Three Incantations for the Hours of Darkness (IM.76964)

Three incantations on a single clay tablet, composed for the hours of darkness. The first two are hymns to Nusku, the Mesopotamian god of fire and lamplight, who stands guard in the night and watches over the sleeping. The third is a passage from the Maqlû — "The Burning" — the great nine-tablet anti-witchcraft ritual of ancient Mesopotamia, in which the exorcist burns effigies of witches while reciting spells of expulsion. The fourth is an incantation to Pazuzu, the fierce wind-demon who — paradoxically — serves as protector against other demons, barring disease and suffering from the house.

The tablet was found at Uruk (modern Warka, southern Iraq), from the library of a mašmaššu-priest named Iqīšāya, son of Ishtar-shumu-eresh, of the Ekur-zakir family. Its colophon ends with a curse on anyone who would carry it off. The three sections form a complete nighttime defensive system: divine fire (Nusku), sympathetic fertility magic (Maqlû), and demonic power turned against itself (Pazuzu). The exorcist did not distinguish between these modalities. Fire, spell, and demon were one act of protection.

Translation

Obverse

1'. [...] : [...]

2'. [Into the house] you have entered, [set] good fortune!

3'. [Entrust me to] Shamash and Marduk for good!¹

4'. [Gladness of the he]art of Marduk may the great gods br[ing about].²

5'. [May the name of the] great [lord] Marduk be e[verlasting] through the whole world.

6'. [Enter, l]ight! Set what is fair in your mouth; may favor be set on yo[ur] lips.³

7'. [Into] the house you have entered: bless, [Nusku ...]!⁴

8'. [Incantation.] Nusku, king of the night, who makes the day shine: you stand in the night, you w[atch over] the people.

9'. [With]out you no judgment and no decision is [given].

10'. The [shed]u-spirit, the net-demon, the prowler, the lurker of the [evil] gods,⁵

11'. the [ga]llu-demon, Lilitu, the Ardat-lili, who keep to hiding places and co[rners]:⁶

12'. drive out the Saghulhaza-demon, chase off [the utukku, seize the evil one]!

13'. Shulak, who roams about at night, whose touch is d[eath],⁷

14'. I have looked to you and turned to your godhead: a watch of we[ll-being and life set over me]!

15'. The guarding shedu and the gods who keep (me) whole, sta[tion them at my head];

16'. may they escort me all night long, un[til daybreak].⁸

17'. Nusku, perfect one, lord of discernment: [let me make] yo[ur] greatness [shine before the Sun every day].

18'. Incantation. Nusku, heir of the Emah, (keeper) of the decrees of the great gods: [a torch is your errand, a secret is in your hands].⁹

19'. With you lies the wiping away of sin: Enli[l is willing; entrust me to well-being].

20'. Make your road straight to the E[kur].

21'. When you enter the Ekur, may Enlil rejoice over yo[u, may Ninlil welcome you].

22'. May Shadaranunna, the wi[fe], your beloved,¹⁰ [make your face glad].

23'. U₅(?)¹¹ Enlil, may yo[ur] chamber be filled with [j]oy; you have e[aten — may the bread please you];

24'. you have drunk water and pure fine flour; may your spirit [be at] rest. To An[u ...]

25'. Ninlil is the one who lifts up your head; Ninurta is the brother, [your beloved brother].

26'. Take up the cause of So-and-so, son of So-and-so; speak favor; in yo[ur] mouth [...].

27'. Into the Ekur you have entered: ble[ss, Nusku ...]!

28'. Its ritual: the head of a female kid, arrat,¹² in o[il ...];

29'. you recite this incantation into it [...]; you anoint the child and [...].

30'. Incantation: "[...] [...] not to be released"; to [...]¹³

31'. [...] [...] the eyes [...] (break)

Reverse

1'. [...]

2'. Incantation: "And(?) [...]"¹⁴

3'. Incantation: "I im[pregnate you, my self; I impregnate you, my body; as Shakkan impregnated his herd],

4'. the ewe her lamb,¹⁵ the g[azelle her young, the she-ass her foal; as the plough impregnated the earth and the earth received its seed]."

5'. I have cast the incantation into [myself: may it impregnate my very self and drive out evil],

6'. and the witchcraft [of my body may the great gods tear out].

7'. Incantation: [...] [...]¹⁶

8'. [...] spoke [...]

9'. [...] heart [...]

10'. Incantation. You are strong, [who goes up the mountain, who confronts all the winds],

11'. a fierce wind whose ris[ing ...],

12'. raging, fierce, [who goes in fury],

13'. who makes the qua[rters] shake, [who lays waste the high mountains],

14'. who dries up the reed-marsh, [who dries up its reeds]:

15'. he lay across toward [...],¹⁷

16'. he let loose toward [...],

17'. he went down to [...],

18'. he went up to [...],

19'. he went down to [...],

20'. he went up to [...].

21'. When you (pl.) [...],

22'. headache of mankind, [... of mankind, sickness of mankind],¹⁸

23'. Into the house he entered(?) — you shall n[ot enter]!¹⁹

24'. To the house he drew near(?) — you shall n[ot draw near]!²⁰

25'. On the house he pressed(?) — you shall n[ot press]!

26'. By the life of Anu and An[tu],²¹

27'. by the life of Ea and Da[mkina],

28'. by the life of the great gods of heaven [and earth, be adjured, be adjured! Spell-formula of the incantation.]

Scribe's colophon

29'. Written [acc]ording to its original and collated. [Tablet of Iqisha, son of Ishtar-shuma-eresh, descendant of]²²

30'. Ekur-zakir, the exorcist. Ha[nd of Ishtar-shuma-eresh, his son. Whoever reveres Anu and Antu]

31'. [and Ea]²³ shall not carry it off; on request [he shall not withhold it;²⁴ on its day to the house of its owner]

32'. [he shall return it]. Whoever carries it off, may [Adad and Shala carry him off]. (break)

Notes on the reading

This late Uruk tablet gathers short incantations for protection through the night: blessings for one who enters a house, prayers to Nusku as the lamp-god who keeps watch through the dark and carries a petition to Enlil in the Ekur, a ritual with a kid's head and oil, a self-impregnation spell against witchcraft built on the images of herd and plough, and a spell against a storm-like demon and the sicknesses of mankind, sealed with oaths by the great gods. The colophon names an exorcist of the Ekur-zakir family. Much of the text is restored by eBL in normalized form. Those restorations appear here in square brackets, and the English follows them only where the formula is clear. The hardest readings are arrat in the ritual line (obverse 28'), the rare verb in obverse 16', the start of obverse 23' (U₅?), and the colophon verb in reverse 31'. Obverse 1' and 31' and reverse 1', 2' and 7'–9' are too broken for connected sense. One discrepancy is flagged: the signs of reverse 26' name Anu and Antu, not the Enlil and Ninlil of eBL's normalization.

Colophon

A Good Works Translation from the Akkadian by the Good Works Library, 2026, made directly from the eBL transliteration of IM 76964 printed below. Before translating, every English translation line and editorial note was removed from the working text, so the English here is independently derived from the cuneiform signs. The translation was then checked line by line against the Akkadian by a second reader. Each line of the English renders the source line with the same number. Broken passages stay broken: [...] marks a gap, and words in square brackets are restorations, explained in the notes.

Earlier English translation: the English translation given line by line in the Electronic Babylonian Literature (eBL) corpus (freely available). This is a new translation made independently from the source language.

Prepared for the Good Work Library by the Tianmu Anglican Church with AI-assisted translation and editorial work.

© 2026 Tianmu Anglican Church. This English translation is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0: you may share and adapt it for non-commercial use with credit to the Good Works Library, tianmu.org. The source text keeps its own terms. For other uses, see Rights and Reuse.

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Source Text: IM 76964 (transliteration)

Akkadian transliteration from the Electronic Babylonian Literature (eBL) corpus, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, licensed CC BY 4.0, with its English translation lines and notes omitted. %n marks eBL's normalized Akkadian, and %akk the return to the transliteration.

Obverse

1'. [...]-u₂ : x# [...]

2'. [ %n ana bīt %akk t]e-ru-bu SIG₅#-[ti₃ %n šukun]

3'. [ %n iâši ana] %akk {d#}UTU u {d}AMAR.UTU ana SIG₅-ti₃ p[i?-iq?-da?-an?-ni?]

4'. [ %n ṭūb %akk li]b₃-bi {d}AMAR.UTU DINGIR-MEŠ GAL-MEŠ li-p[u-šu]

5'. [ %n zikir bēlu] %akk GAL#-u₂ {d}AMAR.UTU ina kiš-šat lu d[a-ri]

6'. [ %n erba %akk {d}n]u-ur₂ šu-kun ba-ni-tu₂ ina KA-ka liš-ša₂-kin SIG₅-ti₃ ina NUNDUN-k[a]

7'. [ %n ana] %akk E₂# te-ru-bu ku-ru-bi {d}[nusku (...)]

8'. [EN₂] {d}nusku šar₃ mu-ši mu-nam-mir u₂-mu : ta-az-za-az ina mu-ši ni-ši t[a-bar-ri]

9'. [ina b]a-li-ka šip-ṭu u pu-ru-us-su-u₂ ul# [ŠUM₂-in]

10'. [še]-e#-du al-lu-hab-ba ha-a-ṭu : ra-bi-iṣ DINGIR-MEŠ [ %n lemnūti]

11'. [ga]l₅-lu-u₂ li-li-tu₂ ar₂-dat li-li-i : im-mid pu-uz-ru ša₃#-[ha-ti]

12'. šu-ṣu SAG.HUL.HA.ZU ṭu-ru-du [ %n utukku kušud lemnu]

13'. {d}šu-lak mut-tal-lik mu-ši ša₂ li-pi-su U[Š₂?]

14'. a-mur-ka-a-ma as-sa-hur DINGIR-u₂-ut#-ka : EN.NUN šu-[ul-mi %n u balāṭi šukun elīya]

15'. {d}ALAD na-ṣir u DINGIR-MEŠ mu-šal-lim šu-uz-[ziz %n ina rēšīya]

16'. li-it-tar-ru-uʾ-in-nu kal mu-ši a-d[i %n namāri]

17'. {d}nusku git₂-ma-lu be-lu ta-šim-tu₂ : nar-bi-k[a %n lušāpi ina pān šamši uddakam]

18'. EN₂ {d}nusku IBILA E₂.MAH ša₂ te-re-e-tu₂ DINGIR-MEŠ GAL-MEŠ : [ %n diparu našpartaka pirištu qātīka]

19'. i-ba-aš₂-ši KI-ka gi-il-lat pa-sa-su : {d}en-li[l₂ %n magir ana šulme piqdanni]

20'. šu-te-eš-šer har-ra-an-ka a-na E₂#.[KUR]

21'. ana E₂.KUR ina e-re-bi-ka {d#}+[en]-lil₂ li-hi-di-k[a %n ninlil līriška]

22'. {d}SA.DARA₃.NUN.NA hi-ir-[tu₂] na-ra!(AL)-mat-ka [ %n pānūka lirtīš]

23'. U₅? {d}+en-lil₂ ku-um-ma-k[a r]i-iš-tu₄ li-im-lu : t[a-kul %n aklu liṭīb pānīka]

24'. ta-aš₂-tu₂ mu-u₂ sa-as-qa-a KU₃-MEŠ l[i-nu]-uh kab-tat-ka : a-na {d}a-ni[m ...]

25'. {d}nin-lil₂ mul₄-lat re-eš-ka# : {d}nin-urta a-hu [ta-li-me-ka]

26'. ṣa-bat a-bu-tu ša₂ NENNI₂ A NENNI₂ qi₂#-bi# SIG₅-ti₃ : ina KA-k[a ...]

27'. a-na E₂.KUR te-ru-bu ku-ru-u[b {d}nusku ...]

28'. AG.AG.BI SAG.DU MUNUS.AŠ₂.GAR₃# ar₂-rat ina I₃.[GIŠ ...]

29'. EN₂ an-nit ana lib₃-bi ŠID# x# {lu₂}TUR ŠEŠ₂-ma [...]

30'. EN₂ U₃.DI x# x# [(x)] la pi-šer₃ ana# x# [...]

31'. [...] x# x# [...] IGI.M[IN ...] (broken)

Reverse

1'. [...]

2'. EN₂ u? x [...]

3'. EN₂ a-r[a-hi-ka %n ramānī arahhēka pagrī kīma šakkan irhû būlšu]

4'. U₈ UDU-šu₂ M[AŠ.DA₃ %n armâšu atānu mūršu epinnu erṣeta irhû erṣetu imhuru zērāša]

5'. ad-di EN₂ ana# r[a-ma-ni-ia %n lirhe ramānī-ma lišēṣi lumnu]

6'. u kiš-pi [ša %n zumrīya lissuhū ilū rabûtu]

7'. EN₂ ha-ra? na x [...]

8'. ši iq-bi mu x [...]

9'. ma ha hi in ŠA₃ x [...]

10'. EN₂ at-ta dan-nu [ %n ēlû šadî māhiru kalû šārī]

11'. IM ez-za ša₂ te-bu-[u₂-šu₂ ...]

12'. šam-ri ez-zu [ %n ša šamriš illaku]

13'. mu-na-ʾi-šu₂ kib-[ra-a-ti %n mušahrib šadî elûti]

14'. mu-ub-bil AMBAR : [ %n mubbil qanâtēšu]

15'. ip-rik a-na [...]

16'. u-šer₃ a-na [...]

17'. ur-rid a-na [...]

18'. i-la-aʾ a-na [...]

19'. ur-rid a-na [...]

20'. i-la-aʾ a-na [...]

21'. e-nu-ma at-tu-nu [...]

22'. di-ʾu a-pa-a-tu₂ n[i? %n ašri apâti muruṣ apâti]

23'. ana E₂ KU₄-ub l[a %n terrub]

24'. ana E₂ TI!-u₂ l[a %n teṭehhe]

25'. ana E₂ DIM₄-qa l[a %n tasanniq]

26'. niš {d}DIŠ u an-[tu₄ %n nīš enlil u ninlil]

27'. niš {d}BE u {d}da[m-ki-na]

28'. niš DINGIR-MEŠ GAL-MEŠ AN-e [ %n u erṣeti tummâta lū tummâta %akk TU₆ EN₂]

Scribe's colophon

29'. [GI]M SUMUN-šu₂ SAR-ma ba-ru₃ [IM {m}BA-ša₂-a bu₁₂-kur₂ {m}{d}INANNA-MU-KAM ŠA₃.BAL.BAL]

30'. [{m}]e₂-kur-za-kir {lu₂}MAŠ.MAŠ Š[U {m}{d}INANNA-MU-KAM DUMU.A.NI pa-lih {d}a-nu-um an-tu₄]

31'. [u {d}BE] NU TUM₃-šu₂ ina me-reš-[ti la u₂-šam-kiš-šu ina U₄-šu₂ ana E₂ UMUN-šu₂]

32'. [HE₂-GUR-šu₂] ša₂ i-TUM₃-šu₂ {d}[IM u {d}ša-la lit-bal-šu₂] (broken)

Source Colophon

Transliteration of IM 76964 from the Electronic Babylonian Literature (eBL) project, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (ebl.lmu.de), DOI 10.5281/zenodo.10018951, CC BY 4.0, fetched 2026-10-16. eBL's English translation lines and notes were removed before translation.

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