¹ A version of this paper was first presented before the Annual Meeting of the Association of Jewish Studies, Boston, December 1977. The proposal was originally advanced in my “Studies in the History and Interpretation of Some Akkadian Incantations and Prayers Against Witchcraft” (Ph.D. diss., Harvard University, 1972) 225Google Scholar n. 94. While writing the version for the AJS I consulted with Moshe Bar-Asher and William L. Moran. I am grateful to them for their questions and advice. I wish also to thank J. C. Greenfield, Th. Jacobsen, S. A. Kaufman, S. J. Lieberman, J. Strugnell, H. Tadmor, and F. Talmage for reading or discussing that version with me, as well as M. Fox and N. M. Sarna for their recent comments; none of these scholars is responsible for the ideas expressed in this paper. Although I recognize the conjectural nature of some of my arguments and conclusions, I early came to the conclusion that I could better advance the study of the terms and related cultural issues by presenting my arguments with a minimum of equivocation. I have tried to incorporate some of Jonas Greenfield's cautions. Overall, I have retained the original form of the oral presentation; notes have been held to a minimum.

Although I arrived at my understanding of alaktu and alakta lamādu on the basis of a consideration of Maqlû I 14 and my own collection and assessment of alaktu / alakta lamādu in prayers and medical texts, I wish to emphasize my indebtedness to the dictionaries; I have drawn heavily on the material collected in CAD, A/1, s.v. alaktu.

² See CAD, A/1, 297–300 and AHw, 31.

³ Meier, Gerhard, Die assyrische Beschwörungssammlung Maqlû (AfO Beih. 2; Graz: Ernst Weidner, 1937) 7.Google Scholar

⁴ For a detailed analysis of this incantation, see my “Studies,” 128–231.

⁵ Tallqvist, Knut L., Die assyrische Beschwörungsserie Maqlû (Acta Societatis Scientiarum Fennicae 20/6; Leipzig, 1895) vol. I, 33Google Scholar: “schaffet mir recht, nehmt kenntniss von meinem wandel”; Landsberger, Benno, “Babylonisch-assyrische Texte,” in Lehmann, E. and Haas, H., eds., Textbuch zur Religionsgeschichte (1st ed.; Leipzig, 1912) 125Google Scholar = (2d ed.; Leipzig, 1922) 322: “verschaffet mir Recht, erfahret mein Handeln”; Ungnad, Arthur, Die Religion der Babylonier und Assyrer (Jena: Diederichs, 1921) 243Google Scholar: “Schafft mir Recht, lernt mein Ergehen kennen”; Meier, Maqlû, 7: “Schafft mir Recht, vemehmt meinen Wandel”; Mendelsohn, Isaac, Religions of the Ancient Near East (New York: Liberal Arts Press, 1955) 216Google Scholar: “Judge my case, give heed to my procedure”; CAD, A/1, 297: “judge me (gods), learn about my behavior”; Cagni, Luigi, Crestomazia accadica (Sussidi Didattici 4; Rome: Istituto di Studi del Vicino Oriente, 1971) 241Google Scholar: “Giudicate la mia causa, apprendete il mio agire”; Seux, Marie-Joseph, Hymnes et prieres aux dieux de Babylonie et d'Assyrie (Paris: Cerf, 1976) 376: “Rendez un jugement pour moi, prenez connaissance de ma conduite.”Google Scholar

I might mention that this passage was, in fact, the starting point for this study.

⁶ I do not exclude the possibility that alaktu also refers to the course of life prefigured or announced by the signs.

⁷ In this section of the paper I shall use “decision,” “oracle,” more or less interchangeably for alaktu.

⁸ Langdon, Stephen, Die neubabylonischen Königsinschriften (Vorderasiatische Bibliothek 4; Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1912 = VAB 4) 150: NbK 19A, I 14–15.Google Scholar

⁹ Ibid., 98: NbK 11,14–5.

¹⁰ Alaktu appears here in the plural form alkakāt because of the following plural ilī rabûti; tēmu, on the other hand, is construed on the basis of the singular ilūti. For further discussion of the equivalence of alaktu and tēmu in these texts, see n. 62 below.

¹¹ a.rá = tēmu and alaktu; alaktu = tēmu. See CAD, A/1, s.v. alaktu, 297, lexical section, esp. references there to Kagal E par. 1: 15–16 (subsequently reassigned to Proto-Kagal [bilingual version] = Miguel Civil et al., Materials for the Sumerian Lexicon, Vol. XIII [Rome: Pontificum Institutum Biblicum, 1971] 84: 15–16), and Malku IV.Google Scholar

¹² For tēmu = milku, see CAD, M/2, s.v. milku, 66–67, lexical section. By implication, alaktu = milku in Enūma Eliš VII 97–98: ^da.rá.nun.na mālik ^dEa bān ilī abbī[šu] ša ana alakti rabûtišu lā umaššalu ilu ayyumma. Here ^da.rá.nun.na is explicated etymologically by mālik ^dEa and by ana alakti rabûtišu. The commentary to these lines (for which see now Bottéro, J., “Les Noms de Marduk, l'écriture et la ‘logique’ en Mésopotamie ancienne,” in Ellis, Maria de Jong, ed., Essays on the Ancient Near East in Memory of Jacob Joel Finkelstein [Memoirs of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences 19; Hamden, CT: Archon, 1977] 10: 97–98)Google Scholar then equates a.rá of the name with milku (line 97) and alaktu (line 98). Note [a.rá] = milku (Diri) cited in CAD, M/2, 66–67. For a recent discussion of tēmu, esp. in its meaning “plan,” “proposal (of a plan),” see Hallo, William W. and Moran, William L., “The First Tablet of the SB Recension of the Anzu-Myth,” JCS 31 (1979) 97.Google Scholar

¹³ For a discussion of the relevant passages, see below, section I.C.

¹⁴ See CAD, A/1, s.v. alaktu, 297, lexical section, and AHw, 1498–99, s.v. wu'urtum.

¹⁵ Thompson, R. Campbell, The Reports of the Magicians and Astrologers of Nineveh and Babylon (London: Luzac, 1900) vol. I, nos. 24: 5–6; 120: 3–4; vol. II, nos. 85A: 4–5; 115D: 1–2: pû lā kīnu alaktu lā tābtu ina māti ibašši; vol. I, nos. 122: 2; 123: 2: pû lā kīnu alakti māti lā iššer.Google Scholar

¹⁶ Pettinato, Giovanni, Die Ölwahrsagung bei den Babyloniern (Studi Semitici 21–22; Rome: Istituto di Studi del Vicino Oriente, 1966) vol. I, p. 202; vol. II, pp. 21 and 29: 45, p. 39, pp. 64 and 70: 37, p. 78, and AHw, 873, s.v. pû I, 8) understand pû in apodoses as referring to human utterances (AHw. “meist v. Menschen?”). But see Cuneiform Texts from Babylonian Tablets in the British Museum (= CT; London: British Museum) 20, 33: 115 and CT 5, 5: 45 = Pettinato, Ölwahrsagung, vol. II, 21: 45(!), as read by CAD, K, 390, s.v. kīnu 1. a).Google Scholar

¹⁷ Lambert, W. G., Babylonian Wisdom Literature (= BWL; Oxford: Clarendon, 1960) 21–62Google Scholar and Wiseman, D. J., “A New Text of the Babylonian Poem of the Righteous Sufferer,” AnSt 30 (1980) 101–7Google Scholar (cf. Moran, William L., “Notes on the Hymn to Marduk in Ludlul Bēl Nēmeqi,” JAOS 103 [1983] 255–60).Google Scholar

¹⁸ For a similar opinion regarding the parallelism of the first and last part of this tablet, see Reiner, Erica, Your Thwarts in Pieces Your Mooring Rope Cut: Poetry from Babylonia and Assyria (Michigan Studies in the Humanities 5; Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1985) 110–11.Google Scholar

¹⁹ This interpretation would seem to be supported by the following lines where the speaker points to the consequences of the statement made in lines 36–38 (that is, lines 39ff. are not intended as an explanation of lines 36–38 or as a statement of the underlying cause behind the situation described in lines 36–38); for in lines 39ff., he seems to develop his earlier thought by pointing to the rapidity and unexpectedness of change in our lives (lines 39ff.: he who was alive yesterday is dead today, and so forth). Cf. Heracles' statement in Euripides Alcestis lines 782–86: “Death is an obligation which we all must pay. There is not one man living who can truly say if he will be alive or dead on the next day. Fortune is dark; she moves, but we cannot see the way nor can we pin her down by science and study her.” (Richmond Lattimore, trans., Euripides I in Grene, David and Lattimore, Richmond, eds., The Complete Greek Tragedies [Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1955] 38).Google Scholar

²⁰ BWL, 40: 36–38.

²¹ The related bilingual proverb BWL, 265 rev. 7–8 may perhaps be treated in a similar fashion. The text is broken (perhaps read n[u].un.zu for n[u].x.x, and restore [alakti ili ul.…]), and our translation is less than assured: “The divine decree (umuš: tēmu) does not become known / the divine ruling (a.rá: [alaktu ]) is not made known / the divine prerogative is not given to man to know.” For different translations of Ludlul, II 36–38, see, e.g., BWL, 41; Robert D. Biggs, “Akkadian Didactic and Wisdom Literature,” in ANET (3d ed.) 597; Jacobsen, Thorkild, The Treasures of Darkness: A History of Mesopotamian Religion (New Haven/London: Yale University Press, 1976) 162.Google Scholar

²² For collections of translations of Akkadian prayers, including many of those cited in this paper, see Falkenstein, A. and Soden, W. von, Sumerische und akkadische Hymnen und Gebete (Zurich/Stuttgart: Artemis, 1953)Google Scholar; and Seux, Hymnes. Mayer, Werner, Untersuchungen zur Formensprache der babylonischen “Gebetsbeschwörungen” (Studia Pohl, Series Maior 5; Rome: Biblical Institute Press, 1976) 218–22, cites many of the same examples from the prayers that I do; his book, however, was not yet available to me when I drafted this paper.Google Scholar

²³ King, Leonard W., Babylonian Magic and Sorcery (= BMS; London: Luzac, 1896) no. 6: 113Google Scholar = Ebeling, Erich, Die akkadische Gebetsserie “Handerhebung” (= AGH; Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1953) 48: 113 = Mayer, Untersuchungen, 507: 114.Google Scholar

²⁴ Cf. Caplice, R., “Namburbi Texts in the British Museum. III,” Or n.s. 36 (1967) 273: 4 ’: ana dīniya qūlānimma šīmātīya šīmā.Google Scholar

²⁵ BMS 6: 110–16 and duplicates = Ebeling, AGH, 48: 110ff. = Mayer, Untersuchungen, 505–6: lllff.

²⁶ The various MSS have different readings for this line (see Mayer, Untersuchungen, 506: 113); all contain a form of šīmtu. The original reading would have included ^dšamaš bēl usurāti mušīm šīmāti attāma. Note that KUR (: māti) of some MSS should not be dissociated from the sign KUR = mat of šīmāt(i).

²⁷ = Ebeling, AGH, 30b: 8 = Mayer, Untersuchungen, 456: 16.

²⁸ The astral nature of Gula here is evident from the first line of the prayer: ^dGula bēltu šurbūtu āšibat šamê ^dAnim (Mayer, Untersuchungen, 455: 10).

²⁹ Copy F. W. Geers: [d]i-ni di-na a-lak-ti lim-da / [še-m]a-a qa-ba-a-a EŠ.BAR-a-a pur-sa.

³⁰ = Ebeling, AGH, 120: 8–9 (without reading limdī) = Mayer, Untersuchungen, 458: 13'–14'. Already CAD, A/1, 297b seems to have read limdī so, too, Seux, Hymnes, 326, and Mayer: li[m!-di].

³¹ The passages cited thus far derive generally from late texts. Here I should mention, therefore, that an examination of the references in CAD, A/1, s.v. alaktu suggests that there may also be instances of alaktu = “decision,” “oracle,” “sign,” in Old Babylonian Akkadian. I have in mind especially the mythological hymn Agušaya Tablet B I = Groneberg, B., “Philologische Bearbeitung des Agušayahymnus,” RA 75 (1981) 126 15–9Google Scholar: idat dunniša(,) arkassa pursa, ašrātaša litammad, leqeam ittātīša, šunnia alkāssa. In view of the usages cited throughout my paper, I note the occurrence and uses here of idātu (? // arkatu) // ašrātu, ittātu // alkātu; arkata parāsu; lamādu; and cf. ašrāta litammudu … alkāta šunnû with the command alkakāti sibittišunu lamādu ašrātīšunu šite” â ḫīšamma (CT, 16, 45: 123–24), cited below. The cluster of usages in Agušaya is striking. Is the object of the examination a heavenly body or being? In Agušaya, cf. further Tablet A VI = Groneberg, “Agušayahymnus,” 111 VI 38–41 (ittu // alaktu) and other passages. Possibly also Boyer, G., Contribution à l'histoire juridique de la lre dynastie babylonienne (Paris: Geuthner, 1928)Google Scholar pl. VII Text 119: 29ff., and Dijk, J. van, Lugal Ud Me-lám-bi Nir-gal (Leiden: Brill, 1983) vol. I, 107: 435–37 (= vol. II, 122–23: 435–37); in line 436 a.rá: alaktu at least of the late version seems to denote a decree pronounced or a ruling enjoined by Ninurta: qarrādu ana ^na4sê ^na4kasurrê izzizma iŝassi / bēlu alakta itammišunūti / ^dNinurta bēlu mār ^dEnlil irraršunūti.Google Scholar

³² Eric Burrows, “Hymn to Ninurta as Sirius (K 128),” JRAS Centenary Supplement (1924) 35: 2–3 6: 6 (pl. III); cf. Seux, Hymnes, 482.

³³ Cf. CAD, A/2, 23: tēmu b). For the verb ʾmr, cf. Barr, James, “Etymology and the Old Testament,” in Language and Meaning: Studies in Hebrew Language and Biblical Exegesis (OTS 19; Leiden: Brill, 1974) 5–6.Google Scholar

³⁴ It should not be forgotten that divination may be used to settle legal matters when normal “human” juridical processes are unable to resolve the problem.

³⁵ For the use of judicial terms and images in divination, cf., e.g., Walther, Arnold, Das altbabylonische Gerichtswesen (LSS 6/4–6; Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1917)Google Scholar 89 n. 1, 219 n. 2, 222 n. 2; Bottéro, Jean, “Symptômes, signes, écritures en Mésopotamie ancienne,” in Vernant, J. P. et al., eds., Divination et Rationalité (Paris: Seuil, 1974) 139–43Google Scholar; Starr, Ivan, The Rituals of the Diviner (Bibliotheca Mesopotamica 12; Malibu: Undena, 1983) 57–58.Google Scholar

³⁶ Cf. Zimmern, Heinrich, Beiträge zur Kenntnis der babylonischen Religion, vol. II (= BBR II; Assyriologische Bibliothek 12; Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1901)Google Scholar no. 25: 4; Langdon, VAB 4, 150: NbK 12, III 21; BBR II, no. 24 obv. 29 = Lambert, W. G., “Enmeduranki and Related Matters,” JCS 21 (1967 [1969]) 132: 29 (for the join BBR II, nos. 24 and 25, see Lambert, “Enmeduranki,” 127).Google Scholar

³⁷ = Mayer, Untersuchungen, Gula lb, 456: 16.

³⁸ BMS 6 = Ebeling, AGH, 46ff; BMS 7 = Ebeling, AGH, 54ff. For a new edition of the combined prayer, see Mayer, Untersuchungen, 450–54.

³⁹ Mayer, Untersuchungen, 451: 74. However, I must admit that this line in BMS 6 // 7 seems to have been subjected to revision/corruption. It lacks a predicate (contrast the following two lines in both BMS 6 // 7 and BMS 4) and shows excessive textual fluidity (an earlier form of the line might have been *dīnī dīnī purussâya pursī).

⁴⁰ Köcher, Franz, Die babylonisch-assyrische Medizin in Texten und Untersuchungen, Vols. I–VI (= BAM; Berlin/New York: de Gruyter, 1963–1980) no. 214 II 10–13Google Scholar: ^dUTU DI.KUD AN u KI-ti / DI.KUD BA.ÚŠ u TI.LA at-ta-ma / ana ÍL ŠU qu-lam-ma / a-lak-ti li-mad. Similar lines are found on the edge of Ebeling, Erich, Keilschifttexte aus Assur religiösen Inhalts (= KAR; WVDOG 28; Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1919)Google Scholar no. 92. Duplicates of the ritual KAR 92 obv. 1–29 ( // K. 9334 [iden. Geers] // 9082 [iden. Abusch] // 15055 [iden. Abusch]) link the prayer with KAR 92 obv. and allow us to insert it between KAR 92 obv. 17 and 18, with the section ÉN ^dUTU … as the beginning of the prayer and a-ta-nam-da-ru … as the end. The opening lines of the prayer are on KAR 92 // K. 9082 // 15055. The lines in KAR 92 of interest to us read: ÉN ^dUTU MAN (var. LUGAL) AN- e u KI-ti DI!.KUD ^d[í]-⌜ gì-gì⌝ (?) (Ebeling, Erich, Quellen zur Kenntnis der babylonischen Religion II [MVAG 23/2; Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1919]Google Scholar 35 reads [šamê]^{e^} at-⌜ta⌝-[ma] / ana ÍL Š^II-iá! (var. MU) qu-lam-ma a-[l]ak-ti ⌜li⌝-[mad].

⁴¹ I have interpreted LÚ.DINGIR.RA as ša(LÚ)-ili (DINGIR.RA).

⁴² For parallel passages without alakta lamādu, cf. e.g., Gurney, O. R., Finkelstein, J. J., and Hulin, P., The Suhantepe Tablets, Vols. I-II (Occasional Publications of the British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara 3 and 7; London: British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara, 1957 and 1964) nos. 95 III + 295: 136–37Google Scholar, and Weiher, Egbert von, Spätbabylonische Texte aus Uruk, Vol. II (Ausgrabungen der deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft in Uruk-Warka 10; Berlin: Mann, 1983) no. 22, p. 109:22–25.Google Scholar

⁴³ [K]I LÚ.ḪAL u LÚ.DINGIR.RA di-in-šú EN 7-šú NU SI.SÁ [D]UG_4. ⌜GA⌝ NU ŠE.GA GAR-nu-šú / ana EŠ.BAR-šúTAR-si-im-⌜ma di⌝-[i]n-⌜šú⌝ ana SI.SÁ / MÁŠS.GI₆.MEŠ-šú ana SIG₅ - ⌜ti⌝ A.RÁ-šú ana ZU-di/ ŠU.SI SIG₅ -ti EGIR-šú ana LAL- ṣi.

⁴⁴ It is possible that the occurrence of [a-lak]-ta-šú GIG-at (cf. the duplicate line in BAM 326 II 7: A.RÁ-šú GIG): alaktašu marṣat in the first line of the text (446 obv. 1) should be taken into account.

⁴⁵ DINGIR-šú u ^dXV-šú ina SAG.DU-šú ana GUB-zi KI LÚ.ḪHAL u E[NSI DI- šú ana SI.SÁ] / ⌜Á⌝.RÁ-šú ana ZU-di di-in-šú EŠ.BAR ⌜xx(x)⌝ [ ]. (The space between E .BAR and the traces prevents me from restoring -⌜šú⌝.)

⁴⁶ BWL, 32. Lambert, BWL, 33, translates: “The omen organs are confused and inflamed for me every day. / The omen of the diviner and dream priest does not explain my condition.” Biggs, ANET (3d ed.), 596, translates: “The omens concerning me are confused, daily there is inflammation. / I cannot stop going to the diviner and dream interpreter.”

⁴⁷ C. J. Gadd, “The Harran Inscriptions of Nabonidus,” AnSt 8 (1958) 62: 1–2, as cited and read by Lambert, BWL, 284, in his discussion of Ludlul, I 52 and K. 2765: 9.

⁴⁸ Ludlul, I 54; K. 2765: 7; Gadd, “Harran Inscriptions,” 62: 1–2.

⁴⁹ After weighing several alternatives, Lambert chose the last of the alternatives and translated the line as “The omen (itti) of the diviner and dream priest does not explain my condition (alaktī ul parsat).” In any case, it-ti here must be the preposition itti in view of itti(Kl) bārî u šāʾili of the therapeutic texts cited above. Biggs, ANET (3d ed.), 596, and CAD, A/1, 299, follow Lambert's second alternative.

⁵⁰ The occurrence of alaktu with parāsu in a different meaning (see, e.g., CAD, A/1, 299) may have facilitated the formation of this neologism.

⁵¹ W. G. Lambert, “Fire Incantations,” AfO 23 (1970) 43: 27, cited CAD, M/2, 68. The replacement of purussû by milku may be due perhaps to the association of these two words in parallelism; cf. CAD, M/2, 68, lc ) l.

⁵² Georges Dossin, “Prières aux ‘dieux de la nuit’ (AO 6769),” RA 32 (1935) 180a: 8 // b: 8–9: ul idinnū dīnam ul iparrasū awâtim, “They (the gods Šamaš, Sîn, etc.) are not providing judgment, are not deciding cases.”

⁵³ Cf. the association of alaktu with wu ʾʿurtu noted above, section I.A.

⁵⁴ I have been careful not to state alāku: alaktu:: waʾāru: têrtu.

⁵⁵ See Goetze, Albrecht, “Reports on Acts of Extispicy from Old Babylonian and Kassite Times,” JCS 11 (1957) 96Google Scholar n. 41; Borger, R., “Die Inschriften Asarhaddons (AfO Beiheft 9), Nachträge und Verbesserungen,” AfO 18 (1957–1958) 117Google Scholar; Reiner, Erica, “Fortune-Telling in Mesopotamia,” JNES 19 (1960) 26Google Scholar n. 7; cf., already, Zimmern, BBR II, 87–88. Even Benno Landsberger (Brief des Bischofs von Esagila an König Asarhaddon [Amsterdam: N.V. Noord-Hollandsche Uitgevers Maatschappij, 1965] 21 n. 28) concurred, albeit with the caveat that warkatu in the past use derives from warkatu, “das Dahinterliegende,” whereas warkatu in the future use derives from warkiātu, “Zukunft.” But see Claus Wilcke's interesting remarks in “Zum Geschichtsbewusstsein im alten Mesopotamien,” in Archäologie und Geschichtsbewusstsein (Kolloquien zur allgemeinen und vergleichenden Archäologie 3; Munich: Beck, 1982) 31–32, on the Babylonian association of the notions back and future.

⁵⁶ See above, section I.A.

⁵⁷ Part of the modern and even ancient confusion of terminology and images may be due to the existence separately as well as in combination of two distinct attitudes: gods are identical with natural phenomena, here the heavenly bodies, and the activities of heavenly bodies are manifestations of the divine; gods are separate from, but in control of, heavenly bodies. Hence, gods examine but also reveal themselves through heavenly bodies and movements. A carry-over of this duality may perhaps be seen in the identification and differentiation of the roles of diviner and god: sometimes the human, sometimes the divine, and sometimes both are seen as judges who investigate and make decisions. (When divine and phenomenon are identical, the diviner investigates and decides; when divine and phenomenon are separate, the god or both the god and the diviner investigate and decide.) For a different explanation of the functioning of both diviner and god as judges, see Bottéro, Divination, 142.

⁵⁸ See AHw, s.v. alaktu, 31, 6 a) v Sternen, citing EE VII 130. ^dnēbiru nēbiret šamê u erṣeti lū tameẖma / … / ^dnēbiru kakkabšu ša ina šamê ušāpû / … / šsa kakkabī šamāmī alkāssunu likīnma (EE VII 124, 126, 130). Text: Lambert, W. G. and Parker, Simon B., Enuma Eliš: The Babylonian Epic of Creation: The Cuneiform Text (Oxford: Clarendon, 1966) 45–46. Translation: B. Landsberger and J. V. Kinnier Wilson, “The Fifth Tablet of Enuma Eliš,” JNES 20 (1961) 173: “Nebiru shall hold the passages of Heaven and Earth … Nebiru is his star, that he had made appear in the sky … He shall stablish the roads of the stars of heaven …“See also ^dTutu … / ša ukinnu ana ilī šamê ellū[ti] / alkāssunu iṣsbatuma uʾaddû [manzāssun] (EE VII 15–17). Text: Lambert and Parker, Enuma Eliš, 41. Translation: “Tutu … who established the bright heavens for the gods, who took control of their (celestial) courses, assigned them their (celestial) positions.”Google Scholar

⁵⁹ See CAD, A/I, s.v. alāku, 309, 3. a); CAD, M/I, s.v. mālaku, 159, end of first paragraph; AHw, 1312, s.v. tāluku 4) Gestirnbahn. See also Riekele Borger, Die Inschriften Asarhaddons, Königs von Assyrien (AfO Beih. 9; Graz: Ernst Weidner, 1956) 18: Episode 14b 6–7: kakkabū šamê ina manzāzišunu illikūma (DU.MEŠ-ma; but see Landsberger and Kinnier Wilson, “Fifth Tablet,” 171 n. 8, who read izzizzūma [i.e., GUB.MEŠ-ma]) ḫarrān kitti iṣbatū umaššerū uruḫ lā kitti. “Die Sterne des Himmels zogen in ihren (normalen) Stationen dahin; sie zogen den richtigen und verliessen den unrichtigen Weg.” For other examples of the projection of terrestrial forms into the heavens, cf., e.g., Baruch A. Levine, “From the Aramaic Enoch Fragments: The Semantics of Cosmography,” JJS 33 (1982) 311–26.

⁶⁰ For the close association of demons and stars, see R. Caplice's important statement, “É.NUN in Mesopotamian Literature,” OR n.s. 42 (1973) 304–5. As regards the demons of CT 16, pis. 42–46, Caplice (p. 305) observes: “In other instances, demons seem to be even more closely associated with stars …. and the seven evil demons, having spread destruction, ‘went off to the heavens on high, departed to the unapproachable heavens; they cannot be recognized among the stars of heaven (Sum.: the stars of heaven do not reveal their sign) in their three watches’.”

⁶¹ CT 16,45: 122–24.

⁶² Langdon, VAB 4, 122: NbK 15, I 28–29. For the meaning “to seek/inquire for an oracle” (from the god's temple) for ašra DN šiteʾʾû, see Tadmor, Hayim, “The Inscriptions of Nabunaid: Historical Arrangement,” in Studies in Honor of Benno Landsberger (Assyriological Studies 16; Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1965) 357Google Scholar n. 36. See also Goetze, Albrecht, “An Inscription of Simbar-Šīḫu,” JCS 19 (1965) 129–31Google Scholar, and Seux, M.-J., šiteʾʾû ašrāt(i) (A propos d'un article récent),” RA 60 (1966) 172–74Google Scholar. Note M.-J. Seux, Épithètes royales akkadiennes et sumériennes(Paris: Letouzey et Ané, 1967) 323 n. 309 on mušteʾʾû ašrāt DN, “qui examine les lieux d'DN“: “Il s'agit ici de l'examen des lieux où les dieux manifestent leur volonté par des signes ou des oracles.” Or as he states in ”šiteʾʾû ašrāt(i),” 174, ašrāt DN šiteʾʾû means “‘soumettre à investigation les lieux (où cette divinité manifeste sa volonté par des signes)’, ‘examiner les lieux (omineux)’,” or even “‘examiner (ou: soumettre à investigation, analyser) ce qui a lieu, la conjoncture’.” In VAB 4, 122: NbK 15, 1 28–29, I am uncertain whether to read ilī (cf., e.g., CAD, A/1, 298: ilī and Langdon's translation [VAB 4, 123] Götter) or ili (I Rawlinson records only DINGIR and this agrees with the use of alaktu in the singular). I 1–50 treat Nebuchadnezzar's relation to both Marduk and Nabû.

Note also the mention of alaktu before and after the lines cited above, NbK 15, I 28–29. Thus among the introductory epithets, Nebuchadnezzar is migir ^dMarduk … narām ^dNabû(m) … ša alakti ilūtišunu išteneʾʾû (pp. 120ff.: 4, 6, 8–9 ), and following lines 28–29, the internally balanced double clause says of him: ša ^dMarduk bēlu rabû ilu bāniya epšētūšu naklāti eliš attanâdu // ša ^dNabû apilšu kīni(m) narām šarrūtiya alakti ilūtišu ṣirti kīniš uštenêdu (122: 30–36). (Note the use of rare forms—Gtn,Št—of nâdu here with both Marduk and Nabû.) Here in NbK 15, alaktu (NbK 19, I 6, alkakāt) of Marduk + Nabû refers to decrees made known by the movements of the heavenly bodies of Marduk and Nabû; cf. ina qibīti ṣirti ša ^dNabû ^dMarduk ša ina manzāz kakkabī ša šutbê kakkiya iṣbatū tāluku / u idat dumqi ša … (F. Thureau-Dangin, Textes cunéiformes du Louvre 3 [Paris: Geuthner, 1912] lines 317–18). Note also that VAB 4, 150: NbK 19, I 14–15: ana ṭēmu ilūtišunu bašu (// [= parallel] VAB 4, 98: NbK 11, I 4–5: ša ana alkakāt ilī rabûti bašâ uznāšu [the use of bašâ uznāšu is original to ṭēmu and is carried over to alaktu]) is preceded by ša alkakāt ^dMarduk bēlu rabiu(m) ilu bānišu u ^dNabû aplišu kīni(m) narām šarrūtišu išteneʾʾû kayyānam (150: NbK 19, I 6–10). Far from indicating that ṭēmu and alaktu are not synonyms in that text or undercutting our argument that alaktu in NbK 11 denotes an oracle, the use of both alaktu and ṭēmu in NbK 19—when taken together with the functional equivalence of NbK 19, I 14–15 and NbK 11, 14–5 and with the pattern of use of alaktu in NbK 15—suggests that even for the writer of NbK 19 alaktu and ṭēmu are already synonyms, and shows us how easily a scribe could replace ṭēmu with alaktu.

⁶³ Even alakta dummuqu occurs in a prayer to the sun.

⁶⁴ See above, n. 31. It is possible that a.rá was used with this meaning in Sumerian (cf., e.g., the bilingual texts cited in this paper) or even that the development had its starting point in Sumerian. The latter does not seem likely. I have not conducted a proper investigation of the use of a.rá in Sumerian (my thanks to S. J. Lieberman for providing me with a list of references from the files of the Pennsylvania Sumerian Dictionary) and would leave these questions to others.

⁶⁵ See above, section I.A.

⁶⁶ Hence it is possible for alaktu in this meaning to refer not only to the course of the stars, but also to the course that the individual will take in the future.

⁶⁷ For šeʾû // Hebrew dāraš, cf. Tadmor, Studies Landsberger, 357 n. 36; for šeʾû // Hebrew biqqēš, cf. Moshe Held, “Two Philological Notes on Enūma Eliš,” in Barry L. Eichler, ed., Kramer Anniversary Volume: Cuneiform Studies in Honor of Samuel Noah Kramer (AOAT 25; Kevelaer: Butzon & Bercker; Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchner Verlag, 1976) 233 and n. 23.

⁶⁸ Cf. the standard lexicons (Bacher, Dalman, Jastrow, Levy) and concordances of rabbinic literature.

⁶⁹ Syriac (Payne Smith) helkētā / helaḵtā: “going, walking, treading, marching, way”; cf. helkā: “going, way, walk.” The transcription JA hilḵēṯā follows the traditional Jewish pronunciation of the word.

⁷⁰ Note that Marcus Jastrow himself (A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature [reprinted New York: Pardes, 1950] vol. I, 353Google Scholar, s.v. hălaḵ Ch(aldaic) verb) observed that of the two examples of Peʿal that he cites, one has Paʿel in MS and the other Paʿel in some editions. Generally speaking, the few examples cited by Jean, Charles-F. and Hoftijzer, Jacob, Dictionnaire des inscriptions sémitiques de l'ouest (Leiden: Brill, 1965) 65Google Scholar, of an Aramaic Peʿal with the consonants hlk are better treated as Paʿel (Nab. qal pf. 3psf hlkt can be Paʿel; so, too, Palm, qal pf. 3psm hlk; the only other Palm, form cited is a Paʿel partic). The occurrence of hlk in the qal at Deir ʿAlla may be ignored, since the language seems to be Canaanite rather than Aramaic; cf., e.g., Jonas C. Greenfield, Review of J. Hoftijzer and G. van der Kooij, eds., Aramaic Texts from Deir ʿAlla, JSS 25 (1980) 250–51Google Scholar and Jo Ann Hackett, “The Dialect of the Plaster Text from Tell Deir ʿAlla,” Or n.s. 53 (1984) 57–65, esp. 64. For hlk in the Genesis Apocryphon, see J. A. Fitzmyer, The Genesis Apocryphon of Qumran Cave I (Biblica et Orientalia 18; Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute, 1966) 134 on col. 21:13. Garr, W. Randall, Dialect Geography of Syria-Palestine, 1000–586 B.C.E. (Philadelphia:University of Pennsylvania Press, 1985) 144–46Google Scholar, has now reviewed the evidence and reconfirmed the observation that the root hlk is not attested in Old Aramaic. “In short, Aramaic stood apart from the other NWS dialects which attest a verb ‘to go,’ since it alone used the root *hwk instead of *hlk/*wlk” (p. 145).

⁷¹ Strack, Hermann L., Introduction to the Talmud and Midrash (reprint New York: Meridian; Philadelphia:Jewish Publication Society of America, 1959) 6.Google Scholar

⁷² Wilhelm Bacher, Die exegetische Terminologie der jüdischen Traditionsliteratur, vol. 1: Terminologie der Tannaiten (reprinted Hildesheim: Georg Olms, 1965) 42.

⁷³ Landsberger, B., “Die babylonischen Termini für Gesetz und Recht,” in Friedrich, J. et al., eds., Symbolae ad iura orientis antiqui pertinentes Paulo Koschaker dedicatae (Studia et documenta ad iura orientis antiqui pertinentia 2; Leiden: Brill, 1939) 223 n. 20.Google Scholar

⁷⁴ It is of course possible that the word hilḵēĕṯā always existed in Aramaic in the meaning “going.” This need not affect our conclusion.

⁷⁵ Lieberman, Saul, Hellenism in Jewish Palestine (2d ed.; Texts and Studies of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America 18; New York: JTSA, 1962) 83–84Google Scholar n. 3. Below I shall modify my position and state that halakhah is more probably a calque than a loan. Here I would emphasize, therefore, that the fact that the Aramaic and Hebrew words show heh rather than aleph does not prove that they are not loans from Akkadian. Even in the case of hălāḵ, “tax” from ilku (cf., e.g., Stephen Kaufman, A., The Akkadian Influences on Aramaic [Assyriological Studies 19; Chicago/London:University of Chicago Press, 1974] 58)Google Scholar, the heh appears (perhaps as a result of etymological consciousness).

⁷⁶ See Kaufman, Akkadian Influences, 156–57 nn. 79–80.

⁷⁷ For Hebrew influences on Aramaic, cf., e.g., Joseph A. Fitzmyer, A Wandering Aramaean: Collected Aramaic Essays (SBLMS 25; Missoula: Scholars Press, 1977) 42–43.

⁷⁸ For loanwords and loan-translations, see, esp., Uriel Weinreich, Languages in Contact (reprinted The Hague: Mouton, 1963) 47–53.

⁷⁹ Cf. HALAT, 236, s.v. hălîḵā and reference there to Albright, W. F., “Two Letters from Ugarit (Ras Shamrah),” BASOR 82 (1941) 49. Albright translates the phrase in Hab 3:6 as “The everlasting roads (of the stars)” and compares Ugaritic hlk kbkbm and Akkadian alkāt kakkabī (“the orbits of the stars”). In fact, the Rabbis themselves already made the connection between hălîḵôṯ of Hab 3:6 and halakhah; cf. b. Nid. 73a (// b. Meg. 28b):Google Scholar

⁸⁰ In the following section, I use such terms as “borrowing” and “loan“as convenient ways of referring to the complex situation described above.

⁸¹ This statement is not invalidated by the fact that the king's mandate to rule justly and his discriminating ability to make just laws and judgments may derive from the gods.

⁸² This notion finds expression in many statements. Suffice it to cite Rashi's remark ad Gen 18:1: “The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him [Abraham], ‘Sit and I will stand, so that you may serve as a sign to future generations that I will be present [lit. stand] in the assembly of judges when they sit in judgment’.” God's presence at, and involvement in, the juridical process provide inspiration and lend authority to judgment. This is one more mythic way of drawing together the human and the divine and expressing the idea that law and judgment derive from god.

⁸³ Such a surmise is in agreement with the fact that learned Akkadian words and divination terms seem to have entered directly into Jewish technical language during the Late Babylonian Period; cf., e.g., Moran, William L., “Some Akkadian Names of the Stomachs of Ruminants,” JCS 21 (1967 [1969]) 178–79Google Scholar. Note also the Mesopotamian origins of speculative lore in Enoch literature; cf. Stone, Michael E., “Apocalyptic Literature,” in idem, ed., Jewish Writings of the Second Temple Period (Assen: Van Gorcum; Philadelphia; Fortress, 1984) 392, 438, and literature there.Google Scholar

⁸⁴ It has been suggested that ḥălāqôṯ in the DSS phrase is a pun on hălāḵôṯ see Strugnell, J.apud Milik, J. T., Ten Years of Discovery in the Wilderness of Judaea (Naperville, IL: Allenson, 1959) 73Google Scholar n. 1; cf., e.g., Nickelsburg, George W. E., Jewish Literature between the Bible and the Mishnah (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1981) 131Google Scholar. If this suggestion is correct, the wordplay assumes and points to the existence of the word hălāḵā in the spoken language at this time, and accords with (and is partially due to [?]) the fact that the word was not yet regarded as part of the standard literary lexicon. In a discussion of the nominal form qĕṭālā, Eduard Yechezkel Kutscher, “Studies in the Grammar of Mishnaic Hebrew according to Ms. Kaufmann,” (Hebrew) in Zeev Ben-Ḥayyim et al., eds., Hebrew and Aramaic Studies (Jerusalem: Magnes), p. , expressed the view that apparently hălāḵā was originally a gerund and noted the possibility of two such occurrences in the Rule of the Community. However, both forms seem to be construct infinitives rather than gerunds: (1) For (1,25) read ; the letter between the and was erased (see John C. Trever, Scrolls from Qumrân Cave I [Jerusalem: Albright Institute of Archaeological Research and The Shrine of the Book, 1972] 126–27, line 25, and cf., e.g., Habermann, A. M., Megilloth Midbar Yehuda: The Scrolls from the Judean Desert [in Hebrew; Jerusalem: Machbaroth Lesifruth, 1959] 184Google Scholarad κ,24; and Licht, Jacob, The Rule Scroll: A Scroll from the Wilderness of Judaea IQS. IQSa. IQSb [in Hebrew; Jerusalem: Bialek Institute, 1965] 68Google Scholarnn. 24–25). (2) (3,9) might be a mixed qal-piʿel form or a piʿel infinitive (cf. Licht, Rule Scroll, 80 n. 9). I prefer treating it as a piʿel infinitive construct and would explain the final ”t” as a dittography (); see 9,19 (), and cf., e.g., 2,2 and CD 2,15.