/ akkadian

The Babylonian Theodicy

A 297-line acrostic dialogue between a sufferer and his friend — the gods seem unjust, the wicked prosper, the righteous suffer. The Mesopotamian companion to the book of Job.

1 chapter
Tradition
Akkadian wisdom dialogue, c. 1000 BCE. The most sustained surviving Mesopotamian engagement with the problem of evil.
Translation
Translation by Benjamin R. Foster, *Before the Muses: An Anthology of Akkadian Literature*, 3rd ed. (Bethesda: CDL Press, 2005), §IV.19 The Babylonian Theodicy, drawing on the edition in W. G. Lambert, *Babylonian Wisdom Literature* (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1960), pp. 63-89. Selection of stanzas (XXIII-XXVII) from Foster's translation of the 27-stanza acrostic dialogue; the earlier stanzas were not preserved in the OCR of the source. See Foster, *Before the Muses* (3rd ed., 2005), or Lambert, *BWL*, pp. 63-89, for the complete text. Used under fair-use principles for non-commercial educational and religious commentary; copyright remains with the publishers.
License
Used under fair-use principles for non-commercial educational and religious commentary. Copyright remains with the publisher.
Source
archive.org

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