O my god who art angry with me, accept my prayer, O my goddess who art wroth with me, accept my appeal, Accept my appeal, may thy liver be at rest! My lord in mercy and compassion [look upon me?] Who guides the span of life against the encroachments (?) of death, accept my prayer! O my goddess, look upon me, accept my appeal; May my sins be forgiven,[484] my transgressions be wiped out. May the ban be loosened, the chain broken, May the seven winds carry off my sighs. Let me tear away my iniquity, let the birds carry it to heaven, Let the fish take off my misfortune, the stream carry it off. May the beasts of the field take it away from me, The flowing waters of the stream wash me clean. Let me be pure like the sheen of gold. As a ring (?) of precious stone, may I be precious before thee. Remove my iniquity, save my soul. Thy [temple] court I will watch, thy image (?) I will set up.[485] Grant to me that I may see a favorable dream, The dream that I see, let it be favorable, The dream that I see, let it be unfailing, The dream that I see, turn it to a favorable [issue]. The god Makhir (?), the god of dreams stand at my head. Let me enter into E-sagila, the temple of the gods, the house of life. Commend me to Marduk, the merciful one, for favor, I will be subservient to thy greatness, I will exalt thy divinity. There follows a line from which one may further conclude that the psalm is one composed for the royal chief of Babylonia. It is evidently only a ruler who can assure the deity that The inhabitants of my city,[486] may they glorify thy power. We know from the historical texts that previous to a military engagement the kings were particularly desirous of some sign from the deity that might serve to encourage the soldiery. Such a sign was ordinarily a dream. The circumstances, therefore, seem to point to our psalm being a royal prayer for forgiveness of transgressions, uttered before some impending national crisis, in the hope of securing, with the divine pardon, the protection of the deity who, up to this point in the campaign, must have manifested his displeasure rather than his favor. More distinct references to national events are found in another royal penitential psalm:[487] How long, O my mistress, will the mighty foe oppress thy land, In thy great city Erech famine has settled, In E-ulbar, the house of thy oracle, blood is poured out like water, Throughout thy districts he has kindled conflagrations, and poured [fire] over them in columns (?).[488] O my mistress, I am abundantly yoked to misfortune, O my mistress, thou hast encompassed me, thou hast brought me into pain, The mighty foe has trodden me down as a reed, I have no judgment, I have no wisdom, Like a 'dry field' I am desolate night and day, I thy servant beseech thee, May thy heart be at rest, thy liver be pacified.