and below.[264] I have dominated the depths,[265] I have made happy the flesh of the land, the people of the dwellings (therein) have I caused to lie down in security—fear caused I not to possess them. The great gods have elected[266] me, and I am the shepherd giving peace, whose sceptre is just, setting up my good shadow in my city. I have pressed the people of the land of Šumer and Akkad in my [pg 516] bosom; by my protective spirit fraternally (?) have I guided them in peace; in my wisdom have I protected them. For the strong not to oppress the weak, to direct the fatherless (and) the widow, I have raised its[267] head in Babylon, the city of God and Bel. In Ê-sagila, the house whose foundations are firm like heaven and earth, I have written on my monument my most precious words to judge the justice of the land, to decide the decisions of the land, to direct the ignorant; and I have placed (them) before my image as king of righteousness.
The king who is great among the city-king(s) am I; my words are renowned, my power has no equal; by the command of Šamaš, the great judge of heaven and earth, may righteousness have power in the land;[268] by the word of Merodach, my lord, may my bas-reliefs not have a destroyer; in Ê-sagila, which I love, may my name be commemorated in happiness for ever. The ignorant man, who has a complaint,[269] let him come before my image (as) king of righteousness, and let him read my inscribed monument and let him hear my precious words, and my monument explain to him the matter. Let him see his judgment, let his heart expand, (saying): “Ḫammurabi is a lord who is like a father, a parent to the people; he has caused the word of Merodach, his lord, to be reverenced, and has gained the victory for Merodach above and below. He has rejoiced the heart of Merodach, his lord, and fixed for the people happiness[270] for ever, and (well) has he governed the land.” Let him pronounce (it) aloud, and with his heart perfect, let him pray before Merodach, my lord, (and) Zērpanitum, my lady. May the winged bull, (and) the protecting spirit, the gods of the entrance of Ê-sagila, (and) the wall of Ê-sagila, daily further (his) desires[271] in the presence of Merodach, my lord, and Zērpanitum, my lady.
For the future, the course[272] of days for all time: May the king who is in the land protect the words of righteousness which I have written on my monument. Let him not change the law of the land which I have adjudged, the decisions of the country which I have decided; let him not cause my bas-relief to be destroyed. If that man have intelligence, and wish to govern his country well, let him pay attention to the words which I have written on my monument, and may this monument show him the path, the direction, the law of the land which I have pronounced, the decisions of the land which I have decided. [pg 517] And let him rule his people,[273] let him pronounce justice for them, let him decide their decision. Let him remove the evil and the wicked from his land, let him rejoice the flesh of his people.
Ḫammurabi, the king of righteousness, to whom Šamaš has given (these) enactments,[274] am I. My words are noble, my works have no equal—they have brought forth the proud (?) to humility (?) the humble (?) to wisdom (?) (and) to renown. If that man[275] is attentive to my words, which I have written on my monument, and set not aside my law, change not my word, alter not my bas-relief—that man like me, the king of righteousness, may the god Šamaš make his sceptre to endure, may he guide his people in righteousness. If that man regard not my words, which I have written on my monument, and despise my curse, and fear not the curse of God, and do away the law which I have ordained—(if) he change my word, alter my bas-relief, destroy my written name, and write his (own) name, (or) on account of these curses cause another to do so,[276] that man, whether king, or lord, or viceroy, or personage who has been elected,[277] may the great God, the father of the gods, proclaimer of my reign, take back from him the glory of my kingdom, break his sceptre, curse his destiny. May Bel, the lord who determines the destinies, whose command is unchangeable, he who has magnified my kingdom, rouse against him revolts which his hand cannot suppress, causing (?) his destruction upon his seat.[278] A reign of sighing, days (but) few, years of want, darkness without light, death the vision of (his) eyes, may they set for him as (his) destiny. May he decree with his grave lips the destruction of his city, the dispersion of his people, the taking away of his royalty, the annihilation of his name and his record in the land. May Beltis, the great mother whose command is supreme[279] in E-kura, the lady who makes my thoughts propitious, instead of judgment and decision, make his word evil before Bel, may she accomplish the ruin of his country, the loss of his people, the pouring out of his life like water by the command of Bel the king. May Aê, the great prince, whose decisions have the precedence,[280] the sage of the gods, he who knows everything, who lengthens the days of my life, take back from him understanding[281] and wisdom, bring him back into forgetfulness.[282] May he dam up his rivers at (their) sources, (and) cause grain, the life of the people, not to exist in his land. May Šamaš, the [pg 518] great judge of heaven and earth, he who rules living things, the lord my trust, destroy his dominion; may he not pronounce his judgment, may he confuse his path, may he annihilate the course of his army. May he place for him, in his oracles,[283] an evil design to snatch away the foundation of his dominion and to destroy his country. May Šamaš's word of misfortune speedily attack him; may he snatch him from the living on high, beneath in the earth may he deprive his spirit[284] of water. May Sin, lord of the heavens, the god my creator, whose brightness[285] shines resplendent among the gods, withdraw from him crown and throne of dominion. May he fix upon him a grave misdeed, his great fault, which will not disappear from his body, and may he cause the days, the months, the years of his reign to end in sighing and tears. May he increase for him the burthen of his dominion, may he fix for him as (his) fate a life which is comparable[286] with death. May Hadad, lord of fertility, dominator of heaven and earth, my helper, withhold from him the rains in the heavens, the flood in the springs. May he destroy his country with want and famine, may he angrily rage over his city, and turn his country to mounds of the flood.[287] May Zagaga, the great warrior, the eldest son of (the temple) Ê-kura, he who goes at my right hand, break his weapons on the battle-field. May he turn for him day into night, and may he set his enemy over him. May Ištar, lady of war and battle, who lets loose my weapons, my propitious genius, lover of my reign, in her angry heart, in her great wrath, curse his dominion, his favours into evils may she turn, may she turn.[288] In the place of war and battles may she break his weapons, may she make for him confusion and revolt, may she cast down his warriors, may she cause the earth to drink their blood, may she cast down in the plain a heap of corpses of his warriors, may she not cause his soldiers to have [burial?]. As for him, may she deliver him into the hand of his enemy, and bring him as a captive to the land which is hostile to him. May Nergal, the strong one among the gods, unrivalled battle,[289] he who causes me to attain my victory, in his great might burn[290] his people like [pg 519] a tiny bundle of reeds. With his strong weapon may he subjugate him, and may he crush his members like an image of clay. May Nintu, the supreme lady of the lands, the mother my creator, withhold from him his son, and cause him to have no name, in the midst of his people may she not produce a human seed. May Nin-Karrak, daughter of Anu, she who announces my happiness, let forth from Ê-kura upon his members a grave sickness, an evil pestilence, a grievous injury, which they cannot cure, whose nature the physician does not know, which he cannot ease with a bandage, (and which), like the bite of death, cannot be removed. Until she take possession of his life, may he groan for his manliness.[291]
May the great gods of heaven and earth, the Anunna[292] in their assembly, the divine bull of the house,[293] the bricks of Ê-babbara,[294] curse that (man), his reign, his country, his army, his people, and his nation, with a deadly curse—with powerful curses may Bel, by his word which cannot be changed, curse him, and speedily may they overtake him.
These laws, as being the oldest known, have attracted considerable attention, and much has been said concerning their connection with the Mosaic Code. Whatever connection there may be between them, however, it must be kept well in mind, that they have been formulated and compiled from totally different standpoints. Notwithstanding the references in the Code of Ḫammurabi to religious things, there is no doubt that the laws given therein are purely civil, and compiled either by the king as temporal ruler of the land, or by his advisers, or by the judges who “decided the decisions of the land.” Charitable enactments were therefore as far from the intention of the compilers of the Babylonian code as such things are from the intention of the legislation of this or any other modern civilized community or nationality. The Law of Moses, on the other hand, has long been recognized as a Priestly Code, into which all kinds of provisions for the poor, the fatherless, the necessitous, were likely to enter, and have, in fact, entered. From this point of view, Moses' code is immeasurably superior to that of the Babylonian law-giver, and can hardly, on that account, be compared with it.
From existing duplicates of this inscription, we know that it bore a title which, in accordance with the usual custom in ancient times, was taken from the first few words of the [pg 520] inscription, in this case Ninu îlu ṣîrum, “When the supreme God.” In the Ninevite duplicate in the British Museum, however, a kind of title in the modern sense of the word is given, namely, Dinani Ḫammurabi, “The Laws of Ḫammurabi,” the first word being from the common Semitic root which appears, in Semitic Babylonian, under the form of dânu, “to judge.” As far as our information goes, it would seem that, whilst the Hebrew tôrah was both judicial, ceremonial, and moral, the Babylonian dînu was judicial only. Ceremonial enactments are entirely foreign to it, and morality, in the modern sense of the word, though represented, does not hold a very high place, though it must not be forgotten that five columns of the text are wanting.