SAA 15 156. Waiting for the King; Merodach-baladan in his Country (ABL 0503+)[via saao/saa15]
| Obverse | ||
| o 1o 1 | (1) To the king, my lord: your servant Il-yada'. Good health to the king, my lord! The land and the forts of the king my lord are well. The king, my lord, can be glad. | |
| o 22 | ||
| o 33 | ||
| o 44 | ||
| o 55 | ||
| o 66 | ||
| o 77 | (7) Concerning what the king, my lord, wrote to me: "For these two months, be attentive and keep your guard strong, until I come!" — the troops and horses are arrayed together to stand guard in the district of the king, my lord, (and) [I] myself am constantly monitoring my guard. | |
| o 88 | ||
| o 99 | ||
| o 1010 | ||
| o 1111 | ||
| o 1212 | ||
| o 1313 | ||
| o 1414 | ||
| o 1515 | (15) The gods of the king, my lord, have provided peace: ever since the king, my lord, went to the country of the enemy, there have been no enemy attacks whatever. The district of the king, my lord, is well indeed. | |
| o 1616 | ||
| o 1717 | ||
| o 1818 | ||
| o 1919 | ||
| o 2020 | ||
| o 2121 | ||
| o 2222 | (22) As to the we[ir] about which the king, my lord, wrote to me: "Be attent[ive! Why is] the work assignment behind sch[edule]?" — they have not [finished] digging the [rivers] which they undertook, it being the ti[me] of cultivating the seeds, but have moulded bricks and trodden (earth). | |
| o 2323 | ||
| Bottom | ||
| b.e. 24b.e. 24 | iš-pur-an-ni [o] | |
| Reverse | ||
| r 1r 1 | ||
| r 22 | ||
| r 33 | ||
| r 44 | la iḫ-ri-ʾu-⸢u⸣ si-⸢man⸣ [o] | |
| r 55 | ||
| r 66 | (r 6) I released the men, so they have [d]ug their rivers and moulded bricks. (Now) they have gone down at it again [in the]ir [full power] and are finishing up clearing off the work assignment [which] they did not finish. | |
| r 77 | ||
| r 88 | [x x-šú]-nu ú-sa-ḫi-ru ina ŠÀ-bi | |
| r 99 | ||
| r 1010 | ||
| r 1111 | (r 11) Its bridge has been completely built. After the river has been completely cleared out, then I shall send (word) to Aššur-belu-taqqin: "Come, let us open the weir!" If it suits him and he comes, we shall open it. If not and he says: "At the time of cultivating the seeds," we will open it in the early winter. | |
| r 1212 | ||
| r 1313 | ||
| r 1414 | ||
| r 1515 | ||
| r 1616 | ||
| r 1717 | ||
| r 1818 | (r 18) Also, there is very much water in the Diyala river, the waters go to Dur-Šarrukku. His men have not been able to go up to the mouth of the river because of the amount of the water. | |
| r 1919 | ||
| r 2020 | ||
| r 2121 | ||
| r 2222 | ||
| r 2323 | (r 23) [Ne]ws of Merodach-Baladan: [he has tur]ned back and is in his country. | |
| r 2424 |
Adapted from Andreas Fuchs and Simo Parpola, The Correspondence of Sargon II, Part III: Letters from Babylonia and the Eastern Provinces (State Archives of Assyria, 15), 2001. Lemmatised by Mikko Luukko, 2009-11, as part of the AHRC-funded research project “Mechanisms of Communication in an Ancient Empire: The Correspondence between the King of Assyria and his Magnates in the 8th Century BC” (AH/F016581/1; University College London) directed by Karen Radner. The annotated edition is released under the Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike license 3.0. Please cite this page as http://oracc.org/saao/P334344/.