Prophets and Prophecy in the Ancient Near East

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Writings from the Ancient World Theodore J. Lewis, General Editor Associate Editors Billie Jean Collins Jerrold S. Cooper Edward L. Greenstein Jo Ann Hackett Richard Jasnow Ronald J. Leprohon C. L. Seow Niek Veldhuis

Number 12 Prophets and Prophecy of the Ancient Near East by Martti Nissinen Edited by Peter Machinist

PROPHETS AND PROPHECY IN THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST

by Martti Nissinen with contributions by C. L. Seow and Robert K. Ritner

Edited by

Peter Machinist

Society of Biblical Literature Atlanta

Prophets and Prophecy in the Ancient Near East Copyright © 2003 Society of Biblical Literature

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Nissinen, Martti. Prophets and prophecy in the ancient Near East / by Martti Nissinen with contributions by C. L. Seow and Robert K. Ritner ; edited by Peter Machinist. p. cm. — (Writings from the ancient world ; no. 12) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 1-58983-027-X (paper binding : alk. paper) 1. Prophets—Middle East—History. 2. Prophecy—History. 3. Middle East—Literatures. I. Ritner, Robert Kriech, 1953– II. Seow, C. L. (Choon Leong) III. Machinist, Peter. IV. Title. V. Series: Writings from the ancient world ; no. 12. BF1762 .N58 2003b 133.3'0939'4—dc21 2003007002

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Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper

Contents Series Editor’s Foreword ................................................................................xi Abbreviations................................................................................................xiii Explanation of Signs ....................................................................................xv Chronological Tables ..................................................................................xvi Maps..............................................................................................................xix Acknowledgments ........................................................................................xxi Introduction ..........................................................................................1 Ancient Near Eastern Prophecy ..............................................................1 The Study of Prophecy in Transition ......................................................2 The Nature of the Sources ......................................................................4 The Prophets ............................................................................................5 Texts Included and Excluded..................................................................8 Conventions of Transcription and Translation ....................................10 Translations I. Mari Letters ..............................................................................13 1. Nur-Sîn to Zimri-Lim (A. 1121+)..............................................17 2. Nur-Sîn to Zimri-Lim (A. 1968)................................................21 3. LaAllå (no. 138), which seems to combine oracles or visions from different sources, as well as the Amman Citadel Inscription (no. 136), may be taken as further representatives of this type. 2. Quotations of prophetic messages in letters and other kinds of literature. This is the main type at Mari (nos. 1–50), and is also represented by an Amarna letter (no. 121), a number of Neo-Assyrian documents (nos. 103, 106, 107, 109, 111–115), Late Babylonian chronographic texts (nos. 134–135), as well as by the Zakkur Inscription (no. 137) and the Report of Wenamon (no. 142). That we have to do with prophecy is in most cases confirmed by the title of the person who speaks. However, this is not always the case, and the prophetic nature of the quotation may then be deduced from the literary context, the comportment of the person in question and the contents of the message. 3. Texts with references to persons having a prophetic title; these make up the miscellaneous group of the remaining sources, comprised of inscriptions (nos. 97–101), literary and religious texts (nos. 51, 52, 64, 118,

Introduction

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122, 133), letters (nos. 105, 108, 119, 139–141), administrative documents (nos. 53–63, 102, 104, 110, 123, 130–132), omen texts (nos. 127-129) and lexical lists (nos. 120, 124–126). Some texts, more or less frequently presented by other scholars as further representatives of ancient Near Eastern prophecy, are excluded from this volume: 1. Texts that are not compatible with the definition of prophecy as primarily transmissive activity, such as the Egyptian predictive texts referred to as “prophecies” (Lichtheim 1973–80: 1:139–84; Devauchelle 1994), and the literary predictive texts also called “Akkadian Prophecies” or “Akkadian Apocalypses” (Talon 1994: 98–114; cf. Ellis 1989; Nissinen 2001b). These are literary creations that share many elements with prophecies but probably do not go back to actual prophetic activities. However, as a part of the rootage of later apocalypticism (Lambert 1978; Lucas 2000), these texts are not without relevance to the study of prophecy and its learned interpretation. 2. Texts, in which the reference to prophecy is yet to be substantiated. Among these are the texts from Emar mentioning persons with the title munabbi