Letter From Kug-Nanna To Ninshubur: translation

The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature

(Texts: All Artifacts, Color Coding, & Writings in Bold Type With Italics Inside Parenthesis, are Added by Editor R. Brown, not the Authors, Translators, or Publishers!)

(gods in bluemixed-breed demigods in teal…)

SEGMENT A

1-13 Say to

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to the counselor who constantly cares for ……, the god who distributes the divine powers,

who utters pleasing words, who …… a verdant branch by his head;

the linen-clad god of the abzu, the chief administrator,

who makes the oracular responses (?) favorable, whose words are pre-eminent;

the powerful one (?) at the bow (?) of the boat

“Stag of the Abzu”, the lord of wide and complete wisdom,

3e - Anu, Sky God (alien King Anu)

the minister who knows An’s (Anu’s) secrets, with whom no god can compare;

the lord of the protective goddesses; him whose great sweet eyes inspire confidence,

who provides the Anuna (Anunnaki) gods, the great gods, with food offerings;

the adviser who comes forth from the skies, who is worthy of holy Inana;

without whom no lord or king could receive the lofty scepter —

2 - Ninshubur (Ninshubur, minister to Inanna)

to Nincubur, the merciful god who listens to prayers and supplications, repeat:

this is what Kug-Nanna the incantation priest, the son of Lugal-ka-gena, your servant, says:

14-15 I am ……, I am an ailing old man, I am …… handcuffs.

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SEGMENT B

1-4 1 line fragmentary

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…… foreign plague …… looked at me contemptuously and insulted me for my doing …….

In the street my friend would not talk to me; he bent his head down.

5-13 If it pleases you, my god, allow me to soothe your angry heart, so that your spirit will be assuaged.

May the mackim demon that perpetrates evil be ripped apart, so that he will flee my body.

May the asag demon be extirpated from my limbs, so that my dark days will become bright.

I cannot bear your heavy punishment any longer; declare that “It is over”!

May I, the humble servant, not be destroyed; declare that “It is over”!

Like milk …… your greatness ……, …… to my home.

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