The Assyrian and Hebrew Hymns of Praise

by Charles Gordon Cumming

Father Nannar lord of the new moon.

Lord Nannar first born son of Enlil.

It is easy to suppose that a priest chanted the entire first line, and that a choir chanted the first half lines of the next four lines while the priest supplied in the second half lines the titles of the deity. There follows what might be regarded as an imitation of the huzzas of a crowd welcoming a sovereign. Here it is welcoming the ascent of the moon god in the heavens:

When thou ascendest, when thou ascendest,

When before thy father before Bel thou art glorious,

Father Nannar when thou art glorious, when thou pursuest thy way,

When in the boat that in the heavens ascendest thou art glorious,

Father Nannar when unto Esaguz thou mountest,

Father Nannar when like skiff upon the floods thou ascendest,

When thou ascendest, when thou ascendest, thou when thou ascendest,