35. “The goddess Nazi have I brought forth for thee.” 36. “My brother, what of thee is ill?” “My hand [is ill.”] 37. “My goddess ‘Living hand’[411] have I brought forth for thee.” 38. “My brother, what of thee is ill?” “My health is ill.” 39. “The goddess ‘Queen of health’[412] have I brought forth for thee.” 40. “My brother, what of thee is ill?” “My intelligence is ill.” 41. “The god who makes the intelligence clear[413] have I brought forth for thee.” 42. “Grandly are they brought forth, they are created. 43. Let Absham be lord of vegetation, 44. Let Nintulla be lord of Magan, 45. Let Ninkautu choose Ninazu as a spouse, 46. May Ninkasi be the full heart’s possession, 47. May Nazi become mistress of weaving (?), 48. May Dazima the house of strong life take, 49. May Nintil become mistress of the month, 50. May Enshagme become lord of X. 51. Glory!” =2. Comparison with the Bible.= Here the tablet concludes. This last column, which tells how the goddess Ninkharsag came to favor the hero and to create a number of divine helpers for him, has no parallel in the Biblical account. As Tagtug received the especial protection of Ninkharsag who created for him all these divine helpers, it seems certain that this tablet had no reference to the fall of man, as Langdon supposes. It appears rather to be a mythical account of the beginnings of agriculture and the medicinal use of plants in Babylonia. Agriculture implies irrigation. “From the first day whose month is first” to the ninth month, is the period when Babylonia is watered. The Tigris begins to rise in March, the first month, the overflow of the Euphrates does not subside till the sixth month, and the winter rains are at their height in the ninth month. As Adam was driven from Eden to eat of the fruits of the earth (Gen. 3:18, 24; compare Gen. 1:29), and Noah became a husbandman (Gen. 9:20), the story of Tagtug presents a remote similarity to both of them. Langdon[414] compares the list of divine beings with which the tablet ends with the antediluvian patriarchs of Gen. 4 and 5, and suggests the possibility that here we have the original names of those patriarchs. Beyond the fact that Absham somewhat resembles the name Abel and was, like Abel, an agriculturist, there is no apparent connection. The names in no way correspond. It is more probable that we have the names of those patriarchs in the list of kings translated in Chapter V. CHAPTER IX ABRAHAM AND ARCHÆOLOGY ABRAHAM HIRED AN OX. ABRAHAM LEASED A FARM. ABRAHAM PAID HIS RENT. WHO WAS THIS ABRAHAM? TRAVEL BETWEEN BABYLONIA AND PALESTINE. HAMMURAPI, KING OF THE WESTLAND. KUDUR-MABUG. KINGS SUPPOSED BY SOME TO BE THOSE OF GENESIS 14. Archæological investigation has brought to light a number of texts believed by scholars to illumine the Biblical accounts of Abraham. It is the purpose of this chapter to translate and discuss these.