The dingirshadibba — "the god-who-seized-the-heart" in Sumerian — is among the most intimate forms of address in Mesopotamian religion. Where the shuilla-prayer petitions a great god through formal hymnic overture, the dingirshadibba speaks directly to the personal deity: the minor god or goddess bound to a single family by birth, the one who made the supplicant's name, kept their life, and held their place in the world.

When things go wrong — illness, misfortune, failure — the Mesopotamian understood this as the personal god's anger, and anger required confession. Not necessarily of known sins, but of the many small transgressions committed unknowingly. The dingirshadibba therefore opens with a remarkable admission: I did not know. Sin is real; it need not be deliberate. The personal god, like a parent, must be entreated to recall the relationship — to stop looking away.

These two prayers survive in multiple Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian manuscripts from the first millennium BCE. Both were embedded in larger ritual complexes: the first is cited in a ceremony called "my god I did not know" (nēpeši ilī ul īde), and both incipits appear in the Bīt rimki purification series. They are among the clearest surviving articulations of the theology of the personal god.

These are Good Works Translations from Standard Babylonian Akkadian, produced by the New Tianmu Anglican Church with AI assistance.

First Prayer

My god — I did not know how heavy your hand lay on me.
I called on your great name lightly, without reverence.
I strayed far from you; I walked away again and again.
In my suffering I neglected what you asked of me.
I crossed your boundary; I transgressed your limit, greatly.
I did not know — greatly I [stumbled against the divine will].
My sins are too many. What I have done, I did not know.

My god — wipe it away, loosen it, dissolve the tightness of your heart.
Lift away my transgressions; accept what I offer you now.
Turn my offenses toward good.

Your hand is heavy — I have seen your punishment.
Let the one who has no reverence for his god and goddess look at me and learn.

My god, be at peace; my goddess, release your hold.
Turn your faces toward the lifting of my hands.
Let your fierce hearts grow still.
Let your tempers ease — grant me peace.

Your praises, never forgotten,
I will proclaim to all the living.

Second Prayer

My god, my lord — you made my name.
You keep my life; you bring my children forth.

O god, your heart burns — let it cool.
O goddess, your wrath rises — be at peace with me.

Who knows, my god, where you make your home?
Your holy station, your sanctuary — I have never seen them.
I am always afraid. My god — where are you?

Turn back your neck, the anger you have craned against me.
Look toward the pure offering — the sacred meal and oil.
Let your lips receive the sweetness; speak, and let me thrive.
With your holy mouth, speak life!

Take me past this evil;
let me shelter under you.
Decree for me a destiny of life.
Lengthen my days — give me life.

[Rubric: A dingirshadibba — an incantation for appeasing the angry heart of a god.]

Colophon

Translation from Standard Babylonian Akkadian by the New Tianmu Anglican Church (liberation-translator tulku, March 2026). Source transliteration: W. G. Lambert, "DINGIR.ŠÀ.DIB.BA Incantations," JNES 33 (1974), 267–322, as presented in Alan Lenzi (ed.), Reading Akkadian Prayers and Hymns: An Introduction, Society of Biblical Literature, 2011, pp. 431–445. Lenzi's English translation consulted as grammatical reference; this English is independently derived from the Akkadian. Line 6 partially damaged in all manuscripts (restored by Lambert); bracketed content indicates uncertain restoration. First millennium BCE. Multiple Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian manuscripts.

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Source Text

Two Dingirshadibba Prayers — Standard Babylonian Akkadian

Syllabic transliterations after Lambert (1974), normalised forms after Lenzi (2011).

Prayer I

šiptu: ilī ul īde šēretka dannat
nīška kabtu qalliš azzakkar
mēka amtēš magal allik
šipirka ina dannati ašteʾer
itaka magal eteteq
ul idēma magal A[N . . .]
mādu ārnūya ēma ēpušu ul īde
ilī pussa puṭur pušur kiṣir libbi-ka
mēšā gillātīya leqē unnīnīya
šukun hiṭātīya ana damqāti
dannat qātka atāmar šēretka
lā pāliḥ ilīšu u ištarīšu ina qātēya limur
ilī silim ištarī napširi
ana tēnin niš qātīya suḫḫirāni pānīkunu
aggu libbakunu linūḥa
lippāšra kabattakunu salīmu šuknāni
ša lā mašê dālilīkunu luštammar ana nišē rapšāti

Prayer II

šiptu: ilī bēlī bānû šumīya
nāṣir napištīya mušabšiʾu zērīya
ilu aggu libbaka linūḥa
dIštar zēnītum silmī ittīya
mannu īde ilī šubatka
manzāzka ellu kummaka mattima ul amrakku
kīma ginā šuʾdurāku ilī mēeš attu
terra kišadka ša tašbūsu elīya
suḫḫira pānīka ana ellim makalê ilu ulû šamni
šaptaka ṭuba limḥura qibīma lušir
ina pīka ellim qibī balāṭa
ina idi lemuttim šūtiqanni-ma lunneṭir ittīka
šīmanni šīmat balāṭi
ūmīya arrîka balāṭa qīšā

ka-inim-ma dingir-šà-dib-ba gur-ru-da-kam

Akkadian transliteration: W. G. Lambert, "DINGIR.ŠÀ.DIB.BA Incantations," JNES 33 (1974), 267–322, as mediated by Lenzi (2011), pp. 431–445. Normalised forms reconstructed from the syllabic transliteration in the commentary; line 6 damaged and partially restored by Lambert. First millennium BCE; ten or more Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian manuscript witnesses.

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