Column III 1. Namtar verily is smitten, yea verily, 2. Who shall bring back strength? 3. The smiter has smitten, 4. Who shall strike him down? 5. The hero bearing the dagger 6. He has cast down, 7. Who shall drag him off? 8. At the gate of my palace no protector stands, 9. A man of desolation am I! 10. The land is completely overthrown, I have no defender, 12. The flood fills not the marsh land; 13. My eye thereon I lift not. 14. To man's plantations water reaches not, 15. My hand stretches not out to it. 16. To the marsh land which the flood filled From this point on the tablet is too broken for connected translation. Dr. Langdon calls this the lament of a Sumerian Job, but his woes, in so far as this fragment recounts them, are due to the conquest of his land by an enemy, and to famine due to a failure of the rivers to overflow. The parallelism to Tabu-utul-Bêl and to Job might be closer, if we had the whole tablet. As this tablet is in the script of the first dynasty of Babylon, it is evident that this kind of lamentation was as early as 2000 B. C. CHAPTER XXI PSALMS FROM BABYLONIA AND EGYPT CHARACTER OF THEIR PSALMS. BABYLONIAN PRAYERS TO THE GODDESS ISHTAR. COMPARISON WITH THE PSALTER. A BABYLONIAN HYMN TO THE MOON-GOD. A BABYLONIAN HYMN TO BEL. AN EGYPTIAN HYMN TO THE SUN-GOD. IS THE HYMN MONOTHEISTIC? AN EGYPTIAN HYMN IN PRAISE OF ATON. COMPARISON WITH THE PSALTER. BOTH from Babylonia and from Egypt a large number of hymns and prayers have been recovered. Some of these are beautiful on account of their form of expression, the poetical nature of their thoughts, and the sense of sin which they reveal. Most of them are clearly polytheistic, and it is rare that they rise in the expression of religious emotion to the simple sublimity of the Old Testament Psalms. Such likenesses to the Psalms as they possess only serve to set off in greater relief the rich religious heritage which we have in our Psalter. A few examples only of the many known hymns are here given. 1. A Babylonian Prayer to the Goddess Ishtar.1 O fulfiller of the commands of Bel.. Mother of the gods, fulfiller of the commands of Bel, 5. Begetress of all, who makest all offspring thrive, Majestic lady, whose commands are powerful, A request I will proffer, which-may it bring good to me! O lady, from my childhood I have been exceedingly hemmed in by trouble! 10. Food I did not eat, I was bathed in tears! Water I did not quaff, tears were my drink! .I do not walk like a man. Reverse ...painfully I wail! My sighs are many, my sickness is great! O my lady, teach me what to do, appoint me a resting-place! My sin forgive, lift up my countenance! 1 Translated from Haupt's Akkadische und sumerische Keilschrifttexte, 116, ff., with comparison of Zimmern's Babylonische Busspsalmen, 33, f. 5. My god, who is lord of prayer,-may he present my prayer to thee! My goddess, who is mistress of supplication,-may she present my prayer to thee! God of the deluge, lord of Harsaga, may he present my prayer to thee,— The god of pity, the lord of the fields, may he present my prayer to thee! God of heaven and earth, the lord of Eridu,-may he present my prayer to thee! 10. The mother of the great water, the dwelling of Damkina,—may she present my prayer to thee! Marduk, lord of Babylon,-may he present my prayer to thee! His spouse, the exalted offspring (?) of heaven and earth,-may she present my prayer to thee! The exalted servant, the god who announces the good name,—may he present my prayer to thee! 15. The bride, the firstborn of Ninib,-may she present my prayer to thee! The lady who checks hostile speech,-may she present my prayer to thee! The great, exalted one, my lady Nana,-may she present my prayer to thee! 2. A Babylonian Prayer to Ishtar.1 He raises to thee a wail; .He raises to thee a wail; [On account of his face which] for tears is not raised, he raises to thee a wail; 'On account of his feet on which fetters are laid, he raises to thee a wail; 5. On account of his hand, which is powerless through oppression, he raises to thee a wail; On account of his breast, which wheezes like a bellows, he raises to thee a wail; O lady, in sadness of heart I raise to thee my piteous cry, "How long?" 10. Turn thy gaze upon him, receive his entreaty! To thy servant with whom thou art angry-be favorable unto him! O lady, my hands are bound, I turn to thee! For the sake of the exalted warrior, Shamash, thy beloved husband, take away my bonds! 15. Through a long life let me walk before thee! 20. My god brings before thee a lamentation; let thy heart be appeased! My goddess utters to thee a prayer, let thy anger be quieted! The exalted warrior, Anu, thy beloved spouse,-may he present my prayer to thee! [Shamash], god of justice,-may he present my prayer to thee! the exalted servant,-may he present my prayer to thee! ..the mighty one of Ebarbar,-may he present my tears to thee! ["Thine eye turn truly] to me," may he say to thee! ["Thy face turn truly to] me," may he say to thee! ["Let thy heart be at rest"], may he say to thee! 25. ["Let thy anger be pacified"], may he say to thee! [Thy heart like the heart of a mother who has brought forth], may it rejoice! [Like a father who has begotten a child], may it be glad! 1 Translated from Haupt's Akkadische und Sumerische Keilschrifttexte, p. 122, f. 3. Comparison of These Prayers with the Psalter. The writers of these lamentations, like the Hebrew Psalmist (see Psa. 17:1; 18: 6), cried unto a deity for help. They were both in great distress, and naturally inferred that their deity was angry, as do Psalms 85:5; 90: 7. There is, however, no great consciousness of sin in these Babylonian complaints. They simply express distress. Unlike the Biblical Psalms these are polytheistic and their authors call upon other deities to intercede for them with the goddess, to whom the prayer is addressed and whom, for the time being, they regard as supreme. The author of this last penitential psalm asks "How long?" as does Psa. 6:3; 74: 10; 90: 13. The idea seems to be that the suffering of the penitent will either atone for sin or touch the heart of the deity so that the suffering shall be abated. 4. A Babylonian Hymn to Sin, the Moon-god.1 O brilliant barque of the heavens, ruler in thy own right, Father Nannar, lord of Ekishshirgal, Father Nannar, lord of the brilliant rising, 5. O lord, Nannar, firstborn son of Bel, Thou standest, thou standest Before thy father Bel. Thou art ruler, Father Nannar; thou art ruler, thou art guide. O barque, when standing in the midst of heaven, thou art ruler. 10. Father Nannar, thou thyself ridest to the brilliant temple. Father Nannar, when, like a ship, thou goest in the midst of the deep, Thou goest, thou goest, thou goest, Thou goest, thou shinest anew, thou goest, Thou shinest anew, thou livest again, thou goest. 15. Father Nannar, the herd thou restorest. When thy father looketh on thee with joy, he commandeth thy waxing, Bel a scepter for distant days for thy hands has completed. In Ur as the brilliant barque thou ridest, 20. As the lord, Nudimmud, thou art established; In Ur as the brilliant boat thou ridest. Reverse The river of Bel (?) [Nannar] fills with water. The brilliant (?) river [Nannar] fills with water. The river Tigris [Nannar] fills with water. 5. The brilliance of the Euphrates [Nannar] fills with water. The canal with its gate Lukhe, [Nannar] fills with water. The great marsh and the little marsh Nannar fills with water. 1 Translated from Cuneiform Texts from Babylonian Tablets, &c., in the British Museum, Part XV. pp. 16, 17. The preceding hymn is made up of a description of the movements and changes of the moon, together with the expression of a superstition, which is still widely prevalent, that the moon's changes control the rainfall. It is a fair example of a Babylonian naturepsalm. It lacks the inspired and inspiring power of such Hebrew nature-psalms as Psalms 8, 19, 146, 147, and 148. 5. A Babylonian Hymn to Bel.1 O lord of wisdom... O Bel, lord of wisdom. O father Bel, lord of the lands, ruler in thy own right, ruler in thy own right, O father Bel, lord of truthful speech, 5. O father Bel, shepherd of the black-headed ones,2 O father Bel, who thyself openest the eyes, O father Bel, the warrior, prince among soldiers, O father Bel, supreme power of the land, Bull of the corral, warrior who leadest captive all the land. 10. O Bel, proprietor of the broad land, Lord of creation, thou art chief of the land, The lord whose shining oil is food for an extensive offspring, The lord whose edicts bind together the city, The edict of whose dwelling place strikes down the great prince 15. From the land of the rising to the land of the setting sun. O mountain, lord of life, thou art indeed lord! O Bel of the lands, lord of life, thou thyself art lord of life. 20. Thou art father, Bel, who causest the plants of the gardens to grow! O Bel, thy great glory may they fear! The birds of heaven and the fish of the deep are filled with fear [of thee]. O father Bel, in great strength thou goest, prince of life, shepherd of the stars! O lord, the secret of production thou openest, the feast of fatness establishest, to work thou callest! 25. Father Bel, faithful prince, mighty prince, thou createst the strength of life! A line at the end states that the hymn consisted of 25 lines. It is a hymn to Bel of Nippur, whose Sumerian name was Enlil. It reveals an exalted conception of Bel as supreme ruler, as a god who gives life, as a god of justice whose rule holds society together, but it lacks both the poetical sublimity and the religious depth and fire of the Hebrew psalms. 1 Translated from Cuneiform Texts from Babylonian Tablets, &c., in the British Museum, XV, 10. * An epithet of the inhabitants of Babylonia. |