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KTU

Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit

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Baal Cycle

KTU 1.3 II

[…]
Henna enough for seven girls,
scent of coriander and murex. Anat did close the gates of the mansion,
and she met the pages at the foot of the rock.
And behold! Anat fought in the vale,⁠
battled between the two cities,
struck the people,
silenced the men of the sun-rise.⁠
Heads were like balls beneath her,
palms above her like locusts,
palms of warriors like avenging grasshoppers.
She did stick the heads on her waist,
did bind the palms to her sash. She plunged her knees in the blood of the guards,
her skirts in the gore of the warriors.
With her shafts she drove forth the old men,
with her bowstring the townspeople.
Then behold! Anat proceeded to her house,
the goddess started for her palace;
but she was not sated with her fighting in the vale,
her battling between the two cities. She arranged chairs for the warriors,⁠
she did arrange tables for the soldiers,
stools for the heroes.
Anat fought hard and looked,⁠
she battled and surveyed the scene;
her liver swelled with laughter,⁠
her heart was filled with joy, the liver of Anat with triumph,
as she plunged her knees in the blood of the guards,⁠
her skirts in the gore of the warriors,
until she was sated with fighting in the house,
with battling between the tables. The blood of the guards was wiped from the house
and oil of a peace-offering was poured from a bowl.
The virgin Anat washed her hands,
the sister-in-law of peoples her fingers;
she washed her hands of the blood of the guards,
her fingers of the gore of the warriors.
She did put back chairs with chairs, tables with tables,
she put back stools with stools.
She scooped up water and washed herself,
dew of heaven and oil of earth, showers of the rider on the clouds,
dew that the heavens poured upon her,
showers that the stars did pour upon her.

Texts in conversation

Compare KTU 1.3 II:8 and Isaiah 59:18

Ancient Near East, Ugaritic · Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Isaiah 59 shares the Baal Cycle's image of Anat as an angry god fighting enemies across the earth, making defense of justice a task requiring divine force.

Passages

KTU 1.3 II:8

Ancient Near East, Ugaritic · Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit
And behold! Anat fought in the vale, battled between the two cities, struck the people, silenced the men of the sun-rise. Heads were like balls beneath her, palms above her like locusts, palms of warriors like avenging grasshoppers. She did stick the heads on her waist, did bind the palms to her sash. She plunged her knees in the blood of the guards, her skirts in the gore of the warriors. With her shafts she drove forth the old men, with her bowstring the townspeople. Then behold! Anat proceeded to her house, the goddess started for her palace; but she was not sated with her fighting in the vale, her battling between the two cities. She arranged chairs for the warriors, she did arrange tables for the soldiers, stools for the heroes.
1350–1185 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in KTU

Isaiah 59:18

Hebrew Bible
15 Honesty has disappeared; the one who tries to avoid evil is robbed. The Lord watches and is displeased, for there is no justice. 16 He sees there is no advocate; he is shocked that no one intervenes. So he takes matters into his own hands; his desire for justice drives him on. 17 He wears his desire for justice like body armor, and his desire to deliver is like a helmet on his head. He puts on the garments of vengeance and wears zeal like a robe. 18 He repays them for what they have done, dispensing angry judgment to his adversaries and punishing his enemies. He repays the coastlands. 19 In the west, people respect the Lord’s reputation; in the east they recognize his splendor. For he comes like a rushing stream driven on by wind sent from the Lord.
740–450 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Isaiah

References

“... There are many parallels between this Ugaritic passage and a variety of biblical texts. First, the divine battle takes place at the mountain of the deity, a motif found in Psalms 2:1-2; 48:5-8; 110; Joel 4:9-14; Zechariah 12:3-4; 14:2; and elsewhere. In Ugaritic, this motif is not restricted to Anat. Baal also fights his enemies on his mountain (KTU 1.6 VI 12-13; cf. 1.1 V 5, 18). Second, the battle is universal in scope; “peoples” are collectively the enemies of the deity. Many of the biblical passages just cited likewise contain this motif. Isaiah 59:15-19 describes the universal scope of Yahweh’s warfare: ...” “... Like Anat in KTU 1.3 II, here Yahweh is described as enraged (qin’â), and the divine enemies are described according to the “west” (ma‘ărāb) and the “east,” literally “the rising of the sun” (mizraḥ-šemeš). ...”
Mark S. Smith, The Early History of God: Yahweh and the Other Deities in Ancient Israel, 2nd ed., The Biblical Resource Series (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002), PDF 115–116.

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 1.3 II:8 and Isaiah 59:18

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