One name given to these actions in Akkadian (the Semitic language spoken in ancient Assyria and Babylonia) is mīšaru(m), a word that can mean “justice.” Often when a new king came to the throne he would annul various debts and/or taxes. Debt release was also used by Mesopotamian monarchs as a form of financial stimulus in times of difficult economic conditions.12 Another Akkadian word for this practice is andurāru(m), a cognate of the Hebrew noun děrôr. Both andurāru and děrôr connote concepts such