Who is comparable to me, me?
—Hymn to Ishtar No. 4.
Who is like Yahwe our God, in heaven or on earth
Who has placed his throne on high, who stoops to regard the earth?
—Psalm 113:5f.
How many are thy works, O Yahwe? all of them in wisdom thou hast made.
—Psalm 104:24.
It has already been pointed out in a previous chapter, that the use of the refrain in the Assyrian hymns, as in the case of the Hebrew hymns, indicates antiphonal responses between priest and choir, and choir and choir. Likewise the hymns of both literatures have been seen to take on more decided liturgical character with the introduction of the divine pronouncement through the priest as in the Litany to Asshur and the second Psalm. Both literatures have the sanctuary hymn, and the processional and the recessional hymn. The most significant difference between the Assyrian hymn and the Hebrew hymn would seem to be that the former is usually addressed in the second person to deity, and is accordingly of the nature of prayer, while the Hebrew hymn is the response to the summons to praise deity, is expressed in the third person, and is more genuinely hymnal in character.
Chapter X
THE SUPREME GOD AMONG THE GODS
Having compared the Assyrian and Hebrew hymns, with reference to their external form, and the circumstances under which they were sung, it is now proper to examine more closely the actual contents of the hymns. The subject of all genuine hymns is God. It is an argument for the common nature of the Assyrian and Hebrew hymns that practically all the hymnal phrases can be classified under the following heads: