§ 49

Law § 49 of Hammurabi's Code

Translation

If a man received silver from a merchant and gave the merchant a field prepared for barley or for sesame, (and) said “cultivate the field and collect and take for yourself the barley or sesame that grows,” if a cultivator produced barley or sesame in the field, at harvest time it is the owner of the field who will receive the barley or sesame that grow in the field, and then he will give the merchant the barley (worth the amount) of his silver and its interest that he received from the merchant, as well as the maintenance amounts of the cultivating.

Law Code

Law Code of Hammurabi

Law Group

Agricultural Tenants

Cuneiform

Source: Bergmann (1953, p. 10, col. XIV, lns. 18–44)

Transliteration

šum-ma a-wi-lum KUG.BABBAR it-ti DAM.GÀR il-qé-ma A.ŠÀ ep-še-tim ša ŠE ù lu ŠE.GIŠ.Ì a-na DAM.GÀR id-di-in A.ŠÀ e-ri-iš-ma ŠE ù lu-ú ŠE.GIŠ.Ì ša ib-ba-aš-šu-ú e-si-ip ta-ba-al iq-bi-šum šum-ma er-re-šum i-na A.ŠÀ ŠE ù lu ŠE.GIŠ.Ì uš-tab-ši i-na ebūrim (BURU₁₄) ŠE ù ŠE.GIŠ.Ì ša i-na A.ŠÀ ib-ba-aš-šu-ú be-el A.ŠÀ-ma i-le-qé-ma ŠE ša KUG.BABBAR-šu ù ṣi-ba-sú ša it-ti DAM.GÀR il-qú-ú ù ma-na-ḫa-at e-re-ši-im a-na DAM.GÀR i-na-ad-di-in

Source: Huehnergard (2011, p. 368)

Normalization

šumma awīlum kaspam itti tamkārim ilqē-ma eqel epšētim ša êm ū lū ša šamaššammī ana tamkārim iddin, “eqlam eriš-ma âm ū lū šamaššammī ša ibbaššû esip, tabal,” iqbīšum, šumma errēšum ina eqlim âm ū lū šamaššammī uštabši, ina ebūrim âm ū šamaššammī ša ina eqlim ibbaššû bēl eqlim-ma ileqqē-ma âm ša kaspīšu u ṣibassu ša itti tamkārim ilqû u mānaḫāt erēšim ana tamkārim inaddin.

Source: Huehnergard (2013, p. 94)

Translation

If a man received silver from a merchant and gave the merchant a field prepared for barley or for sesame, (and) said “cultivate the field and collect and take for yourself the barley or sesame that grows,” if a cultivator produced barley or sesame in the field, at harvest time it is the owner of the field who will receive the barley or sesame that grow in the field, and then he will give the merchant the barley (worth the amount) of his silver and its interest that he received from the merchant, as well as the maintenance amounts of the cultivating.

Source: Huehnergard (2013, p. 94)

Citation

MLA 9

Dedović, B. "§ 49 - eHammurabi." OMNIKA Foundation, 26 Oct. 2023, ehlaw.org/law/49. [Accessed 14 Nov. 2026]

APA 7

Dedović, B. (2023, October 26). § 49 - eHammurabi. OMNIKA Foundation. https://ehlaw.org/law/49

CMS 16

Dedović, Boban. "§ 49 - eHammurabi." Las Vegas, NV: OMNIKA Foundation. Created October 26, 2023. Modified December 16, 2024. Accessed November 14, 2026. https://ehlaw.org/law/49.

Bibliography

ACH

Abulhab, Saad D. The Law Code of Hammurabi: Transliterated and Literally Translated from its Early Classical Arabic Language. New York, NY: Blautopf, 2017.

CHTP

Bergmann, Eugen. Codex Ḫammurabi: Textus Primigenius. Rome, Italy: Pontificium Institutum Biblicum, 1953.

HAG3

Huehnergard, John. A Grammar of Akkadian (Third Edition). Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2011.

HKEY3

Huehnergard, John. Key to a Grammar of Akkadian (Third Edition). Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2013.

–

OMNIKA Foundation Contributors. "OMNIKA: Digital Mythology Library & Search Engine." Las Vegas, NV: OMNIKA Foundation, accessed November 14, 2023. https://omnika.org. [Visit]

RHL

Richardson, Mervyn E.J. Hammurabi's Laws: Text, Translation and Glossary. New York, NY: T & T Clark International, 2004.

SoT

Sound of Text Contributors. "Sound of Text: AI Text-to-Speech." Accessed November 14, 2023. https://soundoftext.app. [Visit]

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§ 49

Law § 49 of Hammurabi's Code

Cuneiform

Transliteration

Normalization

Translation

Citation

Bibliography