Chapter I: Foreword

It was the author’s original intention to add to this book a translation of all the important Assyrian hymns; for a bringing together of hymns now scattered through many books and periodicals would be a very real service to Old Testament scholarship. Such a task however calls for the knowledge and skill of the thoroughly competent Assyriologist. It is hoped that the list of texts and translations appended to this book may make it easier for any interested reader to locate and carry further the study of any particular hymn. In the case of the Hebrew psalms some slight confusion may be spared the reader if he recognizes that the numbering of the verses is that of the Hebrew text, which differs slightly in certain psalms from that of the English translations.

Charles Gordon Cumming

Bangor Theological Seminary
Bangor, Maine
December, 1933

CONTENTS

THE HEBREW HYMNS OF PRAISE
I. Hebrew Psalms Which Are Not Hymns 3
II. Hebrew Sanctuary Hymns of Praise 18
III. Hebrew Eschatological Hymns 32
IV. Hebrew Nature Hymns 39
V. Hebrew Hymns in Praise of Sacred Institutions 44

THE ASSYRIAN HYMNS OF PRAISE
VI. Assyrian Hymnal Introductions to Prayers 53
VII. Assyrian Antiphonal Hymns 72
VIII. Assyrian Self-Laudations of the Gods 83

A COMPARISON OF THE ASSYRIAN AND THE HEBREW HYMNS
IX. The Literary Form of the Assyrian and the Hebrew Hymns 95
X. The Supreme God among the Gods 100
XI. The Supreme God in His Dwelling Place 108
XII. The Supreme God as Creator 120
XIII. The Supreme God as Wise, Powerful, Merciful 130
XIV. The Supreme God as King and Judge 146
XV. Conclusion 154

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Texts and Translations of Assyrian Hymns 161
Selected Bibliography 169
Indexes 171

Division I
THE HEBREW HYMNS OF PRAISE