The Epic of Gilgamesh

(Excerpts from Tablet xi)

Translated by Maureen Gallery Kovacs

Electronic Edition by Wolf Carnahan, I998

… Utanapishtim spoke to Gilgamesh, saying:

I will reveal to you, Gilgamesh, a thing that is hidden,
a secret of the gods I will tell you!

Shuruppak, a city that you surely know,

situated on the banks of the Euphrates,
that city was very old, and there were gods inside it.
The hearts of the Great Gods moved them to inflict the
Flood.

…Ea, the Clever Prince, was under oath with them

so he repeated their talk to the reed house:
“… Tear down the house and build a boat!
Abandon wealth and seek living beings!
Spurn possessions and keep alive living beings!
Make all living beings go up into the boat.

The boat which you are to build,

its dimensions must measure equal to each other:
its length must correspond to its width.
Roof it over like the Apsu.”

I understood and spoke to my lord, Ea:

'My lord, thus is the command which you have uttered
I will heed and will do it.

But what shall I answer the city, the populace, and the
Elders!'
Ea spoke, commanding me, his servant:
… this is what you must say to them:
"It appears that Enlil is rejecting me
…I will go down to the Apsu to live with my lord, Ea,
and upon you he will rain down abundance,
a profusion of fowl, myriad(!) fishes. …
Just as dawn began to glow
the land assembled around me-
the carpenter carried his hatchet,
the reed worker carried his (flattening) stone,
... the men ... The child carried the pitch,
the weak brought whatever else was needed.
  

On the fifth day I laid out her exterior.

It was a field in area,
its walls were each 10 times 12 cubits in height,
the sides of its top were of equal length, 10 times It cubits
each.
I laid out its (interior) structure and drew a picture
of it.

I provided it with six decks,

thus dividing it into seven (levels).
… I butchered oxen for the meat(!),
and day upon day I slaughtered sheep.
I gave the workmen(?) ale, beer, oil, and wine, as if it
were river water,
so they could make a party like the New Year's Festival.
... and I set my hand to the oiling(!).

The boat was finished by sunset.

The launching was very difficult.

They had to keep carrying a runway of poles front to

back,
until two-thirds of it had gone into the water(?).

Whatever I had I loaded on it:

whatever silver I had I loaded on it,
whatever gold I had I loaded on it.
All the living beings that I had I loaded on it,
I had all my kith and kin go up into the boat,
all the beasts and animals of the field and the
craftsmen I had go up.

Shamash had set a stated time:

… Go inside the boat, seal the entry!'
That stated time had arrived.
In the morning he let loaves of bread shower down,
and in the evening a rain of wheat.
I watched the appearance of the weather--
the weather was frightful to behold!

I went into the boat and sealed the entry.

… Just as dawn began to glow
there arose from the horizon a black cloud.
… Erragal pulled out the mooring poles,
forth went Ninurta and made the dikes overflow.
  

The... land shattered like a... pot.

All day long the South Wind blew ...,
blowing fast, submerging the mountain in water,
overwhelming the people like an attack.

No one could see his fellow,

they could not recognize each other in the torrent.

The gods were frightened by the Flood,

and retreated, ascending to the heaven of Anu.

The gods were cowering like dogs, crouching by the

outer wall.
Ishtar shrieked like a woman in childbirth,
the sweet-voiced Mistress of the Gods wailed:
'The olden days have alas turned to clay,
because I said evil things in the Assembly of the Gods!
How could I say evil things in the Assembly of the Gods,
ordering a catastrophe to destroy my people!!

No sooner have I given birth to my dear people

than they fill the sea like so many fish!'

… Six days and seven nights

came the wind and flood, the storm flattening the
land.

When the seventh day arrived, the storm was pounding,

the flood was a war--struggling with itself like a
woman writhing (in labor).

The sea calmed, fell still, the whirlwind and flood

stopped up.

I looked around all day long--quiet had set in

and all the human beings had turned to clay!

The terrain was as flat as a roof.

I opened a vent and fresh air. daylight fell upon the
side of my nose.

I fell to my knees and sat weeping,

tears streaming down the side of my nose.
… On Mt. Nimush the boat lodged firm,
Mt. Nimush held the boat, allowing no sway.
  

… When a seventh day arrived

I sent forth a dove and released it.
The dove went off, but came back to me;
no perch was visible so it circled back to me.
I sent forth a swallow and released it.
The swallow went off, but came back to me;
no perch was visible so it circled back to me.
I sent forth a raven and released it.
The raven went off, and saw the waters slither back.

It eats, it scratches, it bobs, but does not circle back to

me.

Then I sent out everything in all directions and

sacrificed (a sheep).

I offered incense in front of the mountain-ziggurat.

… The gods smelled the sweet savor,

Enlil went up inside the boat

and, grasping my hand, made me go up.
He had my wife go up and kneel by my side.
He touched our forehead and, standing between us, he
blessed us:

'Previously Utanapishtim was a human being.

But now let Utanapishtim and his wife become like us,
the gods!
Let Utanapishtim reside far away, at the Mouth of the
Rivers.'
They took us far away and settled us at the Mouth of
the Rivers." …
  

The Book of Genesis

(Excerpts from chapters 6-9)

And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth,
and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only
evil continually. And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I
have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast. …
But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

And God said unto Noah, … Make thee an ark of gopher wood;
rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and
without with pitch.

And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of
the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits,
and the height of it thirty cubits.

A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou
finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side
thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it.

and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife,
and thy sons' wives with thee.

And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou
bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male
and female.

Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every
creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall
come unto thee, to keep them alive.

For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty
days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made
will I destroy from off the face of the earth.

And Noah did according unto all that the Lord commanded him.
… And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives
with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.

And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood
were upon the earth. … the same day were all the fountains of the
great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. And
the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.

and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up
above the earth. and all the high hills, that were under the whole
heaven, were covered. And all flesh died that moved upon the
earth.
  

And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty
days.

and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters
assuaged; And the ark rested in the seventh month, upon the
mountains of Ararat.

And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month: And
it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the
window of the ark which he had made:

And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the
waters were dried up from off the earth.

Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were
abated from off the face of the ground;

But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she
returned unto him into the ark. And he stayed yet other seven days;
and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark;

And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth
was an olive leaf pluckt off: so Noah knew that the waters were
abated from off the earth. And he stayed yet other seven days; and
sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any more.

And God spake unto Noah, saying, Go forth of the ark, thou, and
thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons' wives with thee. Bring forth
with thee every living thing that is with thee, that they may breed
abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the
earth.

And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives
with him.

And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord; and took of every clean
beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the
altar.

And the Lord smelled a sweet savour; and the Lord said in his
heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake.
And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful,
and multiply, and replenish the earth. I do set my bow in the cloud,
and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the
earth.