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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
These lines on the tablet, column III, lines 20–21
These lines on the tablet, column III, lines 20–21 · Louvre AO 16636, photo Shonagon (Wikimedia Commons, CC0)
as the scribe pressed it into the clay, left to right, a small upright wedge between words
kḥy1
kī-ḥayyu
for alive isfor living
aliyn2
ʾalʾiyānu
Mightythe Mighty One
bʿl3
Baʿlu
Baal
;
kiṯ4
kī-ʾiṯu
for there isfor exists
zbl5
zabūlu
the PrinceHis Highness
,
bʿl6
baʿlu
lord
arṣ7
ʾarṣi
of the earthof the land
.
for alive is Mighty Baal; for there is the Prince, lord of the earth.
for alive is Mighty Baal; for there is the Prince, lord of the earth.
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Interpretation
for Mighty Baal is alive, for the Prince, lord of the earth, is there.

zbl bʿl arṣ, “the Prince, lord of the earth”, is the title that comes back in the Bible as Baal-zebub of Ekron (2 Kings 1:2) and in the Gospels as Beelzebul, “prince of demons” (Mark 3:22). Israel’s writers turned the god’s title into a name for the enemy.

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