Position in chronology
A man and his god
Written in modern English
A person should loudly proclaim the greatness of his god, and young men should devoutly take the words of their god to heart, turning them over the way a weaver works a thread. May the temple singer bring comfort to his neighbor and friend — may the lament that shapes his mouth soften the heart of his god, because a man without a god goes hungry. And yet here is a young man who has done nothing wicked, who has kept clear of violence and murder, and still he passes his days in grief, racked by the demon-disease asag and something bitter — the tablet breaks off before the thought is finished.
A modern paraphrase of the literal translation — same content, contemporary voice.
Translation — scholar edition
ETCSLA person should steadfastly proclaim the exaltedness of his god. A young man should devoutly praise the words of his god; the people living in the righteous Land should unravel them like a thread. May the balaj singer assuage the spirit of his neighbour and friend. May it soothe their (?) hearts, bring forth ......, utter ......, and measure out ....... Let his mouth shaping a lament soothe the heart of his god, for a man without a god does not obtain food. There is a young man who does not wickedly put his efforts into evil murder, yet he spends the time in grief, asag illness and bitter…
Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature — scholar edition (Oxford, Black/Cunningham/Robson/Zólyomi).
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Scholarly note
Composition c.5.2.4 in the ETCSL catalogue. Sumerian literary text reconstructed from multiple cuneiform manuscripts, the great majority Old Babylonian (c. 1900–1600 BCE). Translation reproduced from the ETCSL edition.
Attribution
Image: .
Translation excerpted from ETCSL c.5.2.4: A man and his god. Black, J.A., Cunningham, G., Robson, E. & Zólyomi, G. (eds.), The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature, Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Oxford. https://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/etcsl.cgi?text=c.5.2.4.
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