Accadian Proverbs

← Ancient texts · Mesopotamian

Sumerian, with an Assyrian translation · Copied into a scribal reading-book; the sayings are older than the 17th century BC.

Translation: A. H. Sayce, 1877 — Babylonian and Assyrian Literature (Colonial Press, 1901). Public domain.

A handful of proverbs from a scribe's exercise tablet — the oldest wisdom sayings we have. 'Once and twice he has made gains, yet he is not content.' 'By himself he dug and wrought.' The 'heap of witnesses' in line 6 carries an Assyrian gloss meaning 'heap of covenant', the same phrase as Galeed / Yegar-sahadutha, the witness-cairn Jacob and Laban raise in Genesis 31:47–48.

Mesopotamian and Egyptian collections like this one are the older cousins of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes — the same short, balanced observations about work, wealth and human nature.

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From a scribal reading-book 2 biblical parallels