The Assyrian and Hebrew Hymns of Praise

by Charles Gordon Cumming

Hymns to Ninib

1. Published and translated by King, Babylonian Magic, No. 2; translated by Jastrow, I, 448. The first fourteen lines are addressed to the god in epithets of praise. In the lines which follow an individual reminds the god of his sacrifice, and pleads for forgiveness of his sin and the favor of the god.

2. Transliterated and translated by Jensen, Kosmologie der Babylonier, pages 470-472; also translated by Jastrow, I, 449. It is an hymnal introduction to prayer, twelve lines in length.

3. Kouyunjik Collection, 2864, 1-22; published and translated by Hrozny, Sumerisch-babylonische Mythen von dem Gotte Ninrag in Mitteilungen der vorderasiatischen Gesellschaft, 1903. It is a hymn addressed in the second person to Ninib, of which unfortunately only twelve lines are preserved, and of these no single line is complete. The hymn is composed in couplets the second line being a response to the first.

4. K 8531 and Rm 126; published and translated by Hrozny; translated by Jastrow, I, 455. Here we have an address of the God Nusku to the God Ninib, of which the first seven lines are epithets of praise, which are then followed by a petition that the anger of the God may abate, and that he be honored by the great God.

5. K 4829; published and translated by Hrozny; translated by Jastrow, I, 459. It is a hymn of fourteen lines, in which Ninib praises his own power.

6. R. II, 19 No. 2; published and translated by Hrozny; translated by Jastrow, I, 460. This is a hymn of thirteen lines in which the God Ninib sings his own praise.

7. Published and translated by Hrozny; translated by Jastrow, I, 463. This is a hymnal composition of thirty lines in the course of which the god Sharur addresses Ninib with hymnal praises.

Hymns to Nergal

1. Published and translated by King, Babylonian Magic, No. 27; translated by Jastrow, I, 467; also by Böllenrücher, Gebete und Hymnen an Nergal, No. 1. The first ten lines constitute a hymnal introduction to the prayer that follows. Lines 11-13 are a lament, lines 14-23 a petition, and line 24 a vow.