Marduk began as the city-god of Babylon. By the first millennium BCE he had absorbed the roles of every great Mesopotamian deity: Enlil's authority, Ea's wisdom, Anu's supremacy. He was called Bēl — simply "the Lord." His temple was the Esagil; his ziggurat Etemenanki, the house whose top touched heaven. His astral body was Jupiter.
This prayer was used in the lustration ceremonies of the Babylonian court — the Bīt rimki, House of Ablution, and the Bīt mēseri, House of Detention — in which the king sought to undo the effects of impurity and restore his wholeness before the god.
What makes it unusual among shuilla-prayers is its architecture. The petition at the center (lines 12–20) is chiastic: verbal moods and persons spiral inward and outward in a concentric pattern, as if the supplicant is moving toward a divine audience and then withdrawing. Flanking the petition are two "capsule" summaries (lines 10–11 and 21–22), each a compressed prayer in miniature — hymn, petition, benediction — that introduce and recall what surrounds them. The effect is a presentation scene: the worshipper approaches, stands before Marduk at the center, makes his offering, and withdraws in radiance.
This is a Good Works Translation from Standard Babylonian Akkadian, produced by the New Tianmu Anglican Church with AI assistance.
(šiptu: incantation)
Mighty, resplendent, foremost of Eridu —
exalted prince, firstborn of Nudimmud —
wise Marduk, who fills E-engura with joy.
Lord of E-sagila, stronghold of Babylon,
beloved of E-zida, keeper of life,
first of E-mahtila, who makes health flourish —
shelter of the land, merciful to the wide peoples,
great dragon sovereign of all the sanctuaries —
your name is sweet in every mouth.
Marduk, great lord, compassionate god —
from your true decree, let me live, let me be whole,
that I may praise your divinity without ceasing.
Let me succeed at all I plan.
Set truth on my lips.
Let a good word take shape in my heart.
May courtier and attendant intercede for me.
May my god stand at my right hand.
May my goddess stand at my left.
May a protective god remain steadfast at my side.
Grant me to speak, to hear, and to obey.
May the word I speak be received just as I speak it.
Marduk, great lord —
bestow my life; decree health for my life.
May I walk before you in radiance, satisfied.
May Enlil rejoice over you; may Ea exult over you.
May the gods of the whole world bless you.
May the great gods bring joy to your heart.
(Sumerian rubric: It is the wording of a lifted-hand prayer to Marduk.)
(Ritual instruction: Its ritual — you perform it either at the offering arrangement or before the incense burner.)
Colophon
Colophon: Standard Babylonian Akkadian, first millennium BCE. Classified as Marduk 2 in Mayer's corpus of shuilla prayers. The text belongs to the lustration ceremonies of the Babylonian court: the Bīt rimki (House of Ablution) and Bīt mēseri (House of Detention), in which the king sought purification from ritual impurity. The principal textual witness is KAR 59 (Ebeling's edition, AGH 64–65); additional manuscripts are used selectively to fill lacunae or supply better readings — the textual tradition for this prayer is unusually extensive. The chiastic structure in lines 12–20 (analysed by Tzvi Abusch, "The Form and Meaning of a Babylonian Prayer to Marduk," JAOS 103, 1983) is a feature not found in other shuillas of this period. The line numbering follows Ebeling's edition; Abusch's alternative numbering (in brackets throughout the scholarly apparatus) differs by one or two lines in places. Text edition: Ebeling, AGH, 64–65; PBS I/2, 108. Introduction and commentary: Kyle Greenwood, in Reading Akkadian Prayers and Hymns: An Introduction (Alan Lenzi, ed.; Society of Biblical Literature, 2011), pp. 313–323. Normalised Akkadian assembled line by line from Greenwood's grammatical commentary. Translation independently derived from the normalised Akkadian; Greenwood's commentary consulted for difficult verbal forms and manuscript variants. Greenwood's English translation was not used as a source. Translated by the New Tianmu Anglican Church with AI assistance, March 2026.
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Source Text
Normalised Akkadian Transliteration
(Marduk 2, Standard Babylonian; text after Ebeling AGH 64–65 / KAR 59, as normalised in Greenwood/Lenzi 2011)
(šiptu:)
(1) gašru šūpû etel Eridu
(2) rubû tizqāru bukur Nudimmud
(3) Marduk šalbābu murīš E-engura
(4) bēl E-sagil tukulti Bābili
(5) rāʾim E-zida mušallim napišti
(6) ašarēd E-maḫtila mudeššû balāṭi
(7) ṣulūl māti gāmil nišī rapšāti
(8) ušumgal kališ parakkī
(9) šumka kališ ina pī nišī ṭāb
(10) Marduk bēlu rabû ilu rēmēnû
(11) ina qibītīka kitti lubluṭ lušlim-ma luštammar ilūtka
(12) ēma uṣammaru lukšud
(13) šuškin kitti ina pīya
(14) šubši amāta damiqti ina libbīya
(15) tīru u nanzāzu liqbû damiqtī
(16) ilī lizziz ina imnīya
(17) ištarī lizziz ina šumēlīya
(18) ilu mušallimu ina idīya lū kayyān
(19) šurkam-ma qabâ šemâ u magāra
(20) amāt aqabbû kīma aqabbû lū magrat
(21) Marduk bēlu rabû napištī qīša balāṭ napištīya qibi
(22) maḫarka namriš atalluka lušbi
(23) Ellil liḫdūka Ea lirīška
(24) ilū ša kiššati likrubūka
(25) ilū rabûtu libbaka liṭibbū
(26) ka-inim-ma šu-íl-lá damar-utu-kám
(27) epištašu: šumma ina riksi šumma ina nignakki teppuš
Source colophon: Normalised Akkadian assembled line by line from Greenwood's grammatical commentary in Reading Akkadian Prayers and Hymns (Lenzi, ed., 2011), pp. 316–323, following the base text of Ebeling, AGH, 64–65 (KAR 59). Additional manuscripts (BMS 9, KAR 23) used for line 24 where KAR 59's reading is less desirable. The ritual instruction in line 27 abbreviates a fuller liturgical sequence; the text is a catchphrase recalling a more elaborate ritual known to exorcists. Cuneiform signs for the Sumerian logograms (DINGIR.MEŠ, TI.LA, etc.) are given in their normalised Akkadian forms throughout the transliteration above; the original cuneiform script used in the manuscripts is not reproduced here.
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