The Assyrian and Hebrew Hymns of Praise

The Book of Psalms is no longer to be regarded by Old Testament scholars as an isolated phenomenon. Similar religious poetry is found not only in the narrative and prophetic por...

The hymn of praise is very similar to the psalm of thanksgiving. Indeed it is sometimes difficult to decide in which category a psalm belongs, as in the case of Psalm 103. The f...

in verses 13-20. The whole hymn then concludes with “Hallelujah.” Likewise Psalm 148 is in two parts. Part I has the call to praise in verses 1-5a, and the reasons for praise in...

The sanctuary hymns of praise which we have been studying have for, the most part, the backward look through Israel’s history to the creation of the world. A few of them also ha...

The abode of the hymns already discussed was the sanctuary and their place was in sanctuary worship, but there is a group of hymns, the real background of which was Nature’s gre...

But there were in Hebrew religious poesie not only hymns in praise of deity, but also hymns in praise of sacred institutions. Especially prominent were hymns in praise of the sa...

As in the case of the Hebrew hymns of praise, so also it is right to attempt to see the Assyrian hymns in relation to the whole body of Assyrian religious poetry. Assyrian commu...

There is also among the Assyrian hymns addressed in the second person to deity a group of hymns, which are distinguished by refrains, frequent repetitions of a phrase or clause,...

To give omens I rise I arise in perfection; Beside my father to give omens I rise I arise in perfection; Beside my brother Shamash to give omens I rise I arise in perfection; In...

great feat of Ishtar’s, and ending with the clause: “that is my glory.” Here again it is shown that the presence of a refrain is no certain proof of antiphonal rendering, since...

directly to Ramman, of which the first ten lines are in praise of the name of Ramman. The lines are in three divisions, and the first six lines end with the refrain: “Bull might...

son Ramman to go up with sonorous voice, with lightning, and with small and great hail stones against the hostile land. This section has already been discussed earlier in this c...

In addition to the hymnal introductions to prayers, and the antiphonal hymns, there was in Assyrian poesie a distinct and notable group of hymns in which the gods praise themsel...

The comparison of the Assyrian and the Hebrew hymns ought naturally to begin with the consideration of their literary form. This brings us to the first and most obvious distinct...

Having compared the Assyrian and Hebrew hymns, with reference to their external form, and the circumstances under which they were sung, it is now proper to examine more closely...

The Assyrians are known to readers of the Old Testament as worshippers of the hosts of heaven, and while their hymns represent them as adoring also the Atmospheric Gods, and fur...

The ordinary person is very likely to limit the thought of God as creator to the monotheistic religions. However the religious imagination is by no means controlled by logical r...

From the works of God in creation and nature, the hymnist passes readily and naturally to the thought of God’s wisdom. The Assyrian hymns in many passages extol the wisdom of Go...

The final significance and supreme importance of deity for Assyrian and Hebrew hymnists is perhaps best summed up in the words: “King” and “Judge.” To be sure the person in sick...

It is now universally recognized by scholars that the Hebrew nation came late upon the stage of history, and that when the Hebrew Bedouin passed over out of the desert into the...