"I then sent out (what was in the vessel) towards the four winds, and I offered a sacrifice. I raised the pile of my burnt offering on the peak of the mountain; seven by seven I disposed the measured vases,[42]--and beneath I spread rushes, cedar, and juniper wood. The gods were seized with the desire of it--the gods were seized with a benevolent desire of it;--and the gods assembled like flies above the master of the sacrifice. From afar, in approaching, the great goddess raised the great zones that Anu has made for their glory (the gods).[43] These gods, luminous crystal before me, I will never leave them; in that day I prayed that I might never leave them. 'Let the gods come to my sacrificial pile!--but never may Bel come to my sacrificial pile! for he did not master himself, and he has made the water-spout for the Deluge, and he has numbered my men for the pit.' "From far, in drawing near, Bel--saw the vessel, and Bel stopped;--he was filled with anger against the gods and the celestial archangels:-- "'No one shall come out alive! No man shall be preserved from the abyss!'--Adar opened his mouth and said; he said to the warrior Bel:--'What other than Êa should have formed this resolution?--for Êa possesses knowledge and [he foresees] all.'--Êa opened his mouth and spake; he said to the warrior Bel:--'O thou, herald of the gods, warrior,--as thou didst not master thyself, thou hast made the water-spout of the deluge.--Let the sinner carry the weight of his sins, the blasphemer the weight of his blasphemy.--Please thyself with this good pleasure and it shall never be infringed; faith in it never [shall be violated.]--Instead of thy making a new deluge, let lions appear and reduce the number of men; instead of thy making a new deluge, let hyenas appear and reduce the number of men;--instead of thy making a new deluge, let there be famine and let the earth be [devastated];--instead of thy making a new deluge, let Dibbara[44] appear, and let men be [mown down]. I have not revealed the decision of the great gods;--it is Khasisatra who interpreted a dream and comprehended what the gods had decided.' "Then, when his resolve was arrested, Bel entered into the vessel.--He took my hand and made me rise.--He made my wife rise and made her place herself at my side.--He turned around us and stopped short; he approached our group.--'Until now Khasisatra has made part of perishable humanity;--but lo, now, Khasisatra and his wife are going to be carried away to live like the gods,--and Khasisatra will reside afar at the mouth of the rivers.'--They carried me away and established me in a remote place at the mouth of the streams."