(V)[1]
. . . the downcast countenance of the creature!
I, thy servant, full of sighs, cry unto thee,
The supplication of him who has sinned do thou accept!
If thou lookest upon a man, that man lives.
O almighty one, mistress of mankind,
Merciful one, to whom it is good to turn, receive my prayer!
[The Priest here takes up the strain, and joins his prayer to that of the Penitent.]
His god and his goddess being wroth with him, he turns to thee.
Thy countenance turn towards him, seize his hand!
[The Penitent continues.]
Beside thee, there is no guiding deity.
With tender mercy look upon me, and receive my prayer!
Proclaim: “When at last”—and may thy soul be appeased!
How long, O my mistress! Turn thy face towards me!
Like doves I lament, I satiate myself with sighs.
[The Priest again takes up the Penitent's prayer.]
With pain and ache his soul is full of sighs,
Tears he weeps, he breaks forth into wailing.
- ↑ The text is published in Rawlinson, iv. (2nd ed.). 29, No. 5, and transliterated and translated by Zimmern, Busspsalmen, No. 1, p. 9; and see Jastrow, Die Religion Babyloniens und Assyriens, ii., p. 96.