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KTU

Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit

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Kirta

KTU 1.16 V

. . [ ]
. . [ ]
. . [ ]
. . . . [ ]
. . . . . . [ ]
. . . . . . [ ]
. . . . . . . . [ ]
a second time [ ]
a third time [ Then spoke]
the Kindly One [El Benignant: "Who]
among the gods can [remove the sickness],
driving out the disease?" [None among the gods]
answers him. [El] says [a fourth]
[time]: "Who among [the gods can remove]
the illness, driving o[ut the] disease?"
None among the gods a[nswers him].
He says a fifth time: "[Who among the gods]
can remove the illness, dr[iving out the] disease?"
None among the gods an[swers him]. He says a sixth,
a seventh time: "[Who] among the gods
can remove the illness, driving out the disease?"
None among the gods answers him.
Then spoke the Kindly One, El Benignant:⁠
"Remain seated, my sons, upon your seat[s],
upon yo[ur] thrones of princeship. I
will apply sorcery and will surely
bring about the removal of the illness, driving⁠
out the disease. With clay [his hand] he fills,
with good clay [ ]. He moulds⁠
. . . . . . . [ ] . . . .
[ ] dragon
[ ] dragon
[ ]
[ ]
[ ]
[ ]
. . . . [ ]
. . . . [ ]
a cup [he takes in his hand]
a flagon [in both his hands]:
"Do, Sha['taqat ]
. . . . . . . . [ ] Kir-
ta the Nob[le. ]
. . . . . [ ]
in the mouth of Sha[ta'qat ]
. . . . . . [ ]
Villages [fly over a hundred, towns]
fly over a m[ultitude . . . ]
sick[ness ]
the suf[fering one upon his/your head?]
. . . [ ]
. . . [ ]

Texts in conversation

Compare KTU 1.16 V:29 and Genesis 2:7

Ancient Near East, Ugaritic · Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Genesis 2 shares Ugarit's picture of a god shaping life from clay, where El pinches off clay to make a healer with the same verb Job 33 uses, making human existence depend on God's work with the earth.

Passages

KTU 1.16 V:29

Ancient Near East, Ugaritic · Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit
None among the gods an[swers him]. He says a sixth, a seventh time: "[Who] among the gods can remove the illness, driving out the disease?" None among the gods answers him. Then spoke the Kindly One, El Benignant: "Remain seated, my sons, upon your seat[s], upon yo[ur] thrones of princeship. I will apply sorcery and will surely bring about the removal of the illness, driving out the disease. With clay [his hand] he fills, with good clay [ ]. He moulds . . . . . . . [ ] . . . . [ ] dragon [ ] dragon [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] . . . . [ ] . . . . [ ] a cup [he takes in his hand] a flagon [in both his hands]: "Do, Sha['taqat ]
1350–1185 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in KTU

Genesis 2:7

Hebrew Bible
7 The Lord God formed the man from the soil of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. 8 The Lord God planted an orchard in the east, in Eden; and there he placed the man he had formed. 9 The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow from the soil, every tree that was pleasing to look at and good for food. (Now the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil were in the middle of the orchard.) 10 Now a river flows from Eden to water the orchard, and from there it divides into four headstreams. 11 The name of the first is Pishon; it runs through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 (The gold of that land is pure; pearls and lapis lazuli are also there.)
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Genesis

References

“... One text (KTU 1.16.5.25–​41) does mention how ʾIlu magically creates an exorcist named Shaʿtiqatu by “pinching off clay” (rt + yqrṣ), an expression used elsewhere of Enki’s and Yahweh’s creation of humanity. ...” “... The biblical references for this famous motif are Genesis 2:7 and Job 10:9; 33:6, with Job 33:6 (qoraṣtî) using the same cognate verb as in KTU 1.16.5.29 (yqrṣ) and as in the Akkadian phraseology of “pinching off” or “nipping” of the clay (karāṣu + ṭiddu/​ ṭīdu) to make humans. For the numerous Akkadian texts, as well as how ʾIlu (like Enki) also uses magic to create the exorcist Shaʿtiqatu, see Lewis 2013a, 2014a. ...”
Theodore J. Lewis, The Origin and Character of God: Ancient Israelite Religion through the Lens of Divinity (New York: Oxford University Press, 2020), 77, 719.

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 1.16 V:29 and Genesis 2:7

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