Enuma Elish VI.90

The Seven Tablets of Creation
Ancient Near East

Be-l received his weapon, the bow, and laid it before them: His divine fathers saw the net which he had made. His fathers saw how skilfully wrought was the structure of the bow As they praised what he had made. Anu lifted it up in the divine assembly, He kissed the bow, saying, 'It is my daughter!' Thus he called the names of the bow: 'Long Stick' was the first; the second was, 'May it hit the mark.' With the third name, 'Bow Star', he made it to shine in the sky, He fixed its heavenly position along with its divine brothers. After Anu had decreed the destiny of the bow, He set down a royal throne, a lofty one even for a god, Anu set it there in the assembly of the gods.

Genesis 9:13

Hebrew Bible

11 I confirm my covenant with you: Never again will all living things be wiped out by the waters of a flood; never again will a flood destroy the earth.” 12 And God said, “This is the guarantee of the covenant I am making with you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all subsequent generations: 13 I will place my bow35 in the clouds, and it will become a guarantee of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the bow35 appears in the clouds, 15 then I will remember my covenant with you and with all living creatures of all kinds. Never again will the waters become a flood and destroy all living things.

 Notes and References

"... Various Mesopotamian texts narrate how the bow, after being used by deities as a successful weapon of attack, becomes a victorious sign of the war won over the enemies and how it is set in the sky as the Bow Star, qaštu. The most important testimony of this view is Enuma Elish VI 80-94, where Anu, the deity of the Upper Heavens, presents his bow to the other gods and praises its power; he calls the bow his daughter and gives it three names: ‘long bow’, ‘conqueror’, and ‘Bow Star’ and he lets it appear in the sky as a constellation. Finally, he gives this bow a place in the assembly of the gods. ..."

van Wolde, Ellen One Bow or Another? A Study of the Bow in Gen 9:8-17 (pp. 124-149) Vetus Testamentum, No. 63, 2013

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