Texts in Conversation
Psalm 29 shares the Baal Cycle's thunder that shakes the earth at Baal's voice, placing Israel's God in the storm god's role as a powerful king whose temple witnesses his rule.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
KTU 1.4 VII:31
Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit
Ancient Near East
He opens a window in the house A vent in the midst of the palace. Baal opens a gap in the clouds Baal releases his sacred voice. Baal pronounces the matter of his lips His sacred voice, the earth quakes The high places of the Earth tremble. […] Baal's enemies retreat to the woods The haters of Haddu to the mountain sides. And Mightiest Baal declares: O Foes of Haddu, why do you tremble? Why tremble, O Arms-bearers of the Warrior? Baal surveys the East; Indeed, his hand trembles With a cedar in his right hand. So Baal is seated in his house: Will either king or commoner Establish a dominion land? So I will send an emissary to Divine Mot A messenger to El's Beloved, the Hero That he may summon Mot with his voice Instruct the Beloved with his insides.
Psalm 29:8
Hebrew Bible
3 The Lord’s shout is heard over the water; the majestic God thunders, the Lord appears over the surging water. 4 The Lord’s shout is powerful; the Lord’s shout is majestic. 5 The Lord’s shout breaks the cedars; the Lord shatters the cedars of Lebanon. 6 He makes them skip like a calf, Lebanon and Sirion like a young ox. 7 The Lord’s shout strikes with flaming fire. 8 The Lord’s shout shakes the wilderness; the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. 9 The Lord’s shout bends the large trees and strips the leaves from the forests. Everyone in his temple says, “Majestic!” 10 The Lord sits enthroned over the engulfing waters; the Lord sits enthroned as the eternal king. 11 The Lord gives his people strength; the Lord grants his people security.
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Notes and References
“... Psalm 29 then depicts Yahweh as a warrior
god in a storm moving from west to east. Th e divine “voice” thunders over the waters,
evidently with the Mediterranean Sea in view (vv. 3–4). Th e picture here recalls Baal’s
theophanic “voice” issued against his enemies (KTU 1.4 VII 25–37, SAC 137) as well as
his victory over the god Sea (KTU 1.2 IV, SAC 114–15). [...] Th en
Yahweh’s storm-theophany “shakes the wilderness of Kadesh” (v. 8), a place with vir-
tually the same name in Ugaritic (KTU 1.23.65: SAC 165: “holy desert”). Even if these
are two diff erent places with the same name, they point to a shared tradition. [...] Psalm 29’s depiction of Yahweh as a storm-god, along with specifi c geographical
references, suggests a Canaanite background. [...] Dennis Pardee states: “Beyond the
simple appropriation of one or two individual characteristics of Baal to Yahweh, how-
ever, Psalm 29 seems to refl ect a familiarity with a signifi cant portion of the Baal story
as it is known from the Ugaritic texts” (2009: 121; see also 2005: 153–81; 2012: 96–101). ...”
Smith, Mark S.
"Canaanite Backgrounds to the Psalms" in Brown, William P. (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of the Psalms
(p. 48–49) Oxford University Press, 2014
* 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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