, a golden ladle, golden goblets, golden
pitchers, lead, a staff for the hand of the king, shafts of spears, I
received of him." In 842 Shalmaneser undertook an expedition against
Hazael of Damascus, and in the account of this expedition he says, "At
that time I received the tribute of the Tyrians and Sidonians, and of
Jehu, the son of Omri."

About half a century after the occurrence of Jehu's name in the
inscription of Shalmaneser III Israel is mentioned again as tributary
to Assyria. Adad-nirari IV (812-783), after enumerating other
countries subjugated by him, writes: "From the Euphrates to the land of
the Hatti, the west country in its entire compass, Tyre, Sidon, the
land of Omri, Edom, Philistia, as far as the great sea of the setting
of the sun (Mediterranean Sea), I subjected to my yoke; payment of
tribute I imposed upon them."

Adad-nirari was succeeded by a series of weak kings, during whose reign
the power of Assyria declined, but in 745 the great Tiglath-pileser IV,
mentioned in the Old Testament also under the name Pul, ascended the
throne. He succeeded in reorganizing the resources of the empire and
in rekindling its ambitions for conquest. This {135} energetic king
has left several inscriptions of much interest to the student of Old
Testament history. In one of these, narrating an expedition against
northern Syria about B.C. 738, he mentions a king, "Azriau of the land
of Yaudi." It has been customary to identify this king with Azariah
(Uzziah) of Judah. The contents speak against this identification, and
since the inscriptions found in Zenjirli have established the existence
in northern Syria of a state called Yaudi, perhaps the king mentioned
in Tiglath-pileser's inscription was a ruler of this northern kingdom.
In the annals which tell of his victory over Azriau of Yaudi he
mentions Menahem of Samaria as one of the kings whose tribute he
received. The same inscription, referring to events in 734 or 733,
speaks of a victory over the House of Omri, and the assassination of
the king Pekah, but the inscription is so fragmentary that the details
are obscure. Fortunately, the same events are recorded in another
inscription, which is in a better state of preservation, though it also
has several gaps. After enumerating several cities which he captured
in Palestine, among them Gaza, he continues: "The land of the dynasty
of Omri ... the whole of its inhabitants, their possessions to Assyria
I depor