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KTU

Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit

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Baal Cycle

KTU 1.3 V

“I shall trample him like a lamb to the ground;
I shall make his gray hair run with blood, the gray hair of his beard with gore,⁠
if he does not give a house to Baal like the gods,
and a dwelling like the sons of Athirat!” She stamped her feet, and the earth shook.
Then she set her face towards El at the source of the rivers,⁠
amidst the springs of the two deeps.
She rolled back the tent of El, and came to the pavilion of the King, the Father of the Bright One.⁠
She came to the territory, the tent of the creator.
Bull El her father heard her voice. El replied from within the seven chambers,
through the eight façades of the closed rooms:
[…]
Above […]
“At the feet of the divine assistants I fall: I am much afraid!
Much […]
Will the Luminary of the gods, Shapshu, carry me off,
the Burning One, strength of the heavens, into the hands of divine Mot?”
Then Virgin Anat replied: “Do not let the sons of your house, O El, do not let the daughters of your house rejoice,
do not let the children of your palace rejoice!
I shall surely seize them in my right hand,
and smite them by the strength of my long arm! I shall strike the top of your skull,
and make your gray hair run with blood, the gray hair of your beard with gore!”
El replied from within the seven chambers,⁠ through the eight façades of the closed rooms:
“I know you, daughter, that you are pitiless,
and that among goddesses there is no contempt like yours! What do you desire of me, O Virgin Anat?”
And Virgin Anat replied:
“Your word, El, is wise; you are everlastingly wise;⁠
a life of good fortune is your word.
Our king is Valiant, Baal is our ruler; there is none who is above him.
We should all carry his chalice, we should all carry his cup.”
Groaning, he cries to Bull El his father, to El the king who begot him.⁠
He cries to Athirat and her sons, to the goddess and the band of her kinsmen:
“There is no house for Baal like the gods, nor dwelling like the sons of Athirat.
El has a home, his sons have shelters,
the Great Lady-who-tramples-Yamm has a home,
Pidray daughter of Light has a home, Tallay daughter of Shower has a shelter;
Arsay, daughter of Snatcher-for-ever has a home, the perfect brides have homes.”
[…]
[…] earth

Texts in conversation

Compare KTU 1.3 V:25 and Amos 9:6

Ancient Near East, Ugaritic · Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Amos 9 describes God living in a palace in heaven, similar to Ugaritic tradition, where El lives in a large palace. In the Baal Cycle, El is described as speaking from many chambers and facades, a structure that follows the layered design of temples.

Passages

KTU 1.3 V:25

Ancient Near East, Ugaritic · Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit
Then Virgin Anat replied: “Do not let the sons of your house, O El, do not let the daughters of your house rejoice, do not let the children of your palace rejoice! I shall surely seize them in my right hand, and smite them by the strength of my long arm! I shall strike the top of your skull, and make your gray hair run with blood, the gray hair of your beard with gore!” El replied from within the seven chambers, through the eight façades of the closed rooms: “I know you, daughter, that you are pitiless, and that among goddesses there is no contempt like yours! What do you desire of me, O Virgin Anat?” And Virgin Anat replied:
1350–1185 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in KTU

Amos 9:6

Hebrew Bible
5 The Sovereign Lord of Heaven’s Armies will do this. He touches the earth and it dissolves; all who live on it mourn. The whole earth rises like the Nile River and then grows calm like the Nile in Egypt. 6 He builds the upper rooms of his palace in heaven and sets its foundation supports on the earth. He summons the water of the sea and pours it out on the earth’s surface. The Lord is his name. 7 “You Israelites are just like the Ethiopians in my sight,” says the Lord. “Certainly I brought Israel up from the land of Egypt, but I also brought the Philistines from Caphtor and the Arameans from Kir.
600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Amos

References

"... An interesting reference to El's abode occurs in a text in which Anat comes to the mountain of El to request that a palace be built for Baal ... Some significant features regarding El's abode deserve discussion. At first, it seems clear that the text refers to El's heavenly/mythical abode. The description of El's sanctuary as a seven-room palace points to grandeur and majesty that exceed an earthly sanctuary. In fact, that El is depicted as being located at the innermost chamber of his abode recalls the layouts of ANE temples in which an image of the deity was housed in the innermost sanctuary ..."
Elias Brasil de Souza, “The Heavenly Sanctuary/Temple Motif in the Hebrew Bible: Function and Relationship to the Earthly Counterparts” (PhD diss., Andrews University, 2005), 64–65.

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 V:25 and Amos 9:6

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