The Assyrian and Hebrew Hymns of Praise

by Charles Gordon Cumming

With the great hail stones thou art skillful, who can strive with thee?

Let thy small and great stones be upon him, who can strive with thee?

Since these two refrains are both in a passage spoken by an individual, it must be concluded that in this hymn at any rate the refrain is used, not for antiphonal rendering, but for impressiveness, perhaps for magical power.

In the light of the above fact, it is altogether possible that the refrain occurring eight times in the invocation to Sin (Sin No. 5) may have been recited by the priest, and not by the choir in antiphonal response to the priest. The refrain differs from the preceding examples in that the titles of deities which lend variety to the lines are imbedded in the middle of the refrain:

Father Nannar, lord Anshar, chief of the gods;

Father Nannar, lord great Anu, chief of the gods;

Father Nannar, lord Sin, chief of the gods;

Father Nannar, lord of Ur, chief of the gods;

Father Nannar, lord of Egishirgal, chief of the gods;

Father Nannar, lord of the tiara, brilliant one, chief of the gods;