Utu rises in the east and descends in the west, and between those two moments he holds the whole world in judgment. He is the eye that misses nothing — the light that reveals what is hidden, the divine physician who knows every wound, the great judge who cuts the fates of all lands. He is son of Nanna the moon and Ningal his wife, brother of Inanna, warmth and fire and justice.
This fragment — the second of two surviving Old Babylonian hymns to Utu — preserves 32 lines, some fragmentary, but in those lines something luminous remains: the shaking of heaven and earth at his rising, the eagle on the mountain, the multicolored aura flowing from the depths. The scribes who copied this text were teaching themselves the language of the sky.
ETCSL c.4.32.2. Translated from Sumerian by the New Tianmu Anglican Church.
...going down to the west, looking toward the east —
Utu, great physician, father of the dark-haired people.
Whose lapis beard adorns the E-babbar —
Utu, great warrior, heart of the assembly —
lord who makes the mountain bull tremble —
Utu who makes the mountain bull tremble.
The young milk-cow that does not venture forth —
at your resting, the young one caught in the net.
Utu — in the city, in the E-nun-an-na,
son born of Ningal —
bull drinking the water of the cedar, fattened on cypress —
the blossom speaking in the deep heart,
the multicolored aura flowing out from the depths.
At that time — when my lord rises —
he shakes the heavens, he beats the earth.
His word overturned as he goes out from the palace.
The heavens [tremble] [...].
The bolt of heaven returns with him.
The stars are gathered together with him.
His mother [stands] in the street [...].
No cloud spreads its darkness over Utu.
He raises his head over the mountains — he is their lord.
Utu cuts the judgment for all the lands.
Lord, son of Ningal, to decide the fate of all the lands —
lord of great wisdom, giver of decrees, son of Enlil —
Utu, of surpassing wisdom, son of Nin-[...] —
Utu stands in my head.
Lord, son of Ningal — the fifty divine judgments in his hand.
Like the sun he calls out across the mountains.
He raises his head over the land.
Like the eagle — the mountain trembles, the mountain trembles!
My lord Utu: I have crossed with him.
His eye stretched out across the mountains.
Colophon
Translated from Sumerian (ETCSL c.4.32.2, Old Babylonian composite) by the New Tianmu Anglican Church with AI assistance, March 2026. The text is fragmentary in places; lacunae are noted with [...]; unclear passages are rendered with the likeliest interpretation from context.
🌲
Source Text: A Hymn to Utu (Utu B)
ETCSL c.4.32.2
Old Babylonian composite transliteration:
- [...] sig-še3 ed2-de3 nim-še3 igi bar-re-de3
- dutu a-zu gal a-a saĝ gig2-ga
- sun4 na4za-gin3 la2 e2-babbar-ra
- dutu ur-saĝ gal lipiš unken-na
- lugal gud-alim kur-ra dub3 ba9-re6
- dutu gud-alim kur-ra dub3 ba9-re6
- šilam ban3-da UŠ? nu-ed3-de3
- u3-ba-zu ban3-da ĝiš-bur2 dab5-ba
- dutu iri-da e2-nun-an-na dumu dnin-gal-e tud-da
- gud ĝišerin a naĝ-a ḫa-šu-ur2-ra peš-a
- gi-rin šag4 su3-ra2 e-ne dug4-dug4
- su3-ra2-aĝ2 e3-a su-lim-ma gun3-am3
- ud-ba lugal-ĝu10 ed2-da-ni-ne
- an mu-un-da-dub2-dub2 ki mu-un-da-sag3-sag3
- KA mu-un-bal e2-gal-la ed2-da-ni-ta
- an mu-un-[...]
- ĝišsi-ĝar an-na-ke4 [...] ḫu-mu-da-gi4-gi4
- mul-e [...]-da-ke4 ur4-ur4-[...]
- ama-ni sila-a [...]
- dutu-še3 dul3 na-mu-un-di-ni-ib-daĝal
- kur-ra saĝ mi-ni-in-il2 lugal-bi na-nam
- dutu kur-kur-ra di-bi-še3 kud-de3
- en dumu dnin-gal-la-ke4 kur-kur-ra ka-aš-bi bar-re-de3
- en gal-zu eš-bar dumu den-lil2-la2-ke4
- dutu gal-zu maḫ dumu dnin-[...]-la2-ke4
- dutu saĝ-ĝa2 mi-ni-in-ĝal2
- en dumu dnin-gal-la KA DI 50 šu-ni šu-mu-un-ĝal2
- ud-gin7 kur-ra gu3 mu-ni-ib-be2
- kalam-ma saĝ mi-ni-in-il2
- ḫu-ri2-inmušen-gin7 kur šuba4 kur šuba4-ba
- lugal-ĝu10 dutu mu-da-bal-e-en
- igi-ni kur-ra bi2-in-la2
Source Colophon
Source: ETCSL (Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature), University of Oxford. Text c.4.32.2 — 'A hymn to Utu (Utu B)'. Freely available at etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk.
🌲