Translations from Assyrian Texts relating to the History of the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah.

From the inscription of Shalmaneser II, found at Kurkh, on the right bank of the Tigris, to the south-east of Diarbekr.

'In the eponymy of Dayan-Assur (B.C. 854) on the 14th of the month Iyyar I left the city of Nineveh. The river Tigris I crossed. I approached the cities of Giammu on the river Balikh. The fear of my lordship, the sight of my strong weapons they feared, and in the service of themselves they slew Giammu their lord. I descended into the cities of Kitlala and Tul-sa-abil-akhi [the mound of the son of the brother]; I caused my gods to enter his palaces; a plundering in his palaces I made. I opened his store-chambers; his treasures I seized. His goods, his spoil, I carried off; to my city of Assur I brought (them). From the city of Kitlala I departed; to the city of the Fort of Shalmaneser [Tul-Barsip, the Barsampsê of Ptolemy] I approached. In boats of inflated skins for the second time I crossed the Euphrates at its flood. The tribute of the kings of the further bank of the Euphrates; of Sangar of Carchemish; of Kundaspi of Komagênê; of Arame the son of Gusi; of Lalli of Malatiyeh; of Khayani, the son of Gabari; of Girparuda of the Patinians; and of Girparuda of the Gamgumians; silver, gold, lead, bronze, and vases of bronze (in) the city of Assur-tamsukha-atsbat, on the further bank of the Euphrates, and above the river Saguri [the Sajur], which the Hittites call the city of Pethor, in the midst (of it) I received. From the Euphrates I departed. The city of Khalman [Aleppo] I approached; they feared battle; they embraced my feet. Silver and gold I received as their tribute; I offered sacrifices before the god Rimmon of Khalman. From the city of Khalman I departed; to two cities of Irkhulena of Hamath I approached. The cities of Adennu [the Eden of Amos i. 5], Barga and Argana his royal city I captured⁹ His spoil, his goods, and the treasures of his palaces I brought out. To his palaces I set fire. From the city of Argana I departed, the city of Karkar [Aroer] I approached. (His) royal city of Karkar I threw down, dug up, and burned with fire. 1,200 chariots, 1,200 horsemen, and 20,000 men of Hadadezer of Damascus, 700 chariots, 700 horsemen, and 10,000 men of Ahab [Akhabbu] of Israel, 500 men of Kue, 1,000 men from Egypt, 10 chariots, and 10,000 men from the land of Irkanat, 200 men of Matinu-Baal of Arvad, 200 men from the land of Usanat, 30 chariots, and 10,000 men of Adon-Baal of Sizan, 1,000 camels of Gindibuh of the land of the Arabians [Arba'â], 200 men of Bahsa son of Rukhubi [Rehob] of Ammon, these twelve kings (Irkhulena) brought to his help, and to (make) war and battle against me they had come. With the exalted help which Assur the lord rendered, with the mighty weapons which the great protector who goes before me bestowed, I fought with them. From the city of Karkar to the city of Guzau I overthrew them. 14,000 of their troops I slew with weapons. Like Rimmon, the air-god, I caused the storm to come forth upon them. I filled the surface of the water with their (wrecks). I laid low their wide-spread forces with weapons. The low ground of the district received (?) their corpses. To give life to its inhabitants I have enlarged its border (?); that it might support them I divided (it) among its people. The river Orontes I reached close to the banks. In the midst of this battle I took from them their chariots, their horsemen, their horses and their teams.'

From the Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser II.

'In my eighteenth year for the sixteenth time I crossed the Euphrates. Hazael, of Damascus, advanced to battle; 1,121 of his chariots, 470 of his horsemen, along with his camp I took from him.'

From a Fragment of the Annals of Shalmaneser II.

'In my eighteenth year for the sixteenth time I crossed the Euphrates. Hazael, of Damascus, trusted in the might of his army, and assembled his army without number. He made Mount Shenir, the highest peak of the mountains which are as you come to Mount Lebanon, his fortress. I fought with him; I overthrew him; 16,000 of his fighting men I slew with weapons, 1,121 of his chariots, 470 of his horsemen, along with his camp, I took from him. To save his life he ascended (the country); I pursued after him. In Damascus, his royal city, I shut him up; his plantations I cut down. To the mountains of the Hauran I went; cities innumerable I threw down, I dug up, I burned with fire; their spoil innumerable I carried away. To the mountains of Baal-rosh at the promontory of the sea I went; I made an image of my majesty there. At that time I received the tribute of the Tyrians, of the Sidonians, and of Jehu, son of Omri.'

From the Inscription of Rimmon-nirari III.

'Conqueror from the highroad of the rising sun, of the lands of Kip, Ellip [Ekbatana], Kharkhar, Arazias, Mesu, the Medes, Girubbunda to its whole extent, Munna, Barsua, Allabria, Abdadana, Nahri to its extreme frontiers, and Andiu, whose situation is remote, the mountainous border-land to its extreme frontiers, as far as the great sea of the rising sun [the Persian Gulf], from the Euphrates, and the lands of the Hittites, of Phœnicia to its whole extent, of Tyre, of Sidon, of Omri [Samaria], of Edom, and of Philistia as far as the great sea of the setting sun [the Mediterranean], to my yoke I subjected (them), payment of tribute I imposed upon them. To the land of Damascus I went; I shut up Marih, king of Syria, in Damascus, his royal city. The fear of the brilliance of Assur, his lord, overwhelmed him, and he took my feet; he offered homage. 2,300 talents of silver, 20 talents of gold, 3,000 talents of bronze, 5,000 talents of iron, garments of damask and linen, a couch of ivory, a sun-shade of ivory, I took, I carried to (Assyria). His spoil, his goods innumerable, I received in Damascus, his royal city, in the midst of his palace.'

From Fragments of the Annals of Tiglath-Pileser II.

I. 'They had embraced the mountain of Baal-tsephon [Mount Kasios] as far as the range of Amanus, the land of Zittu (?), the land of Sau to its whole extent, the province of the cities of Kar-Rimmon and Hadrach (Zech. ix. 1), the province of the city of Nukudina, the land of Khazu [Huz] as far as the cities in the circuit of the city of Arâ, the cities, all of them, the cities in their circuit, the mountain of Sarbua to its whole extent, the cities of Askhan and Yadab, Mount Yaraku to its whole extent, the cities of ... ri, Ellitarbi, and Zitânu as far as the midst of the city of Atinni ... and the city of Buname, nineteen districts belonging to Hamath, together with the cities in their circuit in the direction of the sea of the setting sun [the Mediterranean], which in their faithlessness made revolt to Azariah, I turned into the territory of Assyria. My governors and officers I appointed over them.'

II. 'The tribute of Kustaspi of Komagênê, Rezon of Damascus, Menahem of Samaria, Hiram of Tyre, Sibitti-Baal of Gebal, Urikki of Kue, Pisiris of Carchemish, Eniel of Hamath, Parammu of Samahla, Tarkhu-lara of Gamgum, Sulumal of Milid [Malatiyeh], Dadilu of Kolkhis, Vas-surme of Tubal, Uskhitti of Tuna, Urpalla of Tukhan, Tukhamme of Istunda, Urimme of Khusimna, and Zabibieh, queen of the Arabians, gold, silver, lead, iron, elephants' hides, elephants' tusks, tapestries of blue and purple, oak-wood, weapons for service, a royal tent, sheep with bundles of their wool, purple dye, the dyed feathers of flying birds, nine of their wings coloured blue, horses, mules, oxen, sheep, and wethers, camels and she-camels, together with their young ones, I received. In my ninth year Assur my lord regarded me and to the countries of Kipsi, Irangi, Tazakki, Media, Zualzas, Matti, and Umliyas I went.'

III. 'The towns of Gil(ead) and Abel-(beth-Maachah) in the province of Beth-Omri [Samaria], the widespread (district of Naphta)li to its whole extent I turned into the territory of Assyria. My (governors) and officers I appointed (over them). Khanun of Gaza who had fled before my weapons escaped (to the land) of Egypt. The city of Gaza (his royal city I captured. Its spoils), its gods (I carried away. My name) and the image of my majesty (I set up) in the midst of the temple of ... the gods of their land I counted (as a spoil) and ... like a bird ... to his land I restored him and (imposed tribute upon him. Gold), silver, garments of damask and linen (along with other objects) I received. The land of Beth-Omri ... a selection of its inhabitants (with their goods) I transported to Assyria. Pekah their king I put to death, and I appointed Hosea to the sovereignty over them. Ten (talents of gold, ... of silver as) their tribute I received, and I transported them (to Assyria).'

From the Inscriptions of Sargon.

I. '(In the beginning of my reign) the city of Samaria I besieged, I captured; 27,280 of its inhabitants I carried away; fifty chariots in the midst of them I collected, and the rest of their goods I seized; I set my governor over them and laid upon them the tribute of the former king (Hosea).'

II. '(Sargon) the conqueror of the Thamudites, the Ibadidites, the Marsimanites, and the Khapayans,¹⁰ the remainder of whom was carried away and whom he transported to the midst of the land of Beth-Omri.'

III. 'The Thamudites, the (Ibadidites), the Marsimanites and the Khapayans, distant Arab tribes, who inhabit the desert, of whom no scholar or envoy knew, and who had never brought their tribute to the kings my (fathers), I slaughtered in the service of Assur, and transported what was left of them, setting them in the city of Samaria.'

IV. '(In my ninth expedition and eleventh year) the people of the Philistines, Judah, Edom and the Moabites who dwell by the sea, who owed tribute and presents to Assur my lord, plotted rebellion, men of insolence, who in order to revolt against me carried their bribes for alliance to Pharaoh king of Egypt, a prince who could not save them, and sent him homage. I, Sargon, the established prince, the reverer of the worship of Assur and Merodach, the protector of the renown of Assur, caused the warriors who belonged to me entirely to pass the rivers Tigris and Euphrates during full flood, and that same Yavan [of Ashdod], their king, who trusted in his (forces), and did not (reverence) my sovereignty, heard of the progress of my expedition to the land of the Hittites [Syria], and the fear of (Assur) my (lord) overwhelmed him, and to the border of Egypt ... he fled away.'

From a Cylinder of Esar-haddon.

'I assembled the kings of Syria and the land beyond the [Mediterranean] sea, Baal king of Tyre, Manasseh king of Judah, Kaus-gabri king of Edom, Mizri¹¹ king of Moab, Zil-Baal king of Gaza, Metinti king of Ashkelon, Ikausu king of Ekron, Melech-asaph king of Gebal, Matan-Baal king of Arvad, Abi-Baal king, of Shamesh-merom, Pedael king of Beth-Ammon, and Ahimelech king of Ashdod, twelve kings of the sea-coast; Ekistor king of Idalion, Pylagoras king of Khytros, Kissos king of Salamis, Ithuander king of Paphos, Eriêsos king of Soloi, Damasos king of Kurion, Rumesu king of Tamassos, Damusi king of Carthage, Unasagusu king of Lidir, and Butsusu king of Nurê, ten kings of the land of Cyprus in the middle of the sea.'

9) On the bronze gates of Balawât Adennu is written Adâ and Barga Parga.

10) Identified by Delitzsch with the Ephah of Gen. xxv. 4, and Is. lx. 6.

11) That is 'the Egyptian;' cf. 2 Sam. xxiii. 20, 21.