THE ASSYRIAN AND HEBREW HYMNS OF PRAISE BY CHARLES GORDON CUMMING AMS PRESS, INC. NEW YORK, N.Y. 10003 1966 Copyright 1934 Columbia University Press Reprinted with the permission of the original publisher Manufactured in the United States of America GRATEFULLY DEDICATED TO RICHARD J. H. GOTTHEIL NOTE Professor Cumming has chosen a most interesting subject upon which to write a comparison of “The Assyrian and the Hebrew Hymns of Praise.” He has spent a number of years developing his theme, and has produced a book which I commend heartily to the attention of scholars who are interested in this field. Of course, we do not possess all the hymns written by the Assyrian poets, nor have we all those produced by the old Hebrew songsters. But we certainly have sufficient to make it possible for us to form a just idea of their character and of their beauty. Richard Gottheil FOREWORD It was the author’s original intention to add to this book a translation of all the important Assyrian hymns; for a bringing together of hymns now scattered through many books and periodicals would be a very real service to Old Testament scholarship. Such a task however calls for the knowledge and skill of the thoroughly competent Assyriologist. It is hoped that the list of texts and translations appended to this book may make it easier for any interested reader to locate and carry further the study of any particular hymn. In the case of the Hebrew psalms some slight confusion may be spared the reader if he recognizes that the numbering of the verses is that of the Hebrew text, which differs slightly in certain psalms from that of the English translations. Charles Gordon Cumming Bangor Theological Seminary Bangor, Maine December, 1933 CONTENTS THE HEBREW HYMNS OF PRAISE I. Hebrew Psalms Which Are Not Hymns 3 II. Hebrew Sanctuary Hymns of Praise 18 III. Hebrew Eschatological Hymns 32 IV. Hebrew Nature Hymns 39 V. Hebrew Hymns in Praise of Sacred Institutions 44 THE ASSYRIAN HYMNS OF PRAISE VI. Assyrian Hymnal Introductions to Prayers 53 VII. Assyrian Antiphonal Hymns 72 VIII. Assyrian Self-Laudations of the Gods 83