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KTU

Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit

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Baal Cycle

KTU 1.3 III

She decorated herself with purple cloth, which takes a thousand fields
to harvest from the sea.
[…]
[You will see her] holding her lyre in her hands,
placing her lute to her breast: a song of the love of Exalted Baal,
of the passion of Pidray, daughter of Lightning,
of the affection of Tallay, daughter of Rain, of the love of Arsay, daughter of Netherworld.
Next, enter like a pair of acolytes,
and bow to the ground before Anat’s feet.
Prostrate yourselves; show her respect.
Then say to Maiden Anat —
repeat to the Kinswoman of the People:
“A message from Exalted Baal; words from the Exalted Warrior.
Come find battle in the land;
leave love in the dust.
Pour peace into the chasms of the land,
harmony into the chasms of the fields.
Hasten, hustle, hurry up!
“Let your feet run to me, let your legs race to me,
for I have thoughts to tell you,
and I have words to share:
a thought of trees and a murmur of stone,
a whisper between heaven and earth,
between the deep and the stars.
“I understand the lightning beyond the heavens’ ken,
the thoughts beyond human knowledge, that which the throngs below cannot understand.
Come, and I will show it:
deep inside my mountain, holy Sapan,
in the sacred space on my native peak,⁠
in the paradise upon the hill of victory.”⁠
Watch! Anat sees the gods. Below, her feet start shaking.
All around, her limbs are shivering.
Up above, her face sweats. Shudders wrack the bones of every limb;
the bones within her spine turn weak. She spoke up and cried out,
“Why have Gupan and Ugar come here?
What enemy rises up against Baal?⁠
What rival faces the Cloud-Rider?⁠ Didn’t I crush El’s beloved, Yamm (Ocean)?⁠
Didn’t I annihilate Nahar (River), the great god?⁠
Didn’t I leash Dragon and bind him in a saddle?⁠
I crushed the Sinuous Serpent, Encircler,⁠
the seven-headed monster.
I crushed the gods’ beloved, Arsha.
I ravaged El’s young bull, Ataka.
I crushed the gods’ she-wolf, Fire.
I annihilated El’s daughter, Zabiba. I’ve reaped silver from my fighting;
I’ve taken possession of gold of those who drove Baal from the heights of Sapan”

Texts in conversation

Compare KTU 1.3 III:31 and Psalm 27:4

Ancient Near East, Ugaritic · Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Psalm 27 shares the Baal Cycle's language for Baal's pleasant mountain home, making enjoyment of God's presence part of the reason to seek his temple.

Passages

KTU 1.3 III:31

Ancient Near East, Ugaritic · Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit
“I understand the lightning beyond the heavens’ ken, the thoughts beyond human knowledge, that which the throngs below cannot understand. Come, and I will show it: deep inside my mountain, holy Sapan, in the sacred space on my native peak, in the paradise upon the hill of victory.” Watch! Anat sees the gods. Below, her feet start shaking. All around, her limbs are shivering. Up above, her face sweats. Shudders wrack the bones of every limb; the bones within her spine turn weak. She spoke up and cried out, “Why have Gupan and Ugar come here? What enemy rises up against Baal? What rival faces the Cloud-Rider? Didn’t I crush El’s beloved, Yamm (Ocean)? Didn’t I annihilate Nahar (River), the great god? Didn’t I leash Dragon and bind him in a saddle? I crushed the Sinuous Serpent, Encircler, the seven-headed monster.
1350–1185 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in KTU

Psalm 27:4

Hebrew Bible
2 When evil men attack me to devour my flesh, when my adversaries and enemies attack me, they stumble and fall. 3 Even when an army is deployed against me, I do not fear. Even when war is imminent, I remain confident. 4 I have asked the Lord for one thing—this is what I desire! I want to live in the Lord’s house all the days of my life, so I can gaze at the splendor of the Lord and contemplate in his temple. 5 He will surely give me shelter in the day of danger; he will hide me in his home. He will place me on an inaccessible rocky summit. 6 Now I will triumph over my enemies who surround me. I will offer sacrifices in his dwelling place and shout for joy. I will sing praises to the Lord.
600–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Psalms

References

“... Saphon and Zion share a number of epithets. For example, KTU 1.3 III 13-31 (cf. IV 7-20), cited in full in the previous section, applies qdš, “holy place,” n‛m, “pleasant place,” and nḥlt, “inheritance,” to Baal’s mountain. Similarly, Psalms 46:5 and 48:2 describe Zion as *qōdeš (cf. Exod. 15:13; Pss. 87:1; 93:5; KAI 17:1, 78:5 [?]), while Psalm 27:4 calls Yahweh’s mountain nõ‛am (cf. Ps. 16:6).378 As Greenfield has observed, nō‛am in Psalm 27:4 is followed in the next verse by wordplay or paronomasia on the root *ṣpn. Yahweh’s mountain is called a naḥălāh, “portion” (Ps. 79:1; Jer. 12:7; cf. Exod. 15:17; Ps. 16:6). The epithets for Zion and the way they are listed together in Psalm 48:2-3 likewise recall the titles for Sapan in KTU 1.3 III 29-31.380 ...”
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 105.

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 III:31 and Psalm 27:4

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