SIXTH TABLET.
Project Gutenberg EPUB edition
Budge, E. A. Wallis (Ernest Alfred Wallis), Sir
42. On hearing this Marduk ...
43. The features of his face [shone like] the day exceedingly.
44. [He said),45 "Like unto ... Babylon, the construction whereof ye desire
45. "I will make ... a city, I will fashion a splendid shrine."
46. The Anunnaki worked the mould [for making bricks], their bricks were ...
47. In the second year [the shrine was as high as] a hill, and the summit of E-Sagila reached the [celestial] Ocean.
48. They made the ziggurat46 [to reach] the celestial Ocean; unto Marduk, Enlil, Ea [shrines] they appointed,
49. It (i.e., the ziggurat) stood before them majestically: at the bottom and [at the top] they observed its two horns.47
50. After the Anunnaki had finished the construction of E-Sagila, and had completed the making of their shrines,
51. They gathered together from the ... of the Ocean (Apsu). In BAR-MAH, the abode which they had made,
52. He (i.e., Marduk) made the gods his fathers to take their seats ... [saying]: "This Babylon shall be your abode.
53. "No mighty one [shall destroy] his house, the great gods shall dwell therein.
[After line 53 the middle portions of several lines of text are obliterated, but from what remains of it it is clear that the gods partook of a meal of consecration of the shrine of E-Sagila, and then proceeded to issue decrees. Next Marduk assigns seats to the Seven Gods of Fate and to Enlil and Anu, and then he lays up in E-Sagila the famous bow which he bore during his fight against Tiâmat. When the text again becomes connected we find the gods singing a hymn of praise to Marduk.]
94. "Whatever is ... those gods and goddesses shall bear(?)
95. "They shall never forget, they shall cleave to the god (?)
96. "... they shall make bright, they shall make shrines.
97. "Verily, the decision (concerning) the Black-headed [belongeth to] the gods
98. "... all our names have they called, he (Marduk) is most holy (elli)
99. "... they proclaimed and venerated (?) his names.
100. "His ... is exceedingly bright, his work is ...
101. "Marduk, whose father Anu proclaimed [his name] from his birth,
102. "Who hath set the day at his door ... his going,
103. "By whose help the storm wind was bound ...
104. "Delivered the gods his fathers in the time of trouble.
105. "Verily, the gods have proclaimed his sonship.
106. "In his bright light let them walk for ever.
107. "[On] men whom he hath formed, the created things fashioned by his fingers
108. "He hath imposed the service of the gods, and them he hath set free
109. "...
110. "... they looked at him,
111. "[He is] the far-seeing (maruḳu) god, verily ...
112. "Who hath made glad the hearts of the Anunnaki, who hath made them to ...
113. "The god Marudukku ()-- verily, he is the object of trust of his country ...
114. "Let men praise him ...
115. "The 'King of the Protecting Heart,' (?) , hath arisen and hath [bound] the Serpent ...
116. "Broad is his heart, mighty [his] belly.
117. "King of the gods of heaven and of earth, whose name our company hath proclaimed,
118. "We will fulfil (?) the utterance of his mouth. Over his fathers the gods,
119. "Yea, [over] the gods of heaven and earth, all of them,
120. "His kingship [we will exalt].