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KTU

Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit

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Baal Cycle

KTU 1.2 I


[…]
You […]
Valiant Baal […]
your dominion […]
On your head, All-Driver […]
Ruler Nahar. [May he break] […]
your head, Athtart [Name of Baal], [your skull]
[…] you will fall […]
The Father of the Bright One (has) two wives...
Yamm sent messengers, Ruler Nahar an embassy.
With great rejoicing they flew heavenwards
their nostrils flaring. Depart, divine assistants, do not stay! Indeed, set your faces⁠
towards the convocation of the Council, towards the divine mountain. At the feet of El you shall fall
you shall honour the convocation of the Council! Standing upright, you shall then speak,
declaring your message. And you shall say to Bull your father El, declare to the convocation of the Council:
Message of Yamm, your master, of your lord, Ruler Nahar:
Give up the god whom you obey, the one whom you obey, Tempest! Give up Baal and his retinue,
the Son of Dagan, whose gold I shall seize! The divine assistants depart; they do not delay. Then they set their faces towards the divine mountain,
towards the convocation of the Council. Now the gods were sitting to eat,⁠
the sons of the Holy One to dine. Baal stood by El. Lo, the gods saw them,
they saw the messengers of Yamm, the embassy of Ruler Nahar.
The gods lowered their heads onto their knees, and onto the thrones of their princeships.
Baal rebuked them: Why, O gods, have you lowered your heads onto your knees,
and onto the thrones of your princeships? I see, gods,
that the tablets of Yamm's messengers, of the embassy of Ruler Nahar, are humiliating (you).
Lift up, O gods, your heads from on your knees,⁠ from the thrones of your princeships,
and I shall answer the messengers of Yamm, the embassy of Ruler Nahar.
The gods raise their heads from on their knees, from the thrones of their princeships.
Afterwards the messengers of Yamm arrive, the embassy of Ruler Nahar. At the feet of El
they do not fall, they do not honour the convocation of the Council. Standing upright, they speak,
[declaring] their message. Like a fire, two fires, they appear; a whetted sword
[is their tongue]. They say to Bull his father El: Message of Yamm, your master,
[of your lord], Ruler Nahar: Give up the god whom you obey, the one whom you obey,
[Tempest]! Give up Baal and his retinue, the Son of Dagan, whose gold I shall seize!
[And] Bull his father El [answers]: Baal is your servant, O Yamm, Baal is your servant,
[O Nahar], the Son of Dagan is your prisoner. He will bring you tribute like the gods,
[…] he will bring you gifts like the sons of the Holy One. Then Prince Baal was enraged.
[He seizes] a knife in his hand, in his right hand a weapon to strike the divine assistants. He lunges
[…] Anat seizes; his left hand Athtart seizes. How [can you strike]
[…] [the embassy] of Ruler Nahar […]
[…] a messenger; between his shoulders is the word of his master, and […]
[…] Then Prince Baal was enraged […]
[…] the messengers of Yamm, the embassy of Ruler [Nahar] […]
[…] I say to Yamm, your master, [your lord], [Ruler]
[Nahar] […] hear the word […]
[…]

Texts in conversation

Compare KTU 1.2 I:20 and Isaiah 6:8

Ancient Near East, Ugaritic · Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Isaiah 6 draws on the Baal Cycle's picture of a heavenly royal court, where El presides over the assembled gods, presenting the prophet's task as a commission from the divine king.

Passages

KTU 1.2 I:20

Ancient Near East, Ugaritic · Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit
Yamm sent messengers, Ruler Nahar an embassy. With great rejoicing they flew heavenwards their nostrils flaring. Depart, divine assistants, do not stay! Indeed, set your faces towards the convocation of the Council, towards the divine mountain. At the feet of El you shall fall you shall honour the convocation of the Council! Standing upright, you shall then speak, declaring your message. And you shall say to Bull your father El, declare to the convocation of the Council: Message of Yamm, your master, of your lord, Ruler Nahar: Give up the god whom you obey, the one whom you obey, Tempest! Give up Baal and his retinue, the Son of Dagan, whose gold I shall seize! The divine assistants depart; they do not delay. Then they set their faces towards the divine mountain, towards the convocation of the Council. Now the gods were sitting to eat, the sons of the Holy One to dine. Baal stood by El. Lo, the gods saw them,
1350–1185 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in KTU

Isaiah 6:8

Hebrew Bible
3 They called out to one another, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies! His majestic splendor fills the entire earth!” 4 The sound of their voices shook the door frames, and the temple was filled with smoke. 5 I said, “Woe to me! I am destroyed, for my lips are contaminated by sin, and I live among people whose lips are contaminated by sin. My eyes have seen the king, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.” 6 But then one of the seraphs flew toward me. In his hand was a hot coal he had taken from the altar with tongs. 7 He touched my mouth with it and said, “Look, this coal has touched your lips. Your evil is removed; your sin is forgiven.” 8 I heard the voice of the Lord say, “Whom will I send? Who will go on our behalf?” I answered, “Here I am, send me!”
740–450 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Isaiah

References

“... Although the Psalms largely consist of prayer and praise, they also contain classic type-scenes attested in the Ugaritic texts. One well-known scene in both the Psalms and the Ugaritic texts is the divine council. In KTU 1.2 I ( SAC 111–13), El presides over this meeting of “the Assembly in council,” as it is called, when the messengers of the god Sea arrive and demand that the council surrender the god Baal. El then makes his judg- ment and decides to meet their demands. Th e Psalms contain rather dramatic exam- ples of a divine assembly scene in Psalms 82 and 89 (esp. vv. 5–7; cf. 1 Kgs. 22:19; Isa. 6; Dan. 7; cf. “the seat of the gods” in Ezek. 28:2). ...”
Mark S. Smith, “Canaanite Backgrounds to the Psalms,” in The Oxford Handbook of the Psalms, ed. William P. Brown (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014), 48.

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 1.2 I:20 and Isaiah 6:8

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