I will exalt thee, my god, O king,
And I will bless thy name for ever
Every day will I bless thee,
And I will praise thy name for ever and aye,
Nor is there any passage in an Assyrian hymn calling upon universal nature, sun, moon and stars, mountains, and hills, rain and snow, all living creatures, all men and women, old and young, kings and nations, to praise the name of God, as Psalm 148:13:
Let them praise the name of Yahwe
For his name alone is exalted.
Chapter XI
THE SUPREME GOD IN HIS DWELLING PLACE
The Assyrians are known to readers of the Old Testament as worshippers of the hosts of heaven, and while their hymns represent them as adoring also the Atmospheric Gods, and furthermore finding Deity not only in the heights above, but also in the depths beneath, nevertheless their reverent gaze was most frequently turned skyward. Their gods were mainly gods of heaven, and were associated, at times almost to the point of identification, with the heavenly bodies. Thus the God Shamash bears the name of Sun, and is unmistakably and very closely associated with the solar orb:
The mighty mountains has thy glory covered;