In the territory of Ellila I will not set my face—
I will descend to the deep, with (Ae) my lord I shall (constantly) dwell.
(As for) you, he will cause abundance to rain down upon you, and
(Beasts and?) birds (shall be) the prey (?) of the fishes, and
... he will enclose, (?), and
... of a storm (?),
(In the night) the heavens will rain down upon (y)ou destruction.” ’ ”
With these words the second paragraph comes to an end, the total number of lost or greatly mutilated [pg 103] lines being about nine. Very little of the contents of these lines can be made out, as not much more than traces of words remain. Where the lines begin to become fairly complete, the text seems to refer to the building of the ship, upon which four days had already been spent, its form being laid down on the fifth day. The description of the building, which is somewhat minute, is exceedingly difficult to translate, and any rendering of it must therefore, at the present time, be regarded as tentative. Its bulwarks seem to have risen four measures, and a deck (apparently) is mentioned. Its interior was pitched with six šar of bitumen, and its outside with three šar of pitch, or bitumen of a different kind. The provisionment of the vessel is next described, but this part is mutilated. A quantity of oil for the crew and pilot is referred to, and oxen were also slaughtered, apparently as a propitiatory sacrifice on the completion of the vessel. Various kinds of drink were then brought on board, both intoxicating and otherwise, plentiful (this may be regarded as the word to be supplied here) “like the waters of a river.” After this we have references to the completion of certain details—holes for the cables above and below, etc., and with this the third paragraph comes to an end.
In the next paragraph Pir-napištim collects his goods and his family, and enters into the ark:—
“All I possessed I transferred thereto,