1. Palace of Ashur-bani-pal, king of hosts, king of the country
of Assyria,
2. who trusteth in the god Ashur and the goddess Bêlit,
3. on whom the god Nebo (Nabû) and the goddess Tasmetu
4. have bestowed all-hearing ears
5. and his possession of eyes that are clearsighted,
6. and the finest results of the art of writing
7. which, among the kings who have gone before,
8. no one ever acquired that craft.
9. The wisdom of Nebo [as expressed in] writing, of every kind,
10. on tablets I wrote, collated and revised,
11. [and] for examination and reading
12. in my palace I placed--[I]
13. the prince who knoweth the light of the king of the gods, Ashur.
14. Whosoever shall carry [them] off, or his name side by side
with mine
15. shall write may Ashur and Bêlit wrathfully
16. sweep away, and his name and his seed destroy in the land.