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KTU

Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit

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Kirta

KTU 1.14 II

[gold]; . . . . . . . . . . .
[and] perpetual [slaves]; a groom,
[horse]s, chariots from the stable of the son of a handmaid?
[Grant that] I may beget [chil]dren;
[grant that] I may multiply [kins]men."—
And Bull, his father El, [replied]:
Stop weeping, Kirta,
stop crying, gracious one, heir of El.
Wash yourself and rouge yourself;
Wash your [h]and to the elbow,
[your] fing[ers] up to the shoulder.
Enter the shade of a pavilion.
Take a lam[b in your hand],
a lamb of sac[rifice in (your)] right hand,
a kid in th[e other han]d,
. . . . . . . . . [ ] . . . . . .
Take a msrr, bird of
sacrifice. Pour wine [into a bo]wl of⁠
silver, honey into a bowl of [g]old.
{Mount to the top of a [to]wer.}
And mount to the top of a [to]wer;
mount up to the summit of the wall. Lift up your hands⁠
to heaven, sacrifice to Bull⁠
your father, El. Serve Baal
with your sacrifice, the Son of Dagan
with your oblation. Then let Kirta
descend from the housetops. Prepare
grain from the granaries,
wheat from the storehouses.
Let bread be baked of a fifth,
food of a sixth month.
Muster Ngb and let it come forth,
the host of the troops of Ngb.
And let come forth the assembled multitude,⁠
your troops, a mighty force:
three hundred myriads;
serfs uncounted,
peasants untold.
They march in thousands closely packed,
and in myriads massed.
After two, two march;
after three, all of them.
The solitary man closes his house;⁠
the widow hires herself
out; the sick man is carried in
(his) bed; the one-eyed man blinks
with one eye. And even the newly wed
bridegroom goes forth: he drives to another
his wife, to a stranger
his beloved.—(They are) like the locusts
that dwell on the steppe,

Texts in conversation

Compare KTU 1.14 II:43 and Zechariah 12:10

Ancient Near East, Ugaritic · Hebrew Bible

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Summary

The Legend of Kirta describes a forced military call where even the sick, blind, newly married, and sole heirs are taken to war. Zechariah echoes this background when it mourns a lone surviving son, someone normally spared from battle.

Passages

KTU 1.14 II:43

Ancient Near East, Ugaritic · Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit
After two, two march; after three, all of them. The solitary man closes his house; the widow hires herself out; the sick man is carried in (his) bed; the one-eyed man blinks with one eye. And even the newly wed bridegroom goes forth: he drives to another his wife, to a stranger his beloved.—(They are) like the locusts that dwell on the steppe,
1350–1185 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in KTU

Zechariah 12:10

Hebrew Bible
9 So on that day I will set out to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. 10 “I will pour out on the kingship of David and the population of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication so that they will look to me, the one they have pierced. They will lament for him as one laments for an only son, and there will be a bitter cry for him like the bitter cry for a firstborn. 11 On that day the lamentation in Jerusalem will be as great as the lamentation at Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo.
500–401 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Zechariah

References

"... The sole surviving son of a family: compare Genesis 22:2; Zechariah 12:10. This class of persons, and the rest that follow, are ordinarily excluded or exempted from military service; compare Deuteronomy 24:5. ..."
Mark S. Smith and Simon B. Parker, Ugaritic Narrative Poetry, WAW 9 (Atlanta: Scholars, 1997), 43.

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 1.14 II:43 and Zechariah 12:10

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