Prophets appear throughout the ancient Near East in numerous texts from different periods. Texts from Mari on the northern Euphrates from the second millennium BCE, from Assyria in the first half of the first millennium BCE as well as a scattering of texts from the Levant during both millennia indicates the phenomena of prophesy was widespread. Once again, Biblical writers recognized the presence of prophesy among their neighbors and incorporated it into the Biblical texts. Here, in an excerpt from a letter from Nur-Sin, an ambassador of Zimri-Lim, the King of Mari during the eighteenth century BCE, an oracle guaranteeing divine support for the ruler resembles that attributed to Nathan, when he proclaimed Yahweh's promise to King David that his descendants would rule forever found in 2 Samuel 7:4-17.
