Babylonian Penitential Psalms/IV
(IV)[1]
How long, O my mistress, will the mighty foe oppress thy land?
In thy chief city Erech drought has settled
In E-ul-mas̆, the house of thine oracle, blood is poured out like water.
Throughout thy land he has kindled conflagrations, and poured fire out like a column.
O my mistress, I am fast bound to misfortune,
O my mistress, thou hast beset me, and hast brought sickness upon me,
The mighty enemy has trodden me down as a reed.
I have no judgment, I have no wisdom.
Like a marsh (?) I wail day and night.
I, thy servant, beseech thee,
May thy heart be at rest, thy soul pacified!
Give ear to my wailing, let thy soul be pacified!
[Accept my prayer], let thy soul be pacified!
Look mercifully upon me, turn thy face towards me
- ↑ The text is published in Rawlinson, iv. (2nd ed.), 19, No. 3, and transliterated and translated by Zimmern, Busspsalmen, No. 5, p. 74; and see Jastrow, Die Religion Babyloniens und Assyriens, ii., p. 96.