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KTU

Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit

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Sacrifices for the Month of Ibaalat and Prayer for Ugarit

KTU 1.119

In the month of Ibaalat, on the seventh day,
a ram for Baal of Rkt, in […]
and the house of Baal of Ugarit […]
When the sun sets, the king is free. On the seven-
teenth day, the king washes himself clean:⁠
a cow, holy to El; a cow for the Baals;
a cow for the lad; two ewes and a cow
for the two maidens. In the house […], he sacrifices,
and […] behind the house of Baal
of Ugarit: a lamb and a city dove
as a gift offering. On the eighteenth day of Ibaalat,
a bull for the […] of Baal of Ugarit,
both a burnt offering and an elevation offering. There shall sacrifice
the king in the house of El: a neck for [Ushkhara],
a neck for Baal […]
and a donkey for […]
[…]
[…] two […]
[…]
On the fourth day, birds; on the fifth day, birds
and a liver, and a ram as a burnt offering for Baal
of Ugarit, in the house. On the seventh day […]
[…]. When the sun sets,
the king is free. Here is the oil of well-being
of Baal, […]
When the mighty one attacks your gate,⁠
the warrior, your walls, you shall lift up your eyes to Baal.
O Baal: If you drive the mighty one from our gate,⁠
the warrior from our walls: A bull, O Baal, we will consecrate;
a vow, Baal, we will fulfill;⁠
a firstborn, Baal, we will consecrate;
a flesh sacrifice, Baal, we will fulfill. A feast, Baal, we will prepare;
the sanctuary, Baal, we will ascend; the path of Baal’s temple, we will walk.
Then Baal will listen to your prayer.
He will drive the mighty one from your gate,
the warrior from your walls.

Texts in conversation

Compare KTU 1.119:26 and 2 Kings 3:26

Ancient Near East, Ugaritic · Hebrew Bible

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Summary

In the Ugaritic text KTU and 2 Kings 3, human sacrifice is portrayed as a last resort in times of war. KTU includes the vow to sacrifice a firstborn if Baal saves the city, and in 2 Kings, the Moabite king sacrifices his son when defeat seems near.

Passages

KTU 1.119:26

Ancient Near East, Ugaritic · Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit
When the mighty one attacks your gate, the warrior, your walls, you shall lift up your eyes to Baal. O Baal: If you drive the mighty one from our gate, the warrior from our walls: A bull, O Baal, we will consecrate; a vow, Baal, we will fulfill; a firstborn, Baal, we will consecrate; a flesh sacrifice, Baal, we will fulfill. A feast, Baal, we will prepare; the sanctuary, Baal, we will ascend; the path of Baal’s temple, we will walk. Then Baal will listen to your prayer. He will drive the mighty one from your gate, the warrior from your walls.
1350–1185 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in KTU

2 Kings 3:26

Hebrew Bible
25 They tore down the cities, and each man threw a stone into every cultivated field until they were covered. They stopped up every spring and chopped down every productive tree. Only Kir Hareseth was left intact, but the soldiers armed with slings surrounded it and attacked it. 26 When the king of Moab realized he was losing the battle, he and 700 swordsmen tried to break through and attack the king of Edom, but they failed. 27 So he took his firstborn son, who was to succeed him as king, and offered him up as a burnt sacrifice on the wall. There was an outburst of divine anger against Israel, so they broke off the attack and returned to their homeland.
600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in 2 Kings

References

"... From the limited number of ritual texts available from Ugarit, it is not possible to determine whether the identified deities were the only ones associated with individual problems. Sometimes, relevant information is available from other sources in Syria-Palestine; in the case of the besieged city, for example, the biblical book of Kings (2 Kings 3:26-27) provides an example of calling on a god to lift a siege on a city, though unfortunately the deity being petitioned by means of the child sacrifice is not named. Whether the deities referred to in the various Ugaritic incantations would vary by location is also uncertain ..."
Lowell K. Handy, Among the Host of Heaven: The Syro-Palestinian Pantheon as Bureaucracy (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1994), 27.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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KTU 1.119:26 and 2 Kings 3:26

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