The Cuneiform inscriptions and the Old Testament; - The Search For ...

GENESIS I. 15
3. And God said: let there be light SfC. Compare the
remarks on page 8 foil. Notes and illustrations.
5. one day i. e. the first day. Neither the cuneiform
creation-story nor that of Berossus gives any hint that the
Babylonians regarded the creation of the universe as taking
place in seven days.
6. 8. We are not in a position to assert whether there 15
existed among theBabylonians, as among theHebrews, the con-
ception of a firmament dividing the "uppei'" from the "lower
waters." The fragment of the creation-story communicated
in the form of translation by G.Smith, ChaldaeanAccount&c.
p. 67 (German edition), is too mutilated to admit of any
safe conclusions on the subject. Moreover the original text
has hitherto remained unpublished.
14 foil. And God said: let there he lights in the Jirmament
of heaven SfC.
Obviously the fragment K. 3567, published
by Smith and Delitzsch ibid., deals with the creation of the
heavenly bodies. The passage begins with the words :
1. u-ba-as-sim man-za-[z i . . .] A . AN iii i a-bliti
2. kakkabi tan-sil su lu-ma-si us-zi-iz
3. u-ad-di satta ili-[sa] mi-is-ra-ta u-(ma)-as-sir
4. XII arhi kakkabi III TA.[A.jAN us-zi-iz
i. e. 1. "He gloriously set up the . . . abodes (stations?) of
the great gods;
2. The stars he caused just as . . . lu-ma-si
forth.
—
to come
3. He ordained the year, established decads for the
same ;
4. He caused the twelve months each with three stars
to come forth."
Notes and illustrations. Line 1. On ubassim see Delitzsch in
Smith's Chaldaean Genesis p. 298 foil. From A. AN, occurring after
the gap in the text, we may infer that a number immediately preceded,