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Ezekiel 14 lists four punishments, sword, famine, wild animals, and plague. A plea in the Epic of Gilgamesh uses similar language when the god Baal is asked to use the same kinds of punishments instead of bringing another flood.
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Epic of Gilgamesh XI
Ancient Near East
It is yours, O Valiant One, who is the Sage of the Gods. How, how could you bring about a Flood without consideration Charge the violation to the violator, charge the offense to the offender, but be compassionate lest mankind be cut off, be patient lest they be killed. Instead of your bringing on the Flood, would that a lion had appeared to diminish the people! Instead of your bringing on the Flood, would that a wolf had appeared to diminish the people! Instead of your bringing on the Flood, would that famine had occurred to slay the land! Instead of your bringing on the Flood, would that Pestilent Erra had appeared to ravage the land! It was not I who revealed the secret of the Great Gods, I only made a dream appear to Atrahasis, and thus he heard the secret of the gods.
Date: 2100 B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Ezekiel 14:21
Hebrew Bible
21 “For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: How much worse will it be when I send my four terrible judgments—sword, famine, wild animals, and plague—to Jerusalem to kill both people and animals! 22 Yet some survivors will be left in it, sons and daughters who will be brought out. They will come out to you, and when you see their behavior and their deeds, you will be consoled about the catastrophe I have brought on Jerusalem—for everything I brought on it. 23 They will console you when you see their behavior and their deeds, because you will know that it was not without reason that I have done everything that I have done in it, declares the Sovereign Lord.”
Date: 6th Century B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... With respect to the range of the comparisons that have been made between Ezekiel and Mesopotamian literature, the focus is generally not on the whole book, only select texts or blocks of material in Ezekiel ... In most cases, this is in no small measure due to the understanding that Ezekiel underwent intense redactional activity, a view espoused especially by Zimmerli and others before him. Although this diachronic approach is helpful, it can deter from a fruitful analysis of the literary whole. Furthermore, the literary repertoire from the ancient Near East that has been compared with portions of Ezekiel covers a wide array of genres. At least nine different genres have been used. Some of these include historiographic poems, dream reports, victory songs, and poetic laments. These genres, likewise, span the centuries. They reach back as early as Sumerian civilization, include Canaanite mythology, and extend down to the sixth century B.C. (A few samples will suffice to illustrate. Ezekiel 14 has been compared with Tablet XI of Gilgamesh, Ezekiel 23:20 with a Sumerian proverb, and Ezekiel 9 with the Poem of Erra) ..."
Petter, Donna Lee
The Book of Ezekiel and Mesopotamian City Laments
(p. 3) Academic Press Fribourg, 2011
* 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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