Reading akkadian PRayeRs & Hymns An Introduction

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READING AKKADIAN PRAYERS AND HYMNS: AN INTRODUCTION
32. ka-inim-ma šu-íl-lá d en-líl-b[àn]-da-kám
33. [lu ina KEŠDA] lu ina NÍG.NA DÙ-uš
Line 32: This line is the rubric, which tells something about the classification of the
preceding lines. In this case, the rubric identifies the form of the prayer and to whom it is
directed. As is typical, the rubric is written in Sumerian. It may be translated, “it is the
wording of a lifted-hand to Enlilbanda,” i.e., Ea. One MS of the text indicates the prayer is
directed at d en-ki, the Sumerian name for Ea. Another MS shows that it was directed to
d amar-utu, Marduk. Unfortunately, this latter MS does not preserve anything before our
line 25, so we cannot ascertain how the text was adjusted to fit Marduk.
Line 33: The ritual instructions comprise a single line, preserved in only one MS. The
instructions begin without any indicator (such as DÙ.DÙ.BI = epištašu, “its ritual,” which is
used very frequently). The phrase we have here in line 33 is quite stereotypical and commonly
attached to shuillas. It probably serves only as the catchphrase to a fuller ritual,
which the exorcist would recall and perform probably from memory (see Mayer, UFBG,
119, n.3). Lū . . . lū, “either . . . or.” KEŠDA = riksu, “ritual arrangement, assemblage of
offerings” (compare the usage here to those in lines 26 and 27 above). NÍG.NA = nignakku,
“incense burner.” DÙ = epēšu, “to do, to make.”
lū ina riksi lū ina nignakki teppeš
COMPARATIVE SUGGESTIONS:
Although our prayer offers several interesting possibilities for comparative
purposes, we focus here on two: the “hand-lifting” gesture accompanied by a
formal address found in all shuilla-prayers and the BH equivalents to the supplicant’s
first petitions in line 14.
Lines 1–12 of our prayer to Ea comprise a lengthy hymnic introduction,
which is of course a typical feature of shuilla-prayers. As discussed in the general
introduction, the hand-lifting gesture along with its verbal component of
honored address was a complex formal gesture of greeting in ancient Mesopotamia
based on a master-servant relationship. When used with prayer, the complex
of gesture and formal address (i.e., hymnic introduction) “emphasized the communicative
gesture . . . , a salutation signaling recognition of a reciprocal but
asymmetrical relationship between client and deity” (see page 35 of the general
introduction). Do we find a similar adaptation of such a greeting in the prayers
of the Hebrew Bible? Although the Bible does not show evidence of a special
kind of “lifted-hand” ritual-prayer, the Hebrew Bible does preserve attestations
in its prayers of the hand raising gesture and the formal mode of address (of
varying lengths) similar to the shuilla’s hymnic introduction. In light of the
comparative evidence, these texts display another facet of ancient Israel’s master-servant
model of divine-human relations.
Formal address dominated by praise is found at the beginning of several
biblical prayers in which individuals or a representative group pray on behalf of
the community. Note, for example, the brief hymnic introduction to a penitential