Long ago when the heaven above had not been named and the earth beneath had no name, and only Apsu (the Ocean), the primeval, who begot them, and Tiamat, Confusion, who bore them both existed-their waters mingled- and when no fields were formed, and no reeds to be seen, when not one of the gods had been called into being. Luchmu and Lachamu were the first to be called into being. Ages passed, then Anshar and Kishar were created, and long days before Anu, Bel and Ea were created.
(Apsu and Tiamat having determined todestroy the light and restore the primeval darkness, a struggle ensues. )
Anshar opened his mouth and said to Gaga his minister, "Go, Gaga, minister, that rejoicest my spirit, to Luchmu and Lachamu I send thee. Assemble all the gods, seat them at the table to partake of a feast. Let them eat bread and mix wine. Go Gaga, and stand before them then and all that I tell thee, repeat to them, saying: Anshar your son has sent me, his heart's command he entrusted to me saying: "Tiamat our mother, has turned against us in hatred. With all her might she rages in anger. All the gods have turned to her, even those you created go to her aid. They are banded together and at the side of Tiamat they advance. Cursing the light they follow Tiamat. Furious, without resting by day or by night they prepare for the fray, fuming and raging, they band themselves together and begin the revolt. Tiamat, the mother of the deep, who bore us all, has added invincible weapons, spawning monster serpents, sharp of tooth, unsparing of fang. For blood she filled their bodies with poison. Fierce monster-vipers she clothed with terror, endowed with awful splendor and made.....
She clothed fierce monster vipers with terror, endowed them with dread and splendor, and made great of stature, that their appearance might frighten and fill with horror. Their bodies are immense, their attack irresistible. She made a viper, a dragon, and the lachamu, a storm giant, a mad dog, a scorpion-man, fierce storms, a fish-man, and a ram; all provided with weapons, merciless, fearless of fight, defiant among the gods the sons she had born and made Kingu greatest among them all, saying:
"Thou art sent to march at the head of the forces, to order the weapons to strike, the attack to begin." She entrusted to him the first place in war and in victory. She seated him on a throne and said: 'I have recited thy spell, in the assembly of the gods. I have raised these to power, I have given thee the sway over all the the gods. Be thou great, my spouse, thy name be magnified in all the world.' She gave him the tablets of destiny and laid them on his breast saying: 'May thy command not be annulled, established be the word of thy mouth' Kingu, thus exalted and having obtained power over the gods, commanded: "Let your word overcome the fire god. Whoever is great in valor, let him display his might." I sent Anu but he feared to face her. Nudimmud was afraid and turned back. I have called on Marduk, adviser of the gods. He has determined to go against Tiamat. He spoke to me aned said, "If I, your avenger, conquer Tiamat and give you life, assemble the gods and declare my control of the gods to be supreme. Enter joyfully into the palace and my rule shall take the place of thine. Let whatever I do be unaltered. The word of my mouth not be changed or annulled." Hasten and give him the rule that he may go and fight your enemy."
When Luchmu and Lachamu heard this, they feared and all the gods wailed grievously, saying: "What has happened that they hate us? We do not understand the conduct of Tiamat." Then they came together, all the gods and went into the great hall before Anshar. They took courage and sat down to the banquet.; they ate bread and mixed wine. The sweet drink, the mead, overcame their senses, they became drunk, their bodies were filled with wine. They lost their reason, their spirits rose and they gave the rule to Marduk their avenger.
And they (the gods) put him (Marduk) in a royal palace; Under the protection of his father he dwelt (lived) in (his) kingdom.
Yea, thou art glorious among the great gods.
Thy work is unequaled, thy command is (the command of ) Anu.
From today thy command shall be unalterable.
To exalt and to humble be in they power.
Verily, thy word be firm, be thy command not resisted.
None among the gods has surpassed they power,
(Though with) decorations be filled the shrine of the(se) gods.
The place of their gathering may it now be established in thy place, (where they will say unto thee):
"Oh Marduk, thou art, indeed, he who has become our avenger (against Tiamat) ;
We have given thee the kingdom, the rule of the whole universe." When thou art in the assembly (of the gods), may thy will prevail against all.
Thy weapons may never be broken, may thy enemies tremble.
O Lord, spare thou the life of him that trusteth in thee.
The the god that is wedded to evil, pour out his life's blood.
(His) word (command ) they set up their midst as unique (i.e., all-important)
Unto Marduk, their first-born, they spake:
Thy work, O Lord, be greater than that of the (other) gods;
To destroy and to create, speak and it shall be done.
Open thy mouth, and his (perhaps the last god's ) word shall vanish away (i.e. be made ineffective)
Speak again to him and his word shall be restored.
He (Marduk) spake, and in his mouth (i.e., that of the god which does evil negative things) was destroyed, his (power of ) speech.
Again he spake unto him and his speech was restored unto him.
When the gods, his fathers, saw the effect of his (Marduk's ) word, they rejoiced greeting him saying: Marduk indeed be our king!"
They invested him with the scepter, the throne, and the reign; A weapon unsurpassed they gave him, consuming the enemy. "Go now (they said unto him) and cut asunder the life thread of Tiamat;
May the winds carry her blood to secret places far away
The gods, his fathers fixed the fate of the lord (Marduk).
They led him along the road to safety and success.
A bow he made himself and took it for his weapon,
The falchion he swung that he had made of (the wood) of the terebinth.
The god took up the weapon, seized it with his right hand, the bow and the quiver at his side he hung;
A lightning he caused to go before him.
With destructive and fierce wrath he filled his bowels.
A net he made to enclose Kirbish-Tiamat.
The four winds he seized, so that she could by no nmeans escape, the wind from the south and the north, the east and the west.
Then he brought to her Tiamat's side the net, the present of his father Anu.
He created the destructive wind, the evil wind, the storm and the hurricane;
The four winds, the seven winds, the whirlwind, the wind whose equal does not exist.
He caused the winds, he had created, to issue forth, even the seven of them,
To work the destruction of Kirbish-Tiamat, to storm behind her;
And the lord raised his mighty weapon, the hurricane.
The chariot, something unequaled, the terrible, he mounted;
He harnessed it and hung the four reins over the side of the chariot. With his free hands he used the weapon, the relentless, the overwhelming, the swift, to fight those whose fangs contain poison, the hosts of Tiamat....terrible was the battle.
He took his way and caused Tiamat pursuit'
To place of Tiamat he turned to face
With her lips she cried aloud
When fright overwhelmed her she seized his fist.
In that day they beheld him, the gods beheld him; The gods, his fathers, beheld him, the gods beheld him.
The lord approached for the fight, Tiamat he saw.
Of Kingu, her husband, he sought his overthrow.
When he (Kingu) beheld him, his reason became disturbed,
his mind distracted, his actions confused.
And the the gods, his helpers, walking at his side,
saw how the first born bore their yoke exposing himself to danger for their sake.
Observing that Tiamat did not direct toward him to fight
But with her lips cried out great evils saying'
'Around thee, O lord of the gods cometh her host
their throng they gather, where thou art.'
But the lord lifted up the hurricane, his mighty weapon,
against Kirbish-Tiamat, on whom he takes vengeance he hurled it, saying:
'As though didst excite rebellion on high,
Now gather courage and give resistance.
As thou didst direct evil against my fathers, therefore may be tied down thy army and the weapons may they be bound rendered harmless.
Stand and I and thou will fight together!
But Tiamat upon hearing this,
considered herself defeated and lost her balance of mind.
She roared wildly and loud;
Completely her inside burst into two parts.
Magic words she spake and applied her incantation.
They then made their weapons appeal to the gods of battle.
They approached each other, Tiamat and the leader of the gods, Marduk.
To the fight they approached against one another, they approached the battle.
But the lord spread out his net to enclose her;
An evil wind, to seize her from behind, he loose before him;
Then opened her mouth Tiamat to crush it, the evil wind.
But he (Marduk) caused the evil wind to enter her mouth that she could not close it to shut her lips.
The strong winds filled her stomach,
So that here heart sank with her courage lost ; wide opened he her mouth, he grasped his falchion and pierced her stomach splitting it opened.
Her entrails he tore out, cut out her heart.
He grasped her and destroyed her life.
Her corpse he threw down, upon it he placed himself.
After Tiamat, the leader had been killed,
Her host was broken up, her throng was scattered,
and the gods her helpers, going at her side,
trembled feared, retreated backward.
He (Marduk) let them escape and spared their life;
With a cordon they were surrounded which no one can escape;
He enclosed them and their weapons he broke.
They were placed like birds in a net; they sat down in utter prostration.
And the world they filled with their wailing. They bore his punishment they were kept in bondage, and the eleven creatures were filled with fear.
He put their hands in bonds
and their opposition beneath himself he trod.
And Kingu who against Marduk had been their [leader]?
He took away from him the tablets of fate.
With the seal he doomed him and sealed him, his breast he seized.
After he had bound his enemy, and he crushed the proud foe completely,
He fully established the superiority of AN-SAR over the enemy.
Marduk, the mighty, had thus accomplished the intention of god Ea.
Over the gods in bondage he strengthened the guard.
Toward Tiamat, then whom he had overcome, he turned back,
And the lord trampled on the lower part of Tiamat's body.
With this unmerciful club he smote her,
he cut through the veins of her blood:
The wind, even the wind of the north, he caused it to carry to secret places far away.
He saw it, his face rejoiced, he gloried.
A present, a peace offering he caused to be brought to him.
Then the lord quieted down, seeing her (Tiamat's) corpse.
The foul, rotten flesh he tore away, and he performed wonderful deeds.
He tored from her like of a fish her skin in it's two halves.
Half of her he stood up, and made it the heavenly dome.
He pushed in front of it a bolt; he stationed a guard;
commanding him not to let the waters pour out freely.
He connected the heaven with the lower regions,
And he placed it opposite to the primeval sea, the dwelling of god Ea.
Then the lord measured off the circui of the primeval sea.
A palace he built like that in heaven called E-shar-ra
The palace E-shar-ra which he had built as a heavenly dome.
Anum, Bel, and Ea he caused to inhabit it as their habitation.
He (Marduk) established the mansions of the great gods.
The stars correponding to them, he fixed, and the annual constellations.
He determined the length of the year, its limits he defined.
For each of the twelve months three stars he fixed,
from the time when the year opens in fixed limits,
he founded the mansion of Jupiter, to mark their bounds.
That none of the days may deviate, nor found to be lacking
The mansion of Bel and Ea at the north and south poles he established with him (Jupiter?)
He opened gates at both sides,
and forced open the bolts on the left and on the right
In the very midst he made the morning firmament have a zenith
He made the moon-god (Nannaru) brilliant, and intrusted the night to him.
He defined him as a night-body, to mark of the days saying:
"Monthly without ceasing define the time with the disc;
In the beginning of the month light up in the evening.
That the horns shine to mark the heavens.
On the seventh day make half the royal cap showing half the disc
On the fourteenth mayest thou mark the half of the month
