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KTU

Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit

About this book

Baal Cycle

KTU 1.6 VI

[…] drove him off,
[…] expelled him.
[…]
[…]
[…] Mot
Mot, the Powerful One,
Divine Mot ate his seven divine assistants.
Divine Mot cried:
“Look! It is my brothers whom Baal has given me for my meal,
my mother’s sons for my consumption!”
He returned to Baal in the recesses of Sapan.⁠
He lifted up his voice and cried:
“It is my brothers you have given me, Baal, for my meal,
my mother’s sons for my consumption!”
They glowered at each other like burning coals.
Mot was strong;⁠ Baal was strong.
They gored like wild bulls. Mot was strong; Baal was strong.
They bit like serpents.
Mot was strong; Baal was strong.
They tugged like hunting-dogs. Mot fell. Baal fell on top of him.
Shapshu cried to Mot:
“Listen, pray, O divine Mot!
How can you fight with Valiant Baal?
How will Bull El your father not hear you?
He will surely pull down the pillars of your dwelling,
he will surely overturn the throne of your kingship,⁠
he will surely break the scepter of your rule!”
Divine Mot was afraid; the Beloved of El, the hero, was in dread.
Mot started at her voice and lifted up his voice and cried:
“Let Baal be installed on the throne of his kingship,
on the back-rest, on the siege of his dominion!”
of his dominion […]
[…]
[…]
[…] year […]
[…] El of mercy
[…]
[…]
“Come, pray, to the fresh meat; yes, eat the offering-bread;
[…] fresh; indeed you shall eat
pray drink the libation-wine.
Shapshu, you rule the saviors; Shapshu, you rule the chthonian gods.⁠
the Rephaim are under you;
Shapshu, under you are the divine ones;⁠
Your company are the gods; lo, mortals are your company.
Kothar is your associate, and Hasis is your companion.
and Hasis is your friend.
In the sea of Arsh and the dragon,
Kothar-wa-Hasis, steer the bark!
Pilot the ship, Kothar-wa-Hasis!”
Scribe: Ilimilku the Shubbanite,
pupil of Attenu the diviner, chief
of the priests, chief of the herdsmen,
official of Niqmaddu, king of Ugarit,
lord of Yrgb, master of Trmn.

Texts in conversation

Compare KTU 1.6 VI:47 and Isaiah 8:19

Ancient Near East, Ugaritic · Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Isaiah's warning about asking the dead for guidance shares the Baal Cycle's language that calls the dead gods, exposing a religious practice that competed with the prophet's message.

Passages

KTU 1.6 VI:47

Ancient Near East, Ugaritic · Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit
Divine Mot was afraid; the Beloved of El, the hero, was in dread. Mot started at her voice and lifted up his voice and cried: “Let Baal be installed on the throne of his kingship, on the back-rest, on the siege of his dominion!” of his dominion […] […] […] […] year […] […] El of mercy […] […] “Come, pray, to the fresh meat; yes, eat the offering-bread; […] fresh; indeed you shall eat pray drink the libation-wine. Shapshu, you rule the saviors; Shapshu, you rule the chthonian gods. the Rephaim are under you; Shapshu, under you are the divine ones; Your company are the gods; lo, mortals are your company. Kothar is your associate, and Hasis is your companion. and Hasis is your friend. In the sea of Arsh and the dragon, Kothar-wa-Hasis, steer the bark!
1350–1185 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in KTU

Isaiah 8:19

Hebrew Bible
16 Tie up the testimony32, seal the official record of God’s instructions, and give it to my followers. 17 I will wait patiently for the Lord, who has rejected the family of Jacob; I will wait for him. 18 Look, I and the sons whom the Lord has given me are reminders and object lessons in Israel, sent from the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, who lives on Mount Zion. 19 They will say to you, “Seek oracles at the pits used to conjure up underworld spirits, from the magicians who chirp and mutter incantations. Should people not seek oracles from their gods, by asking the dead about the destiny of the living?” 20 Then you must recall the Lord’s instructions and the prophetic testimony of what would happen. Certainly they say such things because their minds are spiritually darkened.
740–450 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Isaiah

References

“... The concern was not simply what was acceptable to so-called normative Yahwistic religion. Rather, the issue concerns a form of inquiry that competed with prophecy in ancient Israel. Like Isaiah 8:16-20 and Deuteronomy 18:9- 22, 1 Samuel 28:3 frames the question of inquiry as a form of appropriating information from sources that some pre-exilic prophets and Deuteronomists considered wrong. Indeed, necromancy competed with prophecy (Isa. 8:19- 20; 29:4; cf. Lev. 19:26). [...] Elsewhere the dead are called ’ělōhîm, “gods,” as in 1 Samuel 28:3 and Isaiah 8:19. KTU 1.6 VI 45-49 illustrates this usage. In these four lines, rp’im, “rephaim,” is parallel with ’ilnym, “divinities,” and ’ilm, “gods,” is parallel with mtm, “the dead.” The second and third terms are etymologically related to Hebrew ’ělōhîm, “gods.” Similarly, Akkadian ilu and Phoenician ’ln are used for the dead. ...”
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 162.

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 1.6 VI:47 and Isaiah 8:19

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