THE BABYLONIAN STORY OP THE CREATION. 



27 



From to-day shall thy command not be changed, 

 To raise and abase, let it be thy hand 



Let the utterance of thy mouth stand firm, unfailing (be) thy command. 



None among the gods thy boundary shall cross ; 



Care is the requirement of the chamber(s) of the gods, so 



May thy place be the j^lace of their desire. 



Merodach, thou art our avenger, 



We have given thee the dominion — the universe of all complete : 



Sit (?) then in the assembly, let thy command be high ; 



May thy weapon not fail, may it destroy thine enemy. 



O Lord, Tvho trusts in thee, protect thou his life ; 



And he who takes up evil things, pour thou his life away." 



They then set a garment in their midst, and telling Merodach 

 that destruction and creation ^Yere in his power, asked him to 

 speak, commanding its destruction, and to address it again, 

 commanding its re-creation. This he did : 



" He spoke then with his mouth, the garment was destroyed ; 

 He spoke to it again, and the garment was reproduced." 



Having thus tested his powers successfully, the gods rejoiced, 

 and did him homage, saying " Merodach is king." They then 

 transferred to him sceptre, throne, and emblem of reign, and 

 giving him an unsurpassed weapon, " destroying those who 

 hate," they said : 



" Come then, cut off the life of Tiamthu, 

 Let the wind carry her blood into hidden places ! " 



" Thus," the record continues, " did the gods, his fathers, fix 

 the fate of Bel — a path of peace and goodwill they caused him 

 to take as his road." 



Then began ]\Ierodach to arm himself for the fray, testing 

 (so it would seem) his spear or dart, raising the divine weapon, 

 which he placed at his right, and hanging his bow and quiver 

 at his side. In addition to these, he set the Ii2;htnin2; before him, 

 the well-known emblem and weapon of thundering Jove, whose 

 Babylonian original and counterpart he was ; and moreover he 

 filled his body with flashing flame, or, if another rendering be 

 preferred, with tlie darting thunderbolt. Xot least in his 

 plentiful armoury, however, was the net which he had made 

 wherewith to catch the great enemy of the gods, who, in the 

 place where this is referred to, has an addition to her name, to 

 wit, kirhis, which seems to mean "in the midst," referring, 

 apparently, to her dwelling under the earth. This net 

 (which practically proves the identity of Merodach with 

 Kimrod, " The mighty hunter" or "trapper" of Gen. x, 9) is 

 described as having been held by the four winds, whom (as they 



