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Home  »  library  »  poem  »  XII. Oracles of Ishtar of Arbela

C.D. Warner, et al., comp.
The Library of the World’s Best Literature. An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.

XII. Oracles of Ishtar of Arbela

By Accadian-Babylonian and Assyrian Literature

(B.C. 680–668)

ESARHADDON, king of lands, fear not.

The lord, the spirit who speaks to thee

I speak to him, I have not kept it back.

Thine enemies, like the floods of Sivan

Before thee flee perpetually.

I the great goddess, Ishtar of Arbela

Have put thine enemies to flight.

Where are the words I spake to thee?

Thou hast not trusted them.

I, Ishtar of Arbela, thy foes

Into thy hands I give

In the van and by thy side I go, fear not

In the midst of thy princes thou art,

In the midst of my host I advance and rest.

O Esarhaddon, fear not.

Sixty great gods are with me to guard thee,

The Moon-god on thy right, the Sun-god on thy left,

Around thee stand the sixty great gods,

And make the centre firm.

Trust not to man, look thou to me

Honor me and fear not.

To Esarhaddon, my king,

Long days and length of years I give.

Thy throne beneath the heavens I have established;

In a golden dwelling thee I will guard in heaven

Guard like the diadem of my head.

The former word which I spake thou didst not trust,

But trust thou now this later word and glorify me,

When the day dawns bright complete thy sacrifice.

Pure food thou shalt eat, pure waters drink,

In thy palace thou shalt be pure.

Thy son, thy son’s son the kingdom

By the blessing of Nergal shall rule.