Origin/Historian/Author: Sumer (ca. 2000 BCE)
Source: Sumerian Liturgies and Psalms, By Stephen Langdon, 1919
Full Text Below
OBVERSE COLUMN IV
1. Anu may prevent his word.
2. Enlil may order kindness.
3. And may my heart be at peace from sorrow.
4. …..
5. [ ….. ] the angry word be da-bi prevented.
6. …..
7. The foundations it has annihilated, and reduced to the misery of silence.
8. Unto Anu I will cry my “how long?”
9. Unto Enlil I myself will pray.
10. “My city has been destroyed” will l tell them.
11. “Ur has been destroyed” will I tell them.
12. “Its people have been scattered” will l tell them.
13. May Anu prevent his word.
14. May Enlil order kindness.
15. And may my heart be at peace from sorrow.
16. My city which has been destroyed may they …..
17. Ur which has been destroyed may they …..
18. Of its slain people may they decree a new di~pensation
19. I will offer my meditations unto them.
20. I (will say to them): ” In my city they have despised the splendor.”
21. “In Ur the city of homes they have despised the splendor.”
22. Anu whose words in this manner change not.
23. Enlil the going forth of whose word …..
24. It is the fourth song.
25. Her city has been destroyed, her ordinances have been changed.
26. This is its antiphon.
27. Enlil utters the spirit of wrath
28. and the people wail.
29. The spirit of wrath prosperity from the Land has destroyed
30. and the people wail.
31. The spirit of wrath peace from Sumer has taken and the people wail.
32. He has sent the evil spirit of wrath and the people wail.
33. The “Messenger of Wrath,” the “Assisting Spirit” into its hand he entrusted.’
34. He has uttered the spirit of wrath which exterminates the Land and the people wail.
35. Enlil has sent Gibil as its helper.
36. The great spirit of Heaven has been uttered and the people wail.
37. The mighty spirit on high he commanded forth and the people wail.
38. The spirit that annihilates the Land …..
39. The evil storm like a mounting inundation …..
40. The shepherd of the city it slew …..
41. Of heaven its foundation it …..
(About 15 lines broken away.)
OBVERSE COLUMN V
(6 lines broken away.)
7. Ur like a garment thou hast destroyed, like a ….. Thou hast scattered.
8. It is the fifth song.
9. The spirit of wrath like a lion ….. and the people lament.
10. This is its antiphon.
11. At that time the spirit of wrath upon the city was wrought and the city …..
12. Father Nannar upon the city of master workmen ….. and the people wail.
13. At that time the spirit of wrath descended upon the Land and the people wail.
14. Her people without water jars sit without her in desolation
15. Within her ….. in the ways are placed and the people wail.
16. The great city gate and the highways with the dead are choked up.
17. Like a leather vessel all of her the usurper cast asunder(?)
18. In her ….. streets and roads corpses he heaped up(?)