come upon the face of its land, and no grass shall sprout, so that nothing green can be seen and its vegetation does not appear." And the Vassal-Treaties of Esarhaddon, who ruled the Neo-Assyrian Empire 681–669 BCE, threatened the vassal who breached the treaty with these threats: "May Adad, the canal inspector of heaven and earth, put an end to vegetation in your land, may he avoid your meadows and hit your land with a severe destructive downpour, may locusts, which diminish the produce of the land, devour your crops, let there be no sound of the grinding stone or the oven in your houses, let barley rations to be ground disappear for you, so that they grind your bones, (the bones of) your sons and daughters instead of barley rations, and not even the (first) joint of your finger should be able to dip into the dough, may the . . . eat the dough from your troughs. . . . May they (the gods) let lice, caterpillars, and other field pests eat up your land and your district as if locusts." An Assyrian blessing wished: "The evil locust which ravages the grain, the malignant grasshopper which dries up the orchards, which would cut off the regular offerings of god and goddess,—Enlil listens to you, Tutu obeys you—may it (the grasshopper) be counted as nought!" Exodus chapter 12 The command to apply blood to the lintel and the two door-posts in parallels Babylonian Namburbi rituals in which blood was smeared on doors and keyholes so that "evil [plague] shall not enter the house." Exodus chapter 13 and 17, 13:5, and 33:3, , and 14:8, and , 11:9, 26:9 and 15, 27:3, and 31:20 describe the Land of Israel as a land flowing "with milk and honey." Similarly, the Middle Egyptian (early second millennium BCE) tale of Sinuhe Palestine described the Land of Israel or, as the Egyptian tale called it, the land of Yaa: "It was a good land called Yaa. Figs were in it and grapes. It had more wine than water. Abundant was its honey, plentiful its oil. All kind of fruit were on its trees. Barley was there and emmer, and no end of cattle of all kinds." In inner-biblical interpretation The parashah has parallels or is discussed in these Biblical sources: Exodus chapters 7–12 The description of the 10 plagues exhibits patterns and progressions, as