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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

Ezekiel Echoes El's Seat at the Rivers in a Ugaritic Text

Ancient Near East, Ugaritic · Hebrew Bible

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Summary

A Ugaritic text from the 14th century BCE describes El, the head god, living in a temple at the source of the rivers along with the springs of the two deeps. Ezekiel 28 describes the king of Tyre claim to sit in that same seat in the heart of the sea.

Passages

KTU 1.3 V:5

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

Ezekiel 28:2

Hebrew Bible
1 The Lord’s message came to me: 2 “Son of man, say to the prince of Tyre, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: “‘Your heart is proud and you said, “I am a god; I sit in the seat of gods, in the heart of the seas”—yet you are a man and not a god, though you think you are godlike. 3 Look, you are wiser than Daniel; no secret is hidden from you.
600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Ezekiel

References

... The name used for God in Ezekiel 28:2 (twice) and 9 is El (ʼēl). This is found in only one other place in the book of Ezekiel, in Ezekiel 10:5 (El-Shaddai). Compare also Psalm 82:1, Job 36:26 and Psalm 102:25-28 for some other places in the Old Testament where the name ʼel is used for God in association with ideas that actually pertain to El in the Ugaritic texts (divine assembly, aged deity, and creation). In saying, “I am El (God),” the king of Tyre declares, “I sit in the seat of God [or gods] (môšab ʼelōhîm) in the heart of the seas” (Ezekiel 28:2). This is suggestive of El, whose dwelling is said in the Ugaritic texts to be “at the source of rivers, in the midst of the double deep.” Although the location of Tyre itself was “in the heart of the seas” (compare Ezekiel 27:4, 32), the association of this with the “seat of God” clearly reflects El. ...
John Day, Yahweh and the Gods and Goddesses of Canaan, JSOTSup 265 (London: Sheffield Academic, 2002), 26–28.

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:5 and Ezekiel 28:2

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