BMS 50 (P394688)
Prayer, Neo-Assyrian, Nineveh · c. 911 BCE–612 BCE
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| Designation | BMS 50 |
|---|---|
| ID | P394688 |
| 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 [0:1] o 1'o 1'–o 1'o 1' | Enlil, the cou[sellor . . .] |
| Obverse [1:2] o 2'2'–o 2'2' | Adad, the canal inspector of the heavens and the earth, does not . . . [. . .] |
| Obverse [2:3] o 3'3'–o 3'3' | At your command the pe[ople] are called. |
| Obverse [3:4] o 4'4'–o 4'4' | Call out that the great gods may stan[d] with you. |
| Obverse [4:5] o 5'5'–o 5'5' | Judge my case; pronounce my verdict. |
| Obverse [5:6] o 6'6'–o 6'6' | I (am) your servant, Ashurbanipal, the son of his (personal) god, |
| Obverse [6:7] o 7'7'–o 7'7' | Whose (personal) god (is) Ashur, his (personal) goddess Ashuritu, |
| Obverse [7:8] o 8'8'–o 8'8' | On account of the evil of a lunar eclipse which occurred in month . . . (and) day . . . |
| Obverse [8:9] o 9'9'–o 9'9' | On account of the evil of signs (and) portents, unpleasant (and) unfavorable, |
| Obverse [9:10] o 10'10'–o 10'10' | Which occurred in my palace and (throughout) my land, |
| Obverse [10:11] o 11'11'–o 11'11' | Because of the evil sorcery, bad illness, guilt, |
| Obverse [11:12] o 12'12'–o 12'12' | offence, (and) sin that [are] in my body, |
| Obverse [12:13] o 13'13'–o 13'13' | (Because of) the evil ghost that is bound to me and envel[ops me], |
| Obverse [13:14] o 14'14'–o 14'14' | I appeal to you. I pray [to you]. |
| Obverse [14:15] o 15'15'–o 15'15' | Accept the lifting of my hands. Hear [my] praye[r]. |
| Obverse [15:16] o 16'16'–o 16'16' | Release the witchcraft against me. Absolve [my] sin[s]. |
| Obverse [16:17] o 17'17'–o 17'17' | Remove any evil that is coming to murder me (lit. to cut off my life). |
| Obverse [17:18] o 18'18'–o 18'18' | May a favorable protective spirit be with me (lit. on my head) always. |
| Obverse [18:19] o 19'19'–o 19'19' | May god, goddess, (and) humanity be at (lit. acquire) peace with me. |
| Reverse [0:1] r 1r 1–r 1r 1 | According to your command, may I live. |
| Reverse [1:2] r 22–r 22 | Let me pronounce your praises (and) proclaim your greatness! |
| Reverse [2:3] r 33–r 33 | It is the wording of a lifted-hand prayer to Orion. |
| Reverse [3:4] r 44–r 44 | Incantation: You (are) Sirius, Ninurta, foremost of the great god[s]. |
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' | {d}BAD ma-[li-ku ...] | |
| 2' | {d}IŠKUR gu₂-gal AN{e} u ⸢KI{ti₃} ul⸣ [...] | |
| 3' | ina qi₃-biti-ka MU{ra} te-⸢ne⸣-[še-e-te] | |
| 4' | ši-si-ma KI-ka DINGIR-MEŠ GAL-MEŠ li-zi-⸢zu⸣ | |
| 5' | di-ni di-in EŠ.BAR-a-a KUD{us} | |
| 6' | a-na-ku IR₃-ka {m}aš-šur-DU₃-A DUMU DINGIR-šu₂ | |
| 7' | ša DINGIR-šu₂ aš-šur {d}iš-tar-šu₂ {d}aš₂-šu-ri-i-tu₂ | |
| 8' | ina HUL AN.GE₆ {d}3(u) ša₂ ina ITI U₄ KAM GAR{na} | |
| 9' | ina HUL A₂-MEŠ GISKIM-MEŠ HUL-MEŠ NU DU₁₀.GA-MEŠ | |
| 10' | ša₂ ina E₂.GAL-MU u KUR-MU GAL₂{a} | |
| 11' | aš-šum u₂-piš HUL{ti} GIG NU DU₁₀.GA ar-ni | |
| 12' | gil₂-la-ti hi-ṭi-ti ša₂ ina ⸢SU-MU⸣ [GAL₂{a]} | |
| 13' | GIDIM lem-nu ša₂ KI-MU rak-su-ma u₂-sah₂-[hi-pa-an-ni] | |
| 14' | am-hur-ka u₂-sa-pi-[ka] | |
| 15' | niš ŠU-MU mu-hur ši-mi tes₂-⸢li⸣-[ti] | |
| 16' | pu-šur kiš-pi-ia pu-si-si hi-ṭa-⸢ti⸣-[ia] | |
| 17' | ZI{uh} mim-ma lem-nu ša₂ ana na-kas₂ ZI-ia DU{⸢ka⸣} | |
| 18' | {d}ALAD SIG₅ lu ka-a-a-an ina SAG-⸢MU⸣ | |
| 19' | DINGIR {d}iš₈-tar₂ NAM.LU₂.U₁₈.LU sa-li-mu li-ir-šu-ni | |
| r | ||
| 1 | ina DU₁₁.GA-ka lu-ub₂-luṭ | |
| 2 | KA.TAR.ZU DU₁₁ nar-bi-ka lu-ša₂-pi | |
| 3 | KA-INIM-MA ŠU-IL₂-LA₂ {mul}SIPA.ZI.AN.NA-KAM₂ | |
| 4 | EN₂ at-ta {mul}GAG.SI.SA₂ {d}MAŠ a-ša₂-red DINGIR-MEŠ ⸢GAL⸣-[MEŠ] | |
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.