* * * * *
Merodach [heard] the words of his father,
in the fulness (?) of his heart he said to his father:
’O lord of the gods, offspring (?) of the great
gods,
if indeed I am your avenger,
Tiamat to overpower and you to rescue,
make ready an assembly, prepare a banquet(?).
Enter joyfully into Ubsugina (the seat of oracles)
all together.
With my mouth like you will I give the oracle.
What I create shall never be changed,
the word of my lip shall never go back or be unfulfilled!’
TABLET III.
Thereupon Ansar opened his mouth,
to [Gaga] his [messenger] he uttered the word:
’O angel [Gaga] who rejoicest my heart,
[to Lakhmu and Lakh]amu will I send thee;
[the command of my heart] thou shalt gladly hear(?):
’Ansar, your son, has sent me,
the wish of his heart he has caused me to know.
Tiamat our mother has risen up against us,
gathering her forces, madly raging.
The gods, all of them, have united themselves unto
her,
all whom she has created march at her side.
Banning the day they have followed Tiamat,
wrathful, devising mischief, untiring (?) day and
night,
prepared for the conflict, fiercely raging,
they have gathered themselves together and begin the
fray.
The mother of the deep (?), the creatress of them
all,
has given them victorious weapons, creating monstrous
serpents
with sharp fangs, unsparing in the onset.
With poison for blood she has filled their bodies.
Horrible adders she has clothed with terror,
she has decked them with fear, and raised high their
...
’May their appearance ...
May their bodies grow huge so that none may stand
before them!’
She has created the adder, the horrible serpent, the
Lakhamu,
the great monster, the raging dog, the scorpion-man,
the dog-days, the fish-man and the ram,
who carry weapons that spare not, who fear not the
conflict,
insolent of heart, unconquerable by the enemy.
Moreover that she may have eleven such monsters,
among the gods, her sons, whom she has summoned together,
she has raised up Kingu and magnified him among them:
’To march before the host, be that thy duty!
Order the weapons to be uplifted and the onset of
battle!’
That he may be first in the conflict, the leader in
victory,
she has taken his hand and set him on a throne:
’I have uttered the spell for thee, exalt thyself
among the gods,
assume dominion over all the gods!
Highly shalt thou be exalted, thou that art alone
my husband;
thy name shall be magnified over [all the world]!’
Then she gave him the tablets of destiny, and laid
them on his breast:
‘Let thy command be obeyed; let the word of
thy mouth be established!’
When Kingu had exalted himself and made himself as
Anu
she determined for the gods her sons their destiny:
’The opening of your mouth shall quench the