THE INSTRUCTIONS OF SHURUPPAK
(THE TEACHINGS OF KING SHURUPPAK, OR
THE 100 COMMANDMENTS OF SHURUPPAK)
OF THIS
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Related Texts in the Grand Bible (4th Edition)
(The Instructions of Shuruppak and The Teaching of Kagemna are the oldest compilations of law They are the direct blueprint for the Ten Commandments, the Five Precepts, the Halaka Law, the Sharia Law, and all modern laws. As the Five Books of Moses in the Torah are considered the Law of God in their entirety by all Hebrews, so is the Islamic Trilogy [Koran, Sira, Hadith] considered Allah's Law in its entirety by all Muslims, where-ever they happen to be [see the 7 last examples in the list down below ] Ignoring this fact has disatrous consequences for Western and some Eastern countries)
The Instructions of Shuruppak, Sumer, c.2600 BC, p.5219
The Teaching of Kagemna, Egypt, c.2600 BC, p.5161
The Teachings (or Commandments) of Ptah-Hotep, Egypt, c.2500 BC., p.5161
The Code Of Ur-Nammu, c.2100-2000 B.C., Sumerian Law, p. 5220
The Laws Of Eshnunna, c.2000-1900 B.C., Akkadian Law, Appendix C-1, p.7477
The Code Of Lipit-Ishtar, c.1870-1860 B.C., Sumerian Law, p.5221
The Code Of Hammurabi, c. 1760 BC. Babylonian Law, p.5221
The Code Of The Nesilim, c.1650-1500 B.C., Hittite Law, p.5225
Exodus (Shemot = Names of the Sons); Migration, Jewish, p.147
Deuteronomy (Devarim = Moses' Words); Civil Law, Jewish, p.182
The Ethical Science of Chanakya, India, Hinduism, p.6605
The Lotus Sutra (Buddhism), India, p.7044
Sad Dar - The 100 Precepts (or Commandments), Zoroastrian Law, p.2104
The Book of Law (Kitáb-i-Aqdas), 1873, Baha'i Faith Law, p.4319
The Holiness Code, Jewish Law, p.1040
The Covenant Code and The Ritual Decalogue, Jewish Law, p.1040
The Ethical Decalogue / Aseret Ha-Dvarim, Jewish Law, p.1041
Commandments of the Parashah, Jewish Law, p.1041
The Priestly Code / Torat Kohanim, Jewish Law, p.1041
The 613 Mitzvoh or The 613 Jewish Commandments, Jewish Law, p.1042
Rabbinical Mitzvot and The Six Constant Mitzvot, Jewish Law, p.1046
Noahidism or The Laws Of Noah, Jewish Law, p.1046
The Babylonian Talmud / The Talmud Bavli / Shisha Sedarim, Jewish Law, p.1052
Didache or Teaching (of the twelve Apostles), Christian Church Law, p.1627
The Didascalia Apostolorum, Christian Church Law, p.1628
The Apostolic Constitutions, Christian Church Law, p.1646
The Didesqelya (The Ethiopic Didascalia), Christian Church Law, p.1681
Islam: What the West Needs to Know, Islamic Law, p.4369
Statistics on Islamic Scripture (verses as evidence), Islamic Law, p.4896
The Koran, The Recitation (in Chronological Order), Islamic Law, p.4388
The Life of Mohammed / Sirat Rasul Allah by Ibn Ishaq, Islamic Law, p.4453
The Constitution of Medina, Islamic Law, p.4591
The Edict of Umar / The Pact of Umar, Islamic Law, p.4591
The Hadith, The Sahih al-Bukhari, Islamic Law, p.4597
Manual to Sharia Law / Reliance of the Traveller, Islamic Law, p.5032
The Constitution of Saudi Arabia, 1992 (Amendments 2005), Islamic Law, p.5122
The Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, 1979 (1989), Islamic Law, p.5125
The Hamas Covenant, 1988 (18 August 1988), Islamic Law, p.5132
The Hamas Charter, 2017, Islamic Law, p.5136
The Islamic Declaration on Human Rights, 1990, Islamic Law, p.5137
The Arab Charter on Human Rights, 2004, Islamic Law, p.5139
The Muslim Brotherhood Memorandum, Islamic Law, p.5141
THE GRAND BIBLE, Page 5219
Denomination of the Text: Sumerian
THE INSTRUCTIONS OF SHURUPPAK
The Teachings of King Shuruppak
The 100 Commandments of Shuruppak
Original
Translation: Anonymus
Estimated Range of Dating: 2600-2500 BC.
(Language is one of the main attributes that can make us understand cultural relations. Sumerian was a language isolate spoken by most people in Mesopotamia throughout the 4th and 3rd millenia BC. The Semitic Akkadian language, spoken by Assyrians and Babylonians, gradually replaced Sumerian during the last half of the 3rd millenium and it even became a kind of international language used in Egypt, Anatolia, and Persia. The Sumerian cuneiform script and most contents of the Sumerian cuneiform tablets, however, were absorbed by these new Semitic people. Their language and culture was closely related to Phoenician Canaanite, a Semitic language spoken by Phoenicians, Hebrews, and Aramaeans. These people replaced the very complex Akkadian cuneiform script with a consonantal cuneiform alphabet (Abjad) from around either the 15th or 14th century BC; which in turn was replaced with the easy-to-use consonantal Phoenician alphabet only 2 or 3 centuries later (See Grand Bible, Image Plate 57-60). This was the very ancestor of all alphabets in the World that followed. The Semitic Aramaic language gradually replaced Akkadian as well as Canaanite and Hebrew towards the beginning of the 1st millenium BC. Scholars though, still read the original cuneiform records up until the 2nd century AD.
This line of language and script evolution explains to a large extent why precepts, laws, and narratives that we can find in the Torah [Pentateuch, 5 Books of Moses; the Ten Commandment, or the 613 Mitzvot], are surpisingly similar to the contents of the cuneiform tablets found in Mesopotamia. In fact, the conveyed precepts and laws of the ancient cuneiform tablets build the basis of the Halaka, the Jewish Law. As the Christians have taken the Hebrew Bible, which they call "Old Testament," as part of their very own scripture, these contents have influenced also Christianity. A fair amount of those ancient precepts, such as Purity Laws and the Five Precepts, can also be found in India and China.)
(In 1963 and 1965, an American expedition from the Oriental Institute of Chicago led by Donald P. Hansen made an amazing find at Abu Salabikh,
which lies around 20 km (12 mi) northwest of the site of the ancient city of Nippur in Al-Qadisiyyah Governorate, Iraq. During the excavation campain, that lasted for a total of 8 weeks, the archaeologists found around 500 tablets and fragments, containing some of the earliest ancient literature.
Among them was the book "Instructions of Shuruppak". This book is a sensation as it is the very oldest example of the Commandments or Precepts which much later appeared in the Bible and manuscripts in India and China. The book was written on clay tablets which were found in a low "tell" (mound) at Abu Salabikh, Its contemporary name probably was Eresh and it was a small Sumerian city of the mid third millennium BC, with cultural connexions to the cities of Kish, Mari and Ebla.
This book was obviously written to teach virtues in order to preserve community standards. The about 100 precepts are placed in the mouth of a King Shuruppak, son of Ubara-Tutu. Ubara-Tutu is recorded in the Sumerian king list as being the final king of Sumer prior to the Deluge. The ancient Sumerian city of Shuruppak probably was named after King Shuruppak. It was situated not far away from the finding place of the clay tablets, at the site of the modern Tell Fara, about 55 kilometres (35 mi) south of Nippur on the banks of the Euphrates in Iraq's Al-Qadisiyyah Governorate.
The text consists of admonitory sayings of King Shuruppak addressed to his son Ziusudra (the flood hero who is also known as Utnapishtin in Akkad). Lots of the book's precepts bear resemblance to those ones which we can read in the Torah (the Five books of Moses). But the Commandments of King Shuruppak are far more detailed, much more direct, and refreshingly blunt. Here a little selection:
Thou shouldst not speak arrogantly to thy mother.
Thou shouldst not kill.
Thou shouldst not steal.
Thou shouldst not commit robbery.
Thou shouldst not speak improperly.
Thou shouldst not play around with a married young woman.
Thou shouldst not have sex with thy slave girl.
Thou shouldst not wish for the money chest.
Thou shouldst not pass judgement when thou drinkst beer.
Thou shouldst not pick a quarrel.
Some of the Commandmends are purely practical: Thou shouldst not locate a field on a road; .... Thou shouldst not make a well in thy field: people will cause damage on it for thee. (lines 15–18). Moral precepts are followed by the negative practical results of transgression: Thou shouldst not play around with a married young woman: the slander could be
serious. (lines 32–34). Community opinion and the possibility of slander (line 35) play a major role, whether the valued opinion of "the courtyard" (line 62) or the less valued opinion of the marketplace, where insults and stupid speaking receive the attention of the land. (line 142).)
[The square brackets [. . .] refer to the gaps of the text, the round brackets (. . .) contain the editor's suggestions or give extra information.]
Text:
BOOK 1
The First Delivery Of Commandments.
In those days, in those far remote days, in those nights, in those faraway nights, in those years, in those far remote years, at that time the wise one who kneweth how to speak in elaborate words lived in the Land; Shuruppak, the wise one, who kneweth how to speak with elaborate words lived in the Land. Shuruppak gave instructions to his son; Shuruppak, the son of Ubara-Tutu gave instructions to his son Ziusudra: My son, let me give thee instructions: thou shouldst pay attention! Ziusudra, let me speak a word to thee: thou shouldst pay attention! Do not neglect my instructions! Do not transgress the words I speak! instructions of an old man are precious; thou shouldst comply with them!
Thou shouldst not buy a donkey which brays; it will split thy midriff.
Thou shouldst not locate a field on a road; thou shouldst not plough a field at a road or a path; thou shouldst not make a well in thy field: people will cause damage on it for thee. Thou shouldst not place thy house next to a public square: there is always a crowd there.
Thou shouldst not vouch for someone: that man will have a hold on thee; and thee thyself, thou shouldst not let somebody vouch for thee. That man will despise thee.
Thou shouldst not make an inspection on a man: the flood will give it back to thee.
Thou shouldst not loiter about where there is a quarrel; thou shouldst not let the quarrel make thee a witness. Thou shouldst not let thyself [involved] in a quarrel. Thou shouldst not cause a quarrel; [. . .] [. . .] the gate of the palace [. . .] Stand aside from a quarrel, [and] thou shouldst not take another way.
Thou shouldst not steal anything; thou shouldst not [betray] thyself. Thou shouldst not break into a house; thou shouldst not wish for the money chest [of others]. A thief is a lion, but after he has been caught, he will be a slave. My son, thou shouldst not commit robbery; thou shouldst not cut thyself with an axe (as a punishment of law).
Thou shouldst not make a young man best man. Thou shouldst not [mislead] thyself. Thou shouldst not play around with a married young woman: the slander could be serious. My son, thou shouldst not sit alone in a chamber with a married woman.
Thou shouldst not pick a quarrel; thou shouldst not disgrace thyself. Thou shouldst not [tell] lies; [. . .] Thou shouldst not boast; then thy words will be trusted. Thou shouldst not deliberate for too long; thou canst not bear [losing the] glances.
Thou shouldst not eat stolen food with a thief. Thou shouldst not sink thy hand into blood. After thou hast apportioned the bones, thou wilt be made to restore the ox, thou wilt be made to restore the sheep.
Thou shouldst not speak improperly; later it will lay a trap for thee.
Thou shouldst not scatter thy sheep into unknown pastures. Thou shouldst not hire someone's ox for an uncertain [time]. A safe [way] means a safe journey.
Thou shouldst not travel during the night: it can hide both good and evil.
Thou shouldst not buy an onager: it lasteth only until the end of the day (Reason: Onagers are a species of the horse family. Unlike most horses and donkeys, they have never been domesticated. They are among the fastest mammals, as they can run as fast as 70 km/h or 43 mph).
Thou shouldst not have sex with thy slave girl: she will chew thee up [making thee her slave].
Thou shouldst not curse strongly: it reboundeth on thee.
Thou shouldst not draw up water which thou canst not reach nor grasp: it will maketh thee weak.
(1 line unreadable)
Thou shouldst not drive away a debtor: he will be hostile towards thee.
Thou shouldst not establish a home with an arrogant man: he will make thy life like that of a slave girl. Thou wilt not be able to travel through any human dwelling without be being shouted at: "There thou goest! There thou goest!"
Thou shouldst not undo the [laces] of the garden's reed fence; "Restore it! Restore it!" they will say to thee.
Thou shouldst not provide a stranger with food; thou shouldst not wipe out [and be oblivious to] a quarrel.
My son, thou shouldst not use violence; Listen! Thou shouldst not commit rape on someone's daughter; the courtyard will learn of it [and punish thee].
Thou shouldst not drive away a powerful and strong man; thou shouldst not destroy the outer wall. Thou shouldst not drive away a young man; thou shouldst not make him turn against the city.
The eyes of the slanderer always move around as shiftily as a spindle. Thou shouldst never remain in his presence; his intentions should not be allowed to have an effect on thee.
Thou shouldst not boast in beer halls and breweries like a deceitful man: then thy words will be trusted.
Having reached the field of manhood, thou shouldst not jump with thy hand. The warrior is unique, he alone is the equal of many; Utu is unique, he alone is the equal of many. With thy life thou shouldst always be on the side of the warrior; with thy life thou shouldst always be on the side of Utu [the God of the Sun, justice, morality, and truth].
Shuruppak gaveth these instructions to his son. Shuruppak, the son of Ubara-Tutu, gaveth these instructions to his son Ziusudra.
BOOK 2
The Second Delivery Of Commandments.
A second time, Shuruppak gaveth instructions to his son. Shuruppak, the son of Ubara-Tutu gaveth instructions to his son Ziusudra: My son, let me give thee instructions: thou shouldst pay attention! Ziusudra, let me speak a word to thee: thou shouldst pay attention! Do not neglect my instructions! Do not transgress the words I speak! (1 ms. adds the line: The instructions of an old man are precious; thou shouldst comply with them! )
The beer-drinking mouth [talketh]. My little one [be careful]. The beerdrinking mouth [flustereth]. Ninkasi (the Goddess of alcohol and beer) [laugheth at thee]
(5 lines unclear)
Thine own man will not repay it for thee. The reed-beds are [thick], they can hide slander.
The palace is like a mighty river: its middle is goring bulls; what floweth in is never enough to fill it, and what floweth out can never be stopped.
When it is about someone's else bread, it is easy to say "I will give it to thee", but the time of actual giving can be as far away as the sky. If thou goest after the man who said "I will give it to thee", he will say "I cannot give it to thee the bread has just been finished up".
Property is something to be expanded; but nothing can equal my little ones (my children).
The artistic mouth recites words; the harsh mouth brings litigation documents; the sweet mouth gathers sweet herbs.
The garrulous and liar) filleth his bread bag; the haughty one brings an empty bag and can fill his empty mouth only with boasting.
Who works with leather will eventually work with his own leather.
The strong one can escape from anyone's hand.
The fool loseth something. When sleeping, the fool loseth something. "Do not tie me up!" he pleads; "Let me live!" he pleads.
The imprudent decrees fateth; the shameless one pileth up things in another's lap: "I am such that I deserve admiration".
A weak wife is always seized (and overwhelmed) by fate.
If thou hirest a worker, he will share the bread bag with thee; he eats with thee from the same bag, and finishes up the bag with thee. Then he will quit working with thee and, saying "I have to live on something", he will serve at the palace.
Thou tellest thy son to come to thy home; thou tellest thy daughter to go to her women's quarters.
Thou shouldst not pass judgement when thou drinkest beer.
Thou shouldst not worry unduly about what leaveth the house.
Heaven is far, earth is most precious, but it is with heaven that thou augmentest thy goods, and all foreign lands breathe under it.
At harvest time, at the most priceless time, collect like a slave girl, eat like a queen; my son, to collect like a slave girl, to eat like a queen, this is how it should be.
Who insulteth can hurt only the skin; greedy eyes, however, can kill. The liar, shouting, teareth up his garments. Insults bring (only) advice to the wicked. To speak arrogantly is like an abscess: a herb that makes the stomach sick.
(1 line is unclear)
My words of prayer bring abundance. Prayer is cool water that cools the heart. Only insults and stupid speaking receive the attention of the Land.
Shuruppak gaveth these instructions to his son. Shuruppak, the son of Ubara-Tutu, gaveth these instructions to his son Ziusudra.
BOOK 3
The Third Delivery Of Commandments.
A third time, Shuruppak gaveth instructions to his son. Shuruppak, the son of Ubara-Tutu gaveth instructions to his son Ziusudra: My son, let me give thee instructions: thou shouldst pay attention! Ziusudra, let me speak a word to thee: thou shouldst pay attention! Do not neglect my instructions! Do not transgress the words I speak! (Some mss. add the line: The instructions of an old man are precious; thou shouldst comply with them! )
Thou shouldst not beat a farmer's son: he has constructed thy embankments and ditches.
Thou shouldst not buy a prostitute: she is a mouth that bites. Thou shouldst not buy a house-born slave: he is a herb that makes the stomach sick. Thou shouldst not buy a free man: he will always lean against the wall. Thou shouldst not buy a palace slave girl: she will always be the bottom of the barrel.Thou shouldst rather bring down a foreign slave from the mountains, or thou shouldst bring somebody from a place where he is an alien; my son, then he will pour water for thee where the sun rises and he will walk before thee. He doth not belong to any family, so he doth not want to go to his family; he doth not belong to any city, so he doth not want to go to his city. He cannot knock at the door of [. . .], he cannot enter [. . .]. He will not [. . .] with thee, he will not be presumptuous with thee.
My son, thou shouldst not travel alone eastwards. Thine acquaintance should not [. . .]
A name placed on another one [. . .]; thou shouldst not pile up a mountain on another one.
Fate is a wet bank; it can make one slip.
The elder brother is indeed like a father; the elder sister is indeed like a mother. Listen therefore to thine elder brother, and thou shouldst be obedient to thine elder sister as if she were thy mother.
Thou shouldst not work using only thine eyes; thou wilt not multiply thy possessions using only thy mouth.
The negligent one ruineth his family.
The need for food maketh some people ascend the mountains; it also bringeth traitors and foreigners, since the need for food brings down other people from the mountains.
A small city provides its king with a calf; a huge city digs a house plot. [The rich man] is well equipped. The poor man inflicteth all kinds of illnesses on the rich man. The married man is well equipped; the unmarried maketh his bed in a haystack. He who wisheth to destroy a house will go ahead and destroy the house; he who wisheth to raise up will go ahead and raise up.
By grasping the neck of a huge ox, thou canst cross the river. By moving along at the side of the mighty men of thy city, my son, thou wilt certainly ascend (to greater wealth and power).
When thou bringest a slave girl from the hills, she bringeth both good and evil with her. The good is in the hands; the evil is in the heart. The heart doth not let go of the good; but the heart cannot let go of the evil either. As if it were a watery place, the heart doth not abandon the good. Evil is a store-room [. . .]
(1 ms. adds: 2 lines unclear)
May the boat with the evil sink in the river! May his waterskin split in the desert!
A loving heart maintains a family; a hateful heart destroys a family.
To have authority, to have possessions and to be steadfast are princely divine powers. Thou shouldst submit to the respected; thou shouldst be humble before the powerful. My son, thou wilt then survive against the wicked.
Thou shouldst not choose a wife during a festival. Her inside is illusory; her outside is illusory. The silver on her is borrowed; the lapis lazuli on her is borrowed; the jewellery on her is borrowed; the dress on her is borrowed; the linen garment on her is borrowed. With [. . .] nothing is comparable.
Thou shouldst not buy a [. . .] bull. Thou shouldst not buy a vicious bull; [. . .] a hole in the cattle-pen [. . .]
One appointeth a reliable woman for a good household.
Thou shouldst not buy a donkey at the time of harvest. A donkey which eateth [. . .] will [. . .] with another donkey.
A vicious donkey hangeth its neck; however, a vicious man, my son, [. . .]
A woman with her own property ruineth the house. A drunkard will drown the harvest.
A female burglar [. . .] ladder; she flieth into the houses like a fly. A shedonkey [. . .] on the street. A sow suckleth its child on the street. A woman who pricked herself beginneth to cry and holdeth the spindle which pricked (?) her in her hand. She cometh into every house; she peereth into all streets. [. . .] she keepeth saying "Get out!" She looketh around from all parapets. She panteth where there is a quarrel.
(2 lines unclear)
Marry [never a woman] whose heart hateth. My son, [. . .]
(4 lines unclear)
A heart which overfloweth with joy [. . .]
Nothing at all is to be valued, but life should be sweet. Thou shouldst not serve things; things should serve thee. My son, [. . .]
Thou shouldst not [. . .] grain; its [. . .] are numerous.
Thou shouldst not abuse a ewe; otherwise thou wilt give birth to a daughter. Thou shouldst not throw a lump of earth into the money chest; otherwise thou wilt give birth to a son.
Thou shouldst not abduct a wife; thou shouldst not make her cry. The place where the wife is abducted to [becometh the graveyard of her heart].
"Let us run in circles, saying: "Oh, my foot, oh, my neck!". Let us with united forces make the mighty bow!"
Thou shouldst not kill a [. . .], he is a child born by [. . .]. Thou shouldst not kill [. . .] like [. . .]; thou shouldst not bind him.
The wet-nurses in the women's quarters determine the fate of their lord.
Thou shouldst not speak arrogantly to thy mother; that causes hatred for thee. Thou shouldst not question the words of thy mother and thy personal God. The mother, like Utu, giveth birth to the man; the father, like a god, maketh him bright. The father is like a god: his words are reliable. The instructions of the father should be complied with.
Without suburbs a city hath no centre either.
My son, a field situated at the bottom of the embankments, be it wet or dry, is nevertheless a source of income.
It is inconceivable that something is lost forever.
[. . .] of Dilmun [. . .]
An unknown place is terrible; to get lost is shameful for a dog. On the unfamiliar way at the edge of the mountains, the gods of the mountains are man-eaters. They do not build houses there as men do; they do not build cities there as men do.
(1 line unclear)
For the shepherd, he stopped searching, he stopped bringing back the sheep. For the farmer, he stopped ploughing the field.
(1 line unclear)
This gift of words is something which sootheth the mind [. . .]; when it cometh into the palace, it sootheth the mind [. . .]. The gift of many words [. . .] stars.
These are the instructions given by Shuruppak, the son of Ubara-Tutu.
Praise be to the lady who completed the great tablets, the maiden Nisaba (the Goddess of writing, learning, and the harvest), that Shuruppak, the son of Ubara-Tutu gave his instructions!
End of Text.
