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KTU

Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit

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Baal Cycle

KTU 1.4 VI

And Kothar-wa-Hasis responds:
You will revert, Baal, to my suggestion.
Kothar-wa-Hasis inquires again:
Please hear, Mightiest Baal:
Shall I not fit a window in the house
A vent in the midst of the palace?
And Mightiest Baal retorts:
You shall not install a window in the house⁠
A vent in the midst of the palace.
So that Pidray, Daughter of Light
Tallay, Daughter of Showers
The Beloved of El, Yamm, do not ... And spat ...
[…] insulted me and spat
And Kothar-wa-Hasis replies:
You will return, Baal, to my suggestion.
Swiftly, he builds his house
Quickly, he raises his palace.
He sends to Lebanon for its timber
To Siryon for its prime cedar.
Indeed to Lebanon for its timber
To Siryon for its choice cedar.
A fire is kindled in the house
A flame within the palace.
Behold! For one day, then two Fire blazes in the house
A flame within the palace.
For a third day, then a fourth
Fire burns in the house
A flame within the palace.
For a fifth day, then a sixth Fire blazes in the house
A flame within the palace.
Then, on the seventh day⁠
The fire departs the house
The flame, the palace.
The silver has transformed into plates
The gold into bricks. Mightiest Baal exults:
I have built my house of silver
My palace of gold.
Baal organizes for his dwelling
Haddu arranges for his palace.⁠
He slaughters large livestock and small:
He slaughters bulls and fatling rams
Year-old calves
Sheep in droves, and kids.
He invites his siblings into his house
His kin within his palace;
He invites the seventy sons of Athirat.⁠
He offers the gods rams
Offers the goddesses ewes.
He offers the gods bulls
Offers the goddesses cows.
He offers the gods thrones
Offers the goddesses seats.
He offers the gods jars of wine
Offers the goddesses cruets of wine.
As the gods dine, drink
A suckling of the breast is offered
With a salted knife, a cut of fatling.
They drink wine from goblets
From gold cups, the blood of trees.
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Texts in conversation

Compare KTU 1.4 VI:31 and Genesis 2:2

Ancient Near East, Ugaritic · Hebrew Bible

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Summary

The Baal Cycle describes Baal’s palace built over six days, with the work completed on the seventh day. Genesis echoes the same seven-day pattern, with God finishing creation on the sixth day and resting on the seventh.

Passages

KTU 1.4 VI:31

Ancient Near East, Ugaritic · Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit
A flame within the palace. Behold! For one day, then two Fire blazes in the house A flame within the palace. For a third day, then a fourth Fire burns in the house A flame within the palace. For a fifth day, then a sixth Fire blazes in the house A flame within the palace. Then, on the seventh day The fire departs the house The flame, the palace.
1350–1185 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in KTU

Genesis 2:2

Hebrew Bible
1 The heavens and the earth were completed with everything that was in them. 2 By the seventh day God finished the work that he had been doing, and he ceased on the seventh day all the work that he had been doing. 3 God blessed the seventh day and made it holy because on it he ceased all the work that he had been doing in creation.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Genesis

References

"… This connection is further substantiated by the fact that the rest takes place on the seventh day. Several examples of temple inaugurations from ancient Near Eastern literature, cited above, show that these rites took place in the course of seven days and that the deity entered the temple to take up his rest on the seventh day. Mark Smith, in his discussion of the motif of seven days in Genesis 1, concludes, with Hurowitz, that “creation in Genesis 1 uses the language of temple-building.” Regardless of whether Genesis 1 is understood as reflecting a temple-building account (like the building of Baal’s Temple in seven days) or a temple-inauguration account (like the temple inauguration in Gudea Cylinder B), the connection between Genesis 1 and temple imagery is confirmed. …"
John H. Walton, Genesis 1 as Ancient Cosmology (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2011), 181.

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 1.4 VI:31 and Genesis 2:2

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