Page:BabylonianPenitentialPsalms.djvu/16

Rh As the brilliance of a  stone may I be of value before thee! Remove the evil, protect my life, so shall I protect thy forecourt, and set up thy image (?). Let the evil depart from me, so that I may be preserved with thee! Let me have a propitious dream, The dream which I dream, may it be propitious, yea, established be the dream which I dream! The dream which I dream, turn it to good. May the god Maḫir, the god of dreams, stand at my head! Let me enter E-sagila, the temple of the gods, the house of life! To Marduk, the merciful and compassionate, into his merciful hands deliver me! So shall I do homage to thy greatness and extol thy godhead! May the dwellers in my city glorify thy might may mankind extol thee!

How long, O my mistress, will the mighty foe oppress thy land? In thy chief city Erech drought has settled In E-ul-mas&#774;, the house of thine oracle, blood is poured out like water. Throughout thy land he has kindled conflagrations, and poured fire out like a column. O my mistress, I am fast bound to misfortune, O my mistress, thou hast beset me, and hast brought sickness upon me, The mighty enemy has trodden me down as a reed.