Texts in Conversation
Jeremiah reverses the joyful birth announcement known from Ugaritic stories, making a familiar celebration express rejection of his painful calling.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
KTU 1.10 III:35
Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit
Ancient Near East
[…] the bull […] […] the bull […] She goes and soars […] among the lovely, among the [beautiful]. A cow, a cow […] she bears a bull […] and a wild ox for […] She embraces the [cow], she embraces the cow […] and covers him with her breast. He goes up […] […] […] she goes up on the mountain, […] on the mountain of victory, and she goes up […] to Arar, into Arar and into Sapan, into the pleasant place, on the mountain of victory. Aloud to Baal she proclaims: “Good news, El! Good news, Baal! And good news, scion of Dagan: a bull is born to Baal, and a wild ox to the Rider on the Clouds.” Mighty Baal rejoices.
Jeremiah 20:15
Hebrew Bible
14 Cursed be the day I was born! May that day not be blessed when my mother gave birth to me. 15 Cursed be the man who made my father very glad when he brought him the news that a baby boy had been born to him! 16 May that man be like the cities that the Lord destroyed without showing any mercy. May he hear a cry of distress in the morning and a battle cry at noon. 17 For he did not kill me before I came from the womb, making my pregnant mother’s womb my grave forever. 18 Why did I ever come forth from my mother’s womb? All I experience is trouble and grief, and I spend my days in shame.
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Notes and References
“... 57. Ug. kyld.bn.ly. This can be translated in one of two ways. 'For a son will be
born to me', as future (thus, e.g., Gaster 1961: 338; Jirku 1962: 118; Aistleitner
1964: 69; Gibson 1978: 105; del Olmo 1981a: 372; de Moor 1987: 231; Margalit
1989a: 146; Aitken 1990: 35; Pardee 1997c: 345); or 'for a son is (or has been)
born to me' as past (thus, e.g., Virolleaud 1936d: 198; Driver 1956: 51; Ginsberg
1969: 150; Caquot and Sznycer 1974: 425; Husser 1996: 90). As Husser points out,
this is a well-known birth formula. He cites KTU 1.10 iii 36-37, Jer. 20.15, Isa. 9.5,
and similar wording in KTU 1.23.52-53; Job 3.3; Lk. 2.10-11. Cf. Parker (1988).
Husser notes (p. 91) that the 'love-scene' narrative would have occurred in the
lacuna between cols. i and ii, and so would the event of the hirth. ...”
* 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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