Imposition of a Judicial Oath

On the 18th of Phaophi, year four of Artaxerxes the king in Elephantine the fortress, Malchiah son of Jashobiah, an Aramean, hereditary-property-holder in Elephantine the fortress of the detachment of Nabukudu[rri], said [to Ar]tafrada son of A[rvastah] mara of the detachment of Marya as follows:

[Y]ou com[plained against me] in Np’:

“Yo[u brok]e…

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A Jew states that he has been accused of theft and assault and required by the authorities to swear an exculpatory oath by the god Herembethel, and he commits himself to doing so. The court presumably required this procedure, which is reminiscent of the law in Exodus 22:10, because there were no witnesses to confirm or refute the accusation. This document is from 401 BCE.

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