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Tablet III (KTU 1.3) — Column IV

Ilimilku the Scribe · a new plain-English translation from the original language

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from the heights of Sapan — who would flush him like a bird from

his lordship(?), drive him from the throne of his kingship,

from the resting place, from the seat of his dominion.

What enemy has risen against Baal — what foe against the Rider of the Clouds?'

The lads answered; they gave answer: 'No enemy has risen

against Baal, no foe against the Rider of the Clouds!

Message of Mightiest Baal, word of the Mightiest

of Warriors: Set in the earth war no more;

place in the dust love; pour peace

into the heart of the earth, calm into the heart of the fields.

Your haste, your speed, your rush! To me let your feet

[ru]n, to me let your legs hasten.

[For] [a word] I have, and I will tell it — a matter,

[and I will repeat it to you:] [a wo]rd of tree and a whisper of

[stone] — a wo[rd] [people] [do not kn]ow, [and] the earth's [multi]tudes

do not [understand;] the conv[erse] [of the heavens] [with the ea]rth,

of the deeps wi[th] [the stars.] [I understand] [lightning]

the he[avens] do not kn[ow.] [Come,] and I

will rev[eal it,] [in] [the mi]dst of my [mou]ntain, divine Sapan,

in the ho[ly place,] on the mount of my [he]ritage.'

And the Virg[in] [A]nat an[sw]ered — the Si[ster-in-law] of Peoples replied:

'I myself will set

[in] [the ear]th war no more; I will place in the dust

love; I will pour pe[ace] into the heart of the earth,

ca[lm] into the hea[rt] [of the fi]elds. Let Baal set

his thunderbolts(?) in [the heavens;] let [the Rider] [of the Cl]ouds kindle

his horns(?) of lightning. I will set

in the earth war no more;

I will place in the dust love; I will pour

peace into the heart of the earth, calm

into the heart of the fi[el]ds. And a second word

I will say: Go, go, attendants of the gods!

You two may linger, but I am off.

Ughar is a distance for the gods — Inbub

is far for the divinities: two lengths

beneath the springs of the earth, three spans of the caverns.'

Then indeed she set her face toward Baal

on the heights of Sapan — across a thousand fields, ten thousand acres.

The coming of his sister Baal saw — the approach

of his father's kinswoman. He sent the women from his presence.

He set an ox before her, a fatling right before

her face. She drew water and washed —

dew of heaven, oil of earth; the dew of the heav[ens] [pou]red on her,

the showers the stars poured out for her;

she beautified herself with murex whose issue comes from a thousand fields

in the s[ea . . .]

'A house [for] [Baal] [like the gods'] — [a court]

like the sons of A[thirat's!] [The dwelling] [of El] — [the shelter]

of his sons; the dwel[ling] [of Lady] [Athirat] [of the Sea] —

the dwelling of Pidr[ay,] [Daughter of Light;] [the shelter]

of Tallay, Daughter of Rain; [the dwelling] [of Arsay,]

Daughter of the Wide World; [the dwelling] [of the] honored [brides!]'

And the [Virgin] [Anat] answered:

'Bull El [my father] will heed me —

he will heed me, or against him [I will turn(?)!]'

An original translation made in 2026 by Scriptorium Press, working directly from the original language text (never from another English translation), in one consistent modern voice. Free to read, download, and listen — no accounts, no ads, nothing for sale.

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