The night has fallen. The great gods — Shamash, Sîn, Adad, Ishtar — have retired into the lap of heaven. Their temples are dark. Their judgments are suspended. In this stillness, the Old Babylonian bārûm, the diviner-priest, turns not to the sleeping gods but to the stars who remain awake: Girra the fire-bright, Erra the warrior-god, and the constellations of the night sky. This is the prayer spoken before an extispicy — a reading of a sacrificial lamb's entrails — asking the gods of the night to stand by the rite and place truth in the omen.
The text was inscribed on a clay tablet held in the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. It dates to the Late Old Babylonian period, approximately 1800–1595 BCE. The twenty-five lines divide into two movements: first, a hushed description of the world gone still as night falls; then a direct petition to the star-gods, the only divine powers still awake and capable of delivering truth.
This is a Good Works Translation from Akkadian, produced by the New Tianmu Anglican Church with AI assistance.
The great ones have gone still.
The bolts are drawn down,
the rings set in place.
The people who stirred are silent.
The doors that stood open are shut.
The gods of the land,
the goddesses of the land —
Shamash, Sîn, Adad, Ishtar —
have passed into the lap of heaven.
They give no judgment.
They settle no case.
Night wears her veil.
The palace darkens —
its chambers, its cella, its holy room,
all gone to dark.
The wayfarer cries out to god,
but the judge is asleep.
O justice-keeper, father of the forgotten —
Shamash has entered his chamber.
O great ones, gods of the night —
brilliant Girra,
warrior Erra,
the Bow, the Yoke,
Orion, the Serpent-of-Fury,
the Wagon, the Goat,
the Bison, the Coiled One —
stand by.
In the divination I perform,
in the lamb I consecrate,
place truth.
Let its omen be the prayer of night.
Colophon
Translation from Old Babylonian Akkadian by the New Tianmu Anglican Church (tulku, March 2026). Source: the Akkadian transliteration as preserved in the SEAL/CDLI project and Alan Lenzi (ed.), Reading Akkadian Prayers and Hymns: An Introduction, Society of Biblical Literature, 2011. Lenzi's English was consulted as reference for lexical ambiguities. The clay tablet (AO 6769) is in the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. Old Babylonian period, c. 1800–1595 BCE.
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Source Text: The Diviner's Prayer to the Gods of the Night (Akkadian)
Old Babylonian Akkadian
pullulū rubû
wašrū sikkūrū šīrētum šaknā
ḫabrātum nišū šaqummā
petûtum uddulū bābū
ilī mātim ištarāt mātim
Šamaš Sîn Adad Ištar
īterbū ana utul šamê
ul idinnū dīnam ul iparrasū awātim
pussumat mušītim
ēkallum šaḫūrša kummu adrū
ālik urḫim ilam išassi u ša dīnim ušteberre šittam
dayyān kinātim abi ekiātim
Šamaš īterub ana kummīšu
rabûtum ilī mušītim
nawrum Girra
qurādum Erra
qaštum nīrum
šitaddarum mušḫuššum
ereqqum inzam
kusarikkum bašmum
lizzizū-ma
ina têrti eppušu
ina puḫād akarrabu
kittam šuknān
šumūšu ikrib mušītim
Source Colophon
Akkadian transliteration from: SEAL/CDLI project; Alan Lenzi (ed.), Reading Akkadian Prayers and Hymns: An Introduction, Society of Biblical Literature, 2011. State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. Old Babylonian, c. 1800–1595 BCE.
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