Texts in Conversation
Psalm 89 adapts the Baal Cycle's picture of gods meeting as a royal court to stress that Israel's God has no equal among its members.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
KTU 1.2 I:20
Cuneiform Texts from Ugarit
Ancient Near East
Yamm sent messengers, Ruler Nahar an embassy. With great rejoicing they flew heavenwards their nostrils flaring. Depart, divine assistants, do not stay! Indeed, set your faces towards the convocation of the Council, towards the divine mountain. At the feet of El you shall fall you shall honour the convocation of the Council! Standing upright, you shall then speak, declaring your message. And you shall say to Bull your father El, declare to the convocation of the Council: Message of Yamm, your master, of your lord, Ruler Nahar: Give up the god whom you obey, the one whom you obey, Tempest! Give up Baal and his retinue, the Son of Dagan, whose gold I shall seize! The divine assistants depart; they do not delay. Then they set their faces towards the divine mountain, towards the convocation of the Council. Now the gods were sitting to eat, the sons of the Holy One to dine. Baal stood by El. Lo, the gods saw them,
Psalm 89:7
Hebrew Bible
2 For I say, “Loyal love is permanently established; in the skies you set up your faithfulness.” 3 The Lord said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one; I have made a promise on oath to David, my servant: 4 ‘I will give you an eternal dynasty and establish your throne throughout future generations.’” (Selah) 5 O Lord, the heavens praise your amazing deeds, as well as your faithfulness in the angelic assembly. 6 For who in the skies can compare to the Lord? Who is like the Lord among the heavenly beings, 7 a God who is honored in the great angelic assembly, and more awesome than all who surround him? 8 O Lord God of Heaven’s Armies! Who is strong like you, O Lord? Your faithfulness surrounds you. 9 You rule over the proud sea. When its waves surge, you calm them.
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Notes and References
“... Although the Psalms largely consist of prayer and praise, they also contain classic
type-scenes attested in the Ugaritic texts. One well-known scene in both the Psalms and
the Ugaritic texts is the divine council. In KTU 1.2 I ( SAC 111–13), El presides over this
meeting of “the Assembly in council,” as it is called, when the messengers of the god
Sea arrive and demand that the council surrender the god Baal. El then makes his judg-
ment and decides to meet their demands. Th e Psalms contain rather dramatic exam-
ples of a divine assembly scene in Psalms 82 and 89 (esp. vv. 5–7; cf. 1 Kgs. 22:19; Isa. 6;
Dan. 7; cf. “the seat of the gods” in Ezek. 28:2). ...”
Smith, Mark S.
"Canaanite Backgrounds to the Psalms" in Brown, William P. (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of the Psalms
(p. 48) Oxford University Press, 2014
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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