In the form of omens, the urban and temple authorities react to royal attempts at establishing the central structures of the state.
‘If a king does not heed justice, his people will be thrown into chaos, and his land will be devastated. If he does not heed the justice of his land, Ea, king of destinies, will alter his destiny and will not cease from hostilely pursuing him. If he does not heed his nobles, his life will be cut short. If he does not heed his adviser, his land will rebel against him. If he heeds a rogue, the status quo in his land will change. If he heeds a trick of Ea, the great gods in unison and in their just ways will not cease from prosecuting him.
If he improperly convicts a citizen of Sippar, but acquits a foreigner, Shamash (god of Sippar), judge of heaven and earth, will set up a foreign justice in his land, where the princes and judges will not heed justice.
If citizens of Nippur are brought to him for judgement, but he accepts a present and improperly convicts them, Enlil (god of Nippur), lord of the lands, will bring a foreign army against him to slaughter his army, and the prince and chief officers will roam his streets like vagabonds.
If he takes the silver of the citizens of Babylon and adds it to his own coffers, or if he hears a lawsuit involving men of Babylon but treats it frivolously, Marduk (god of Babylon), lord of heaven and earth, will set foes upon him, and will give his property and wealth to his enemy.
If he imposes a fine on the citizens of Nippur, Sippar, or Babylon, or if he puts them in prison, the city where the fine was imposed will be completely overturned, and a foreign enemy will make his way into the prison in which they were put (to free them).
If he mobilises the whole of Sippar, Nippur, and Babylon, and imposes forced labour on the people, exacting from the corvee at the herald’s proclamation, Marduk, the sage of the gods, the prince, the counsellor, will turn his land over to his enemy, so that the troops of his land will do forced labour for his enemy, for Anu, Enlil, and Ea, the great gods, who dwell in heaven and earth, in their assembly affirmed the freedom of those people (of Sippar, Nippur, and Babylon) from such obligations.
If he gives the fodder to the citizens of Sippar, Nippur, and Babylon to (his own) steeds, the steeds who eat the fodder will be led away to the enemy’s yoke. If those men will be mobilised with the king’s men when the national army is conscripted, mighty Ea, who goes before his army, will shatter his front line and go at this enemy’s side.
If he loosens the yokes of their oxen, and puts them into other fields, or gives them to a foreigner, . . . will be devastated. If he seizes their. . . stock of sheep, Adad, canal supervisor of heaven and earth, will extirpate his pasturing animals by hunger and will amass offerings for Shamash.
If the adviser or chief officer (the eunuchs) in the king’s presence denounces them and obtains bribes from them, at the command of Ea, king of the abyss, the adviser or chief officer will die by the sword, their place will be covered over as a ruin, the wind will carry away their remains, their achievements will be given over to the storm wind.
If he declares their treaties void, or alters their inscribed treaty stele, sends them on a campaign or. . . to the oaths, Nabu, scribe of Esagila, who organizes the whole of heaven and earth, who directs everything, who ordains kingship, will declare the treaties of his land void, and will decree hostility.
If either a shepherd or a temple overseer, or a chief officer of the king, who serves as a temple overseer of Sippar, Nippur or Babylon, imposes corvee labour on them in connection with the temples of the great gods, the great gods will quit their dwelling in their fury and will not enter their shrines.’
World History
