A hymn to Nibru and Išme-Dagan (Išme-Dagan W)

Sumerian literature (ETCSL) · 2 - Royal praise poetry and compositions with a historical background · 152 sections

A.1
[iri]⌈{ki}⌉ me-lem4-zu
City whose terrifying splendour extends over heaven and earth, whose towers are exceptionally grand, shrine Nibru! Your power reaches to the edges of the uttermost extent of heaven and earth. Of all the brick buildings erected in the Land, your brickwork is the most excellent. You have allowed all the foreign lands and as many cities as are built to receive excellent divine powers. Your name is as excellent as your excellent divine powers. Your soil is soil as good as your name. City, your name towers your divine powers tower over heaven and earth.
A.2
⌈an ki⌉-a dul4
A.3
u18-⌈ru⌉-zu maḫ dib2
A.4
[eš3] nibru{ki}
A.5
ki ⌈an⌉ a-na-šu2-a-aš
A.6
ne3-zu
A.7
zag-bi-še3 ĝal2
A.8
šeg12 kilib3-ba
A.9
kalam-ma ki ĝar-ra
A.10
⌈!⌉-zu šeg12 saĝ-bi-im
A.11
kur-kur-re
A.12
iri{ki} <a>-na-du3-a-ba
A.13
me maḫ šu mi-ni-ti
A.14
me ⌈maḫ⌉-zu-gin7
A.15
mu-zu maḫ-am3
A.16
mu-zu-gin7
A.17
saḫar-zu saḫar dug3-ga-am3
A.18
iri{ki} an ki-a
A.19
mu-zu me-zu dirig-ga-am3
A.20
us2-saĝ
You are the pillar (?) in the south and the uplands, the mooring post of all people. Your divine powers are supreme divine powers with which no divine powers can compare. Your plans are as if rooted in the abzu, endowed with great terrifying splendour. As if it were the lovely earth itself, no one can comprehend your eminence. Your pre-eminent destiny surpasses all praise. You are a lofty hill that no one can reach. Outstanding, with head high, you reach to the heavens.
A.21
sig igi-nim-ma
A.22
dim gal uĝ3 šar2-ra-me-en
A.23
me-zu me galam-ma
A.24
me nu-sag2-dam
A.25
ĝiš-ḫur-zu-!
A.26
abzu sig9-ga-gin7
A.27
ni2 gal ši-im-du8-du8
A.28
nam-maḫ-zu
A.29
{d}uraš sig7-ga-gin7
A.30
na-me nu-zu-zu-dam
A.31
nam-tar-ra
A.32
saĝ-bi-še3 e3-a-zu
A.33
niĝ2 ar2-re-eš dib-ba
A.34
ḫur-saĝ sukux(SUKUD)-ra2
A.35
šu nu-teĝ3-ĝe26-me-en
A.36
saĝ il2 zag dib-ba
A.37
an-ne2 us2-sa-me-en
A.38
šag4-zu u18-ru-me-en
Your interior towers up, and your exterior is awesome. You were built as life-giving food for the Anuna gods; you were beautified for their eating and drinking. You are the sheepfold which is there for their life. Nothing escapes your grasp, as if caught in the threads of an outspread net. Shrine Nibru, your activities are quite excellent, quite surpassing all description. The divine powers that you allocate are a good fortune which cannot be overturned.
A.39
bar-zu
A.40
ni2 gur3-ru-me-en
A.41
{d}a-nun-na-ke4-ne-er
A.42
u2 nam-til3-la-bi-še3
A.43
za-e
A.44
ši-im-ma-ab-du3-en
A.45
gu7 naĝ-bi-še3
A.46
ši-im-ma-sig7-ge-en
A.47
amaš zi-bi-še3 ĝal2-me-en
A.48
a2-zu-ta
A.49
gu sa-par4 gid2-gin7
A.50
niĝ2-nam la-ba-ra-e3
A.51
eš3 nibru{ki}
A.52
a-ra2-zu niĝ2 maḫ-am3
A.53
niĝ2 ka-ge dib-ba
A.54
me ḫal-ḫa-zu
A.55
ĝiš-šub zid-da
A.56
niĝ2 sag2 nu-di-dam
A.57
iri{ki} šag4-zu
City, your interior is holy, your exterior is radiant. Your body exudes terrifying splendour. Your location is a well-chosen location. The lord of wisdom, Enlil, the Great Mountain, has built a sanctuary in your midst; that sanctuary is a lapis-lazuli sanctuary, a sanctuary that can decide destinies. It is the E-kur, the lapis-lazuli temple, the temple that can decide the destinies.
A.58
kug-ga-am3
A.59
bar-zu šen-šen-am3
A.60
su-bar-ra-zu
A.61
me-lem4 gur3-ru-am3
A.62
ki-zu ki suḫ-ḫa-am3
A.63
en ĝeštug2-ga
A.64
kur gal {d}en-lil2-le
A.65
šag4-zu-a eš3 bi2-in-du3
A.66
eš3-bi
A.67
eš3 za-gin3
A.68
eš3 nam tar-re-dam
A.69
e2-kur
A.70
e2 za-gin3
A.71
e2 nam tar-re-dam
A.72
nun-zu
Your prince, Nunamnir, the steer who has engendered (?) the divine powers, and Mother Ninlil, the great lady of your Ki-ur, the lady who has borne the divine powers -- what god is there living in the Land like these two? They have cultically purified (?) ……. They have settled ……, and taken their seats upon the good, great and praiseworthy divine powers. The Anuna gaze at them as if at their own father and mother, listening attentively when they speak holy and most precious words in the correct manner. Enlil and Ninlil looked at the heavens, while on earth they set bounds (?); and then, once their intention became clear in the great heavens and on the broad earth, the Anuna gods of heaven and earth set to work. The mattock and the earth-basket, tools for founding cities, (2 lines unclear) (unknown no. of lines missing)
A.73
{d}nu-nam-nir
A.74
ninda2 me ru-a
A.75
ama {d}ninx(EGI2)-lil2
A.76
ninx(EGI2) gal ki-ur3-ra-za
A.77
ninx(EGI2) me u3-tud-da
A.78
e-ne-e-ne-gin7
A.79
kalam-ma
A.80
diĝir a-ba
A.81
mu-un-til3
A.82
a-ne-ne
A.83
TUG2 X kislaḫ temen
A.84
šu bi2-in-gur-ru-uš
A.85
?-bi
A.86
bi2-in-dur2-ru-ne-eš
A.87
me zid me gal
A.88
me ar2-re-ka
A.89
dur2 im-mi-in-ĝar-re-eš
A.90
{d}a-nun-na-ke4-ne
A.91
ama a-a ugu-bi-gin7
A.92
igi-bi im-ši-ĝal2
A.93
inim kug kal-kal
A.94
zid-de3-eš di-bi
A.95
ĝizzal
A.96
ši-ma-an-ke4-eš
A.97
{d}en-lil2
A.98
{d}ninx(EGI2)-lil2-bi
A.99
an-na
A.100
igi im-mi-in-ĝal2-eš

The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL), Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Oxford. Copyright holders: Jeremy Black, Graham Cunningham, Jarle Ebeling, Esther Flückiger-Hawker, Eleanor Robson, Jon Taylor and Gábor Zólyomi. Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0. Source.