Atrahasis

Ancient Near East

The gods wept with her for the country. She was sated with grief, she longed for beer (in vain). Where she sat weeping, (there the great gods) sat too, But, like sheep, could only fill their windpipes (with bleating). Thirsty as they were, their lips Discharged only the rime of famine. For seven days and seven nights The torrent, storm and flood came on. He put down Provided food The gods smelt the fragrance, Gathered like flies over the offering. When they had eaten the offering, Nintu got up and blamed them all, Whatever came over Anu who makes the decisions? Did Ellil (dare to) come for the smoke offering? (Those two) who did not deliberate, but sent the Flood Gathered the people to catastrophe- You agreed the destruction. (Now) their bright faces are dark (forever). Then she went up to the big flies 42 Which Anu had made, and (declared) before the gods His grief is mine! My destiny goes with his! He must deliver me from evil, and appease me! Let me go out in the morning Let these flies be the lapis lazuli of my necklace

Genesis 8:21

Hebrew Bible

20 Noah built an altar to the Lord. He then took some of every kind of clean animal and clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21 And the Lord smelled the soothing aroma and said to himself, “I will never again curse the ground because of humankind, even though the inclination of their minds is evil from childhood on. I will never again destroy everything that lives, as I have just done. 22 “While the earth continues to exist, planting time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night will not cease.”

 Notes and References

"... Eventually the storm ended and the waters receded. The ark came to rest on Mount Nimush (also called Nisir), and after seven days, in what is perhaps the most remarkable similarity to the biblical account of the flood, he released three birds: a dove, which found no perch and so returned; a swallow, which likewise could find no perch; and a raven, which saw the waters receding, ate, and did not return. Thus, Uta-napishti and the ark’s occupants exited the ark, and the flood hero’s first action was to offer a sacrifice. Again, the gods’ response to the sacrifice strikes us as uncomplimentary: “The gods smelled the savor, the gods smelled the sweet savor, the gods crowded around the sacrificer like flies.” After all, the gods depended on human offerings for sustenance ..."

Longman, Tremper, and John H. Walton The Lost World of the Flood: Mythology, Theology, and the Deluge Debate (p. 40) IVP Academic, 2018

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