Texts in Conversation
The tear-soaked bed in Psalm 6 shares Kirta's grief before divine help, where his tears fall to the ground like silver coins until El answers in a dream, making suffering part of a prayer that expects an answer.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
KTU 1.14 I:30
Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit
Ancient Near East
He enters his cubicle, he weeps, an inner chamber and cries. His tears drop like shekels to the ground. His bed was soaked by his weeping, and he slept a slumber in his crying. Sleep prevails (over him?) and he lies, slumber and he reclines. And in his dream El descends, in his vision the Father of Man (Adam). And he approaches asking Kirta: "What ails you, Kirta, that he weeps, that he cries, Naaman the Lad of El? Is it the kingship of Bull his father that he desires, or authority like the Father of Man (Adam)?" [ ? ] [Here El doubtless offers Kirta 'silver and gold and perpetual slaves,' etc. (cf. ll. 53 ff.; 126 ff.; 137 ff.; 250 ff.; 269 ff.; 282 ff.).
Psalm 6:6
Hebrew Bible
2 Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am frail. Heal me, Lord, for my bones are shaking. 3 I am absolutely terrified, and you, Lord—how long will this continue? 4 Relent, Lord, rescue me! Deliver me because of your faithfulness. 5 For no one remembers you in the realm of death. In Sheol who gives you thanks? 6 I am exhausted as I groan. All night long I drench my bed in tears; my tears saturate the cushion beneath me. 7 My eyes grow dim from suffering; they grow weak because of all my enemies. 8 Turn back from me, all you who behave wickedly, for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping. 9 The Lord has heard my appeal for mercy; the Lord has accepted my prayer. 10 They will be humiliated and absolutely terrified. All my enemies will turn back and be suddenly humiliated.
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Notes and References
“... Oswald Loretz notes that von Soden’s interpretation corre-
sponds with an Ugaritic parallel in KTU 1.14 i.28–30:39
tntkn . udmʿth
his tears are poured forth
km . ṯqlm . arṣh
like shekels on the ground
km ḫmšt . mṭth
like five-weight shekels on the couch
Kirta moistens his bed with tears. The psalmist uses stronger imagery that exag-
gerates the volume of tears, but the image of weeping on a bed or couch is
common to both texts. Like the speaker in Ps 6, Kirta weeps at night and finds
divine help.40 Kirta falls asleep on his tear-soaked bed and receives a vision from
El telling him how to get an heir. The speaker in Ps 6 expresses confidence in
divine assistance in verses 9–11 but provides no explanation for this change of
tone. Nighttime is elsewhere identified as a time for weeping (Ps 42:4; Lam 1:2;
2:18) and prayer generally (Pss 16:7; 17:3; 42:9; 77:7–10; 88:1–2; 92:3; 119:55,
62; 134:1). Psalm 30:6 identifies night as a time for weeping and morning as a time
for rejoicing, and the theme of salvation in the morning appears in several texts
(Pss 5:4; 46:6; 88:14; 90:14).41 Although night and day may contrast like sorrow
and joy, some texts combine night and day to emphasize the continuity and dura-
tion of suffering and weeping (Ps 42:4; Lam 2:18). ...”
Bosworth, David A.
House of Weeping: The Motif of Tears in Akkadian and Hebrew Prayers
(p. 99) SBL Press, 2019
* 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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