Tuesday, April 28, 2026 · 天火 · tianmu.org

A Tamitu to Shamash and Adad

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A tamitu is a yes-or-no question posed to the gods before extispicy — the reading of a sacrificial animal's entrails. The diviner addresses Shamash, lord of justice and the sun, and Adad, lord of storms and divination: the twin lords of the oracle, who together govern the disclosure of hidden truth. The question takes the form of a sequence of negative petitions ("Will they not do this? Will they not do that?") — the entrails give the answer.

This particular tamitu concerns a field guard who keeps watch over a stretch of land during the thirty days until the lunar withdrawal. The query runs through every possible form of enemy threat — mustering, attack, raiding, killing, plundering, carrying off spoil, sending evil tidings — asking Shamash and Adad to rule each one "will not happen." The "owner of the woolen fringe" is identified by his fringe rather than his name, functioning like a seal or a thumbprint as a substitute for physical presence.

Translated from Standard Babylonian Akkadian by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, March 2026. Source: Alan Lenzi, Reading Akkadian Prayers and Hymns (SBL, 2011), pp. 466–470, following W. G. Lambert, Babylonian Oracle Questions (Eisenbrauns, 2007). Manuscript: ND 5492, Nimrud compendium tablet, Ashurbanipal's palace.

Shamash, lord of the decision —
Adad, lord of divination —
to you I bring my asking:
give me a true yes.

Answer me.
Concerning the owner of this woolen fringe —
who keeps watch from field so-and-so
to field so-and-so —
your great divinity knows his guard.

From today, by the rite of divination,
until the thirtieth day of this month,
the day the moon withdraws:

The enemy army — all there are,
from the light troops
to the heavy corps —

Will they not swell themselves?
Will they not muster?
Will they not strengthen themselves?
Will they not gain helpers and reinforcements?
Will they not mount an attack, a raid?

And during the watch of the owner of this fringe —
in the open steppe, among the livestock;
in the city, among the spoil —
little where little is,
much where much is —

Will they not kill what can be killed?
Will they not plunder what can be plundered?
Will they not carry off what can be carried off?

And evil tidings —
will they not send them
to the owner of this woolen fringe,
making his heart sick and wretched?

Pass over the time beyond the coming month's end.

An oracle-query for the well-being of the watch.

Colophon

Translated from Standard Babylonian Akkadian by the New Tianmu Anglican Church with AI assistance, March 2026. The tamitu is a genre of divination-query prayer posed before extispicy; this is the sole tamitu in Lenzi's anthology. The Akkadian transliteration follows Alan Lenzi, Reading Akkadian Prayers and Hymns: An Introduction (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2011), 466–470. The cuneiform manuscript is ND 5492 (= IM 67692), a Neo-Assyrian compendium tablet containing six tamitu, copied at Ashurbanipal's palace at Nimrud; Lambert assigns it to Tablet VII of the Nimrud tamitu series. The critical edition is W. G. Lambert, Babylonian Oracle Questions (Mesopotamian Civilizations 13; Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2007), 21–41. Lambert's English translation was consulted as reference; this translation is independently derived from the Akkadian.

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Source Text: A Tamitu to Shamash and Adad (Akkadian Transliteration)

(Standard Babylonian, first millennium BCE. Transliteration from Lenzi 2011, pp. 466–470, following Lambert's edition.)

  1. ᵈUTU EN di-nim ᵈIŠKUR EN bi-ri
  2. šá a-šal-lu-ku-nu-ši an-na ki-na
  3. ap-la-in-ni EN SÍG u TÚG.SÍG an-nu-ú
  4. š[á] TA A.ŠÀ NENNI EN A.ŠÀ NENNI
  5. [E]N.NUN ina-ṣa-ru-ma DINGIR-ut-ku-nu GAL-tum
  6. ZU-ú TA ud₄-me NE DÙ-ti ba-ru-ti
  7. [E]N UD.30.KÁM UD.NÁ.A šá ITI an-ni-i
  8. ÉRIN KÚR ma-la ba-šu-ú TA qal-la-ti
  9. [E]N ka-bit-ti la uš-ta-gap-pa-šu
  10. [l]a uš-ta-paḫ-ḫa-ru la uš-ta-dan-na-nu
  11. re-ṣi u til-la-ti la TUKU-ši-ma
  12. ti-ba ši-iḫ-ṭa la i-šak-ka-nam-ma
  13. i-na EN.NUN šá EN SÍG u TÚG.SÍG an-ni-i
  14. i-na EDIN MÁŠ.ANŠE i-na URU šal-la-ta
  15. i-na mi-ṣi mi-ṣa i-na ma-a'-di
  16. ma-a'-da šá da-a-ki la i-duk-ku
  17. šá ḫa-ba-a-ti la i-ḫab-ba-tu
  18. šá šál-la-li la i-šal-la-l[u]
  19. ù bu-su-ra-a-ti šá MUNUS.ḪUL
  20. ana EN SÍG u TÚG.SÍG an-ni-i la ú-pa-as-s[a-ru]
  21. šÀ-šú la GIG-šu la i-lam-me-nu
  22. e-zib ana EGIR a-dan-ni šá ITI e-ri-bi
  23. ta-mit ana SILIM-um EN.NUN

(Line 23 is the scribal rubric, not part of the prayer.)

Source Colophon

Akkadian transliteration from Alan Lenzi, Reading Akkadian Prayers and Hymns: An Introduction (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2011), pp. 466–470. Critical edition: W. G. Lambert, Babylonian Oracle Questions (Mesopotamian Civilizations 13; Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2007), 21–41, especially 30–33. Manuscript: ND 5492 (= IM 67692), Nimrud compendium tablet, Tablet VII of the Nimrud tamitu series.

Other Mesopotamian Prayers and Incantations in the Good Work Library: A Namburbi against the Evil of a Snake · A Prayer to Anu · A Prayer to Ea · A Prayer to Gula · A Prayer to Marduk · A Prayer to Nabu · A Prayer to Nergal · A Prayer to Nisaba · A Prayer to Shamash · A Prayer to Sin · A Royal Prayer to Nabu · A Second Prayer to Marduk · A Universal Namburbi to Ea, Shamash, and Asalluhi · An Ershahunga to Any God · Prayer to the Gods of the Night · The Great Ishtar Prayer · Two Dingirshadibba Prayers

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