The cuneiform inscriptions and the Old Testament - The Search For ...

38 THE CUNEIFORM INSCRIPTIONS AND THE 0. T.
rather with the signification "he of the head" i. e. the "commander",
"prince", "illustrious one"; comp. the synonym asaridu and the
omission of the suffix of the first person.—The name Asurnadinsum
was first contracted to A§urnS.din , and this AsurnMin again became
both the "Asordan" of Polybius by simple abbreviation as well as the
"Aparanadius" of the Ptolemaic canon in consequence of corruption.
— 64. tarbitu "sprout" from n3"1) hence properly "increase"; birku
"knee". On the dual form birk& that appears also in Assyrian, see
Assyr. Babylon. Keilinsch. p. 226;— 65. rapastuv here written with
the usual ideogram. On this see Norris I. 99. With the root we
might compare the Hebrew ^"IQ;—usadgil Shaf. of dagalu "look at"
(different from takS,lu "trust", see Delitzsch in Lotz 131 foil.) ; in com-
bination with panu "face" it means : "turn to some one (with respect)",
wait on him, attend his commands.
353 The last passage^ where Merodach-Baladan is mentioned,
occurs in Asarhaddon's cylinder-inscription col. II. 32. The
entire passage reads thus: 32. ta-rid Nabti-zlr-napi§ti-
SutiSir abal Marduk- ab al-iddina 33. §a a-na
§ar mit I'-lam-ti it-tak-lu-ma 34. la u-§i-zi-bu
nap-sat-su. 35. N a-'-id-Mar-duk ahu-§u 36. a§-
gu l-bi§ ardu-u-ti-ja 37. ul-tav ki-rib m.ki I'-lam-
ti in-n ab-tam-ma 38. a-na Ninua Ir bi-lu-ti-ja
39. il-lik-am-ma u-n a-as-§i-ik gipa-ja. 40. M§,t
ti^m-tiv a-na si-hi-ir-ti-§a 41. ri-du-ut ahi-§u
u-§ad-gil pa-nu-us-su i. e. *32. (I who) hurled back
Nabli-zir-napisti-sutlsir *, son of Merodach-Baladan, 33. who
had placed his trust in the king of Elam : 34. he did not
save his life. 35. Nahid-Merodach, his brother, 36. in
order to** do homage to me, 37. had fled from Elam,
* The name is written Nabu-zir-ZI. SI. DI. On ZI consult Assyr.
Babyl. Keilinschriften p. 106, no. 8; on SI. DI = ig^ru "itC'j^ see
Haupt, Akkadische und Sunierische Keilschrifttexte 15, no. 233, and on
the imp. sutisir see Assyr. Babylon. Keilinsch. p. 269. The name
signifies "Nebo guide on the right path the Life-sprout".
** A§su (see Assyrisch-Babylonische Keilinschriften p. 269) is em-
ployed, as it is in this passage, in Smith's Assurbanipal 161, 90. In the