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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:38 and Psalm 68:4

Ancient Near East, Ugaritic · Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Psalm 68 describes YHWH as the one who rides the clouds, language echoing the Ugaritic title “Cloud-Rider” used for Baal in the Baal Cycle. This follows an ancient Near Eastern tradition where storm deities are depicted as riding through the heavens.

Passages

KTU 1.3 III:38

Ancient Near East, Ugaritic · Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit
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.
1350–1185 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in KTU

Psalm 68:4

Hebrew Bible
2 As smoke is driven away by the wind, so you drive them away. As wax melts before fire, so the wicked are destroyed before God. 3 But the godly are happy; they rejoice before God and are overcome with joy. 4 Sing to God! Sing praises to his name. Exalt the one who rides on the clouds. For the Lord is his name. Rejoice before him. 5 He is a father to the fatherless and an advocate for widows. God rules from his holy dwelling place.
600–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Psalms

References

“... In some cases, however, the portrayal of Yahweh includes some far more pointed references. Baal’s epithet rkb.‘rpt “rider of the clouds,” attested (so far) sixteen times at Ugarit, is found word-for-word [...] in Ps. 68.5 (Eng. 4), in similar forms in Psalm 104.3 [...] and in Isa. 19.1 [...]. Commentators have long seen this as a taking over of the standard description of the Canaan storm-god. [...] Among the “many-peaked mountains” which look with envy at Yahweh’s eternal abode, Bashan is named in verse 16, but the plural [...] suggests other candidates as well: the rival sanctuary on Mount Gerizim and/or Mount Saphon, the abode of the Cloud-rider mentioned in verse 5. As one of the mountains envying Jerusalem, Saphon produces an artful transference of Baal’s domain. ...”
James S. Anderson, Monotheism and Yahweh’s Appropriation of Baal, Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies 617 (London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2015), 86–87.

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:38 and Psalm 68:4

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