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KTU

Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit

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Incantation against Snakebite

KTU 1.82

[…] Baal struck […] Tunnanu, and […] and poured out […]
[…] to the earth […]
[…] Baal, the arrows of Rashap […] his kidneys and his heart.⁠
[…] your mouth on the mountain, […] your mouth […] your teeth.
[…] and your lips […] to Mot […]
[…] the voice of Shapshu […] serpents […]
[…]
[And] he speaks […] take me […] take me.
[…] in the vineyards […]
[…] before me […] Baal […]
[…] Anat […] like […]
[…] dust […] your house he drives you out.
[…]
[…] your hand […]
[…]
[…] your eye […]
[…]
[…] daughters […] daughters […]
[…]
[…] in his hand […]
[…] open […]
[…] the orphan girl, the poor woman goes […]
[…] son of Htt, son of Htt […]
[…] like the poor woman goes, like […]
[The] window […] like […]
[…] palace […]
[…] to Horon […]
[…] voice […]
[…]
[…]
[…]
[…] to the voice of the [Rephaim]
[…]
[…] good […]
[…] serpents, and turn back […]
[…] sister […]
[…] to your path […]
[…] the earth […] Baal.
[…] also to your assembly; Anat rises, Anat rises.
[…] your [assembly] he drives you out, […] your house he drives you out.
[…] daughters […] daughters […] the servant of Horon […]
[…] your eye […] the gods.
[…] and bones like bones […], like stones […]

Texts in conversation

Compare KTU 1.82:3 and Deuteronomy 32:23

Ancient Near East, Ugaritic · Hebrew Bible

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Summary

In Deuteronomy 32, God's arrows and plague recall the Ugaritic archer god Resheph, whose name is the very Hebrew word used for the plague, placing a feared divine weapon under God's control.

Passages

KTU 1.82:3

Ancient Near East, Ugaritic · Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit
[…] Baal struck […] Tunnanu, and […] and poured out […] […] to the earth […] […] Baal, the arrows of Rashap […] his kidneys and his heart. […] your mouth on the mountain, […] your mouth […] your teeth. […] and your lips […] to Mot […] […] the voice of Shapshu […] serpents […] […] [And] he speaks […] take me […] take me. […] in the vineyards […] […] before me […] Baal […] […] Anat […] like […] […] dust […] your house he drives you out.
1350–1185 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in KTU

Deuteronomy 32:23

Hebrew Bible
21 They have made me jealous with false gods, enraging me with their worthless gods; so I will make them jealous with a people they do not recognize, with a nation slow to learn I will enrage them. 22 For a fire has been kindled by my anger, and it burns to lowest Sheol; it consumes the earth and its produce, and ignites the foundations of the mountains. 23 I will increase their disasters; I will use up my arrows on them. 24 They will be starved by famine, eaten by plague, and bitterly stung; I will send the teeth of wild animals against them, along with the poison of creatures that crawl in the dust. 25 The sword will make people childless outside, and terror will do so inside; they will destroy both the young man and the virgin, the infant and the gray-haired man.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Deuteronomy

References

“... Some scholars object to deber as a true deity name, but its partnering with rešep in Habakkuk 3:5 strongly suggests this is the case, “given the presence of [Resheph] in the Ugaritic texts as a god of destruction (KTU 1.14 I 18–19; 1.82:3).”99 Rešep appears in Deuteronomy 32:23–24, where Yahweh threatens his apostate people: 23And I will heap disasters upon them; I will spend my arrows on them; 24they shall be wasted with hunger (rāʿāb), and devoured by plague (rešep) and poisonous pestilence (qeṭeb). As noted above, Resheph is a deity of destruction at Ugarit. He is portrayed as an archer there (KTU 1.82:3), and so the phrase “spending my arrows” is interesting. Resheph is accompanied by qeṭeb and rāʿāb. The former appears in an Ugaritic text as a kinsman of Mōt (“Death”). The latter appears to be an epithet of Mōt.100 In Psalm 91:3–6, the psalmist writes that those who dwell in the shelter of the Most High and abide in the shadow of the Almighty will be delivered “from the deadly pestilence [deber]” (v. 3) and will not fear “the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence [deber] that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction [qeṭeb] that wastes at noonday” (v. 5–6). Why? Because these forces are not autonomous deities. Yahweh of Israel is in control of them. Consequently, he will protect his own from their lethal harm. ...”
Michael S. Heiser, Demons: What the Bible Really Says about the Powers of Darkness (Bellingham, WA: Lexham, 2020), PDF 39.

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 1.82:3 and Deuteronomy 32:23

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