BMS 19 (P393721)
Prayer, Neo-Assyrian, Nineveh · c. 911 BCE–612 BCE
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| Designation | BMS 19 |
|---|---|
| ID | P393721 |
| Museum no. | BM — |
| Collection | British Museum, London, UK |
| Language | Akkadian |
| Period | Neo-Assyrian · c. 911 BCE–612 BCE |
| Genre | Prayer |
| Find spot | Nineveh (mod. Kuyunjik) |
| Coordinates | 36.3582, 43.1621 |
English translation
By King, Leonard W. · Via Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus (ORACC) · CC BY-SA 3.0 (ORACC)
| Line | English |
|---|---|
| Obverse [3:4] o 4'4'–o 4'4' | Lord of lords, [. . .] |
| Obverse [4:5] o 5'5'–o 5'5' | Father, who be[got] the great [gods], |
| Obverse [5:6] o 6'6'–o 6'6' | Lord of fates (and divine) plans, |
| Obverse [6:7] o 7'7'–o 7'7' | Commander of the heavens and earth, lord of the lands, |
| Obverse [7:8] o 8'8'–o 8'8' | Who renders the verdict, whose command cannot be overturned, |
| Obverse [8:9] o 9'9'–o 9'9' | Who determines the fates of all [the gods]: |
| Obverse [9:10] o 10'10'–o 10'10' | On account of the evil of a lunar eclipse, which occurred in month (unspecified and) day (unspecified), |
| Obverse [10:11] o 11'11'–o 11'11' | And evil, unfavorable signs (and) portents, |
| Obverse [11:12] o 12'12'–o 12'12' | [Which] occurred in my palace and my land--- |
| Obverse [12:13] o 13'13'–o 13'13' | [At] your [spe]aking, humanity was born, |
| Obverse [13:14] o 14'14'–o 14'14' | Of king (and) governor, you speak their names. |
| Obverse [14:15] o 15'15'–o 15'15' | Because creating divinity and king |
| Obverse [15:16] o 16'16'–o 16'16' | is within your power (lit. is with you), |
| Obverse [16:17] o 17'17'–o 17'17' | And (because) you make the weak equal to the strong, |
| Obverse [17:18] o 18'18'–o 18'18' | Among the multitude of stars of the heavens, |
| Obverse [18:19] o 19'19'–o 19'19' | O my lord, I trust in you! |
| Obverse [19:20] o 20'20'–o 20'20' | At your appearance, I have given you my attention. |
| Reverse [0:1] r 1r 1–r 1r 1 | Determine a fate of life for me! |
| Reverse [1:2] r 22–r 22 | Command a good name! |
| Reverse [2:3] r 33–r 33 | Carry away evil; grant me what is good. |
| Reverse [3:4] r 44–r 44 | Set over me your great protective force. |
| Reverse [4:5] r 55–r 55 | May god and king value me, |
| Reverse [5:6] r 66–r 66 | May lord and prince do what benefits me (lit. do that of my goodness). |
| Reverse [6:7] r 77–r 77 | May my (ill-wishing) onlooker be ashamed on my account. |
| Reverse [7:8] r 88–r 88 | May my order be heard in the assembly. |
| Reverse [8:9] r 99–r 99 | May the protective spirit of ordering, hearing, and accepting |
| Reverse [9:10] r 1010–r 1010 | Walk along with me daily. |
| Reverse [10:11] r 1111–r 1111 | According to your august command that cannot be changed, |
| Reverse [11:12] r 1212–r 1212 | And your reliable affirmation that cannot be overturned! |
| Reverse [12:13] r 1313–r 1313 | It is the wording of a lifted-hand prayer to Enlil. |
| Reverse [13:14] r 1414–r 1414 | Incantation: Great princess, goddess of fates. |
Transliteration (ATF)
From Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus (ORACC) · CC BY-SA 3.0 (ORACC default); per-file JSON license fields say: This data is released under the CC0 license (133618)
| Line | ATF | Machine English (draft) |
|---|---|---|
| o | ||
| 1' | [...]-šu [...] | |
| 2' | [...]-x-⸢šu⸣ [...] | |
| 3' | DINGIR ma-am-⸢ma⸣-[an ...] | |
| 4' | EN EN-EN [...] | |
| 5' | a-bu ⸢a⸣-[lid DINGIR-MEŠ] ⸢GAL-MEŠ⸣ | |
| 6' | EN NAM-MEŠ GIŠ.HUR-MEŠ | |
| 7' | mu-ma-ʾi-ir AN{e} u ⸢KI{ti⸣} EN KUR-KUR | |
| 8' | ⸢ga-mir⸣ di-ni ša₂ ⸢NU BAL⸣{u₂} qi₂-bit-su | |
| 9' | [mu]-⸢šim⸣ NAM-MEŠ [DINGIR-MEŠ] DU₃.A{ma} | |
| 10' | [ina] ⸢HUL⸣ AN.GE₆ {d}3(u) ša₂ ina ITI UD GAR{na} | |
| 11' | u₃ A₂-MEŠ ISKIM-MEŠ ⸢HUL⸣-MEŠ NU DU₁₀.GA-MEŠ | |
| 12' | [ša₂] ⸢ina⸣ E₂.GAL-MU u KUR-MU GAL₂{a} | |
| 13' | [ina qa]-bi-ka-ma u₂-tal-la-da te-ni-še-e-ti | |
| 14' | ⸢ša₂⸣ LUGAL GIR₃.NITA₂ šu-mi-šu-nu ta-za-kar | |
| 15' | ⸢aš⸣-šum ba-ni-i DINGIR u₃ LUGAL | |
| 16' | ba-šu-u₂ KI{ka} | |
| 17' | ⸢u₃⸣ en-⸢šam⸣ tu-šam-ṣu-u₂ mal dan-ni | |
| 18' | [ina] ma-aʾ-du-ti MUL ša₂-me-mi | |
| 19' | be-li₂ at-kal-ka | |
| 20' | [ana ta]-⸢mar⸣-ti-ka ib-ša₂-ku GEŠTU-2(diš){a-a} | |
| r | ||
| 1 | ⸢šim⸣-ti ba-la-ṭi-ia ši-im | |
| 2 | ⸢ba⸣-ni-i šu-me-ia qi₂-bi | |
| 3 | ⸢lum⸣-ni ta-bal-ma SIG₅ šur-ka | |
| 4 | šu-kun-ma UGU-MU ba-aš-ta-ka ⸢GAL{tu⸣} | |
| 5 | [DINGIR] u LUGAL li-ša₂-qi₂-ru-in-ni | |
| 6 | [EN] ⸢u⸣ NUN ša₂ bu-ni-ia li-pu-⸢šu₂⸣ | |
| 7 | [a]-me-ri li-ba-ša₂-an-ni | |
| 8 | ⸢ina⸣ UKKIN lu še-mat qi₂-bi-ti | |
| 9 | {d}KAL DU₁₁.GA ŠE.GA u ŠE.GA | |
| 10 | u₄-mi-šam lit-tal-lak KI-MU | |
| 11 | [ina] ⸢qi₂⸣-biti-ka ṣir-ti ša₂ NU KUR₂{ru} | |
| 12 | ⸢u₃⸣ an-ni-⸢ka⸣ ki-nim ša₂ NU BAL{u} | |
| 13 | KA-INIM-MA ⸢ŠU-IL₂⸣-LA₂ {d}EN-LIL₂-LA₂-KAM | |
| 14 | EN₂ ru-ba-tu₂ GAL{tu} i-lat ši-ma-a-ti | |
Sources & licences
- Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative · CDLI: reuse of catalogue/transliteration data with citation of CDLI; images restricted (not fetched) · Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (CDLI), https://cdli.earth/ ; cite CDLI and the P-number
- Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus (ORACC) · CC BY-SA 3.0 (ORACC default); per-file JSON license fields say: This data is released under the CC0 license (133618) · ORACC project editions, https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/ ; cite the individual project (see texts.extra_json.project)
- electronic Babylonian Library (eBL), LMU Munich · MIT (eBL Zenodo dataset); platform terms unverified · electronic Babylonian Library (eBL), LMU Munich, https://www.ebl.lmu.de/ ; Zenodo dataset (MIT)
Cite the original edition and translator. Page generated by Unread Atlas from the public corpus export of 2026-10-11.