Texts in Conversation
The Epic of Gilgamesh and Genesis include post-flood moments where a deity vows to never forget it. In Gilgamesh, the goddess Beletili swears to remember the flood, and in Genesis God promises to remember the covenant and never repeat it.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Epic of Gilgamesh XI 166
Ancient Near East, Babylonian
161 The gods smelled the aroma, 162 the gods smelled the sweet aroma, 163 the gods gathered like flies round the sacrificer. 164 As soon as Bēlet-ilī arrived, 165 she lifted aloft the great flies that Anu had made when he wooed (her): 166 “O gods, let these be lapis lazuli (beads) around my neck, 167 so that I remember these days and never forget them! 168 Let the gods come to the incense, 169 (but) may Enlil not come to the incense, 170 because he lacked counsel and caused the Deluge, 171 and delivered my people into destruction.” 172 As soon as Enlil arrived, 173 Enlil saw the boat and grew angry. 174 He was filled with rage against the Igigi gods: 175 “[From] where escaped (this) living creature?
Date: 2100 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Genesis 9:15
Hebrew Bible
13 I will place my bow35 in the clouds, and it will become a guarantee of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the bow35 appears in the clouds, 15 then I will remember my covenant with you and with all living creatures of all kinds. Never again will the waters become a flood and destroy all living things. 16 When the rainbow is in the clouds, I will notice it and remember the perpetual covenant between God and all living creatures of all kinds that are on the earth.” 17 So God said to Noah, “This is the guarantee of the covenant that I am confirming between me and all living things that are on the earth.”
Date: 750–400 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... The exact nature of the biblical flood story's journey from its distant pre–Israelite origins may be as unknowable as both its original form and its exact relationship to known Mesopotamian and connected Hellenistic traditions, but the fact that it took such a journey is beyond question ... Meaningful comparison and contrast is limited, however, to a handful of texts possessing geographical and cultural propinquity— the Mesopotamian texts being, The Epic of Atrahasis, Eridu Genesis, Epic of Gilgamesh, and Berossus's Babyloniaca, and the Hellenistic texts being, Bibliotheca, Metamorphosis, and De Syria Dea. Even without discovering Mesopotamian flood texts dating back to the 14th Century BC at Meggido and Ugarit, and back to the 13th at Emar in Syria, the existence of a connection between the biblical flood story and the Mesopotamian tradition would be obvious. The texts all follow a basic pattern, but what are far more important for validating the use of a mythopoetic lens in the reading of the biblical flood narrative are upwards of forty striking similarities in points of detail within this story pattern between the biblical account and these other texts ... The Noahic story, Eridu Genesis, Gilgamesh, and Atrahasis all have a divine blessing scene ... Both the Noahic account and Atrahasis end with a view to the changes in world structures that will prevent a recourse to the situation that led to the flood ... The Biblical Flood story, like Eridu Genesis, Gilgamesh and Atrahasis favors the use of the sacred number, seven ... Both YHWH and "Mistress of the gods" swear never to forget. She does so in both Atrahasis and Gilgamesh ..."
Andrew D. Sargent, Wind and Water in Gen 8:1 (Part 1): The Calming of the Waters in Gen 8:1 (Trinity International University, 2016), 1–31.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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