3.18-19
The Baal Cycle 3.18-19 · Now I can rest
El wakes, laughs, puts his feet on his footstool and speaks.
· · ·
18𐎀𐎘𐎁𐎐𐎀𐎐𐎋𐎆𐎀𐎐𐎃𐎐
19𐎆𐎚𐎐𐎃𐎁𐎛𐎗𐎚𐎊𐎐𐎔𐎌
as the scribe pressed it into the clay, left to right, a small upright wedge between words
ank1
ʾanāku
I
aṯbn2
ʾaṯibanna
I can sitI will sit
wanḫn3
wa-ʾanūḫanna
and restand I will rest
, npš4
napšu
my soulthroat
wtnḫ5
wa-tanūḫu
and restsand it rests
birty6
bi-ʾirtiya
in my breastin my chest
, I can sit and rest, and my soul rests in my breast,
I can sit and rest, and my soul rests in my breast,
3.20-21
The Baal Cycle 3.20-21 · Mighty Baal lives
The reason for El’s joy, in the cry the whole cycle has waited for.
· · ·
20𐎋𐎈𐎊𐎀𐎍𐎛𐎊𐎐𐎁𐎓𐎍
21𐎋𐎛𐎘𐎇𐎁𐎍𐎁𐎓𐎍𐎀𐎗𐎕
as the scribe pressed it into the clay, left to right, a small upright wedge between words
for alive is Mighty Baal; for there is the Prince, lord of the earth.
↔ echoes in other books:·
Just before these lines El “rejoices”, puts his feet on the footstool, smooths his brow and laughs. The father of the gods has been sleepless with grief, and now he can sit down.
npš is the throat, the appetite, the self: the same word as Hebrew nepeš, “soul”. In Tablet 5 Death’s npš swallowed Baal; here El’s npš finds rest.