s no judgment.

I, thy servant so and so, the son of so and so,[370]
Whose god is so and so, and whose goddess so and so,[371]
I turn to thee, I seek thee, I raise my hands to thee,
I prostrate myself before thee.
Burn the sorcerer and sorceress,
May the life of my sorcerer and sorceress be destroyed.
Let me live that I may exalt thee and proudly pay homage to thee.

This incantation, we are told, is to be recited in a whisper, in the
presence of an image of wax. The image is burnt as the words are spoken,
and as it is consumed the power of the witch is supposed to wane. The
reference to the indispensable presence of the fire-god in the temple is
rather interesting. Sacrifice always entailed the use of fire. To
whatever deity the offering was made, Gibil-Nusku could not in any case
be overlooked. The fire constituted the medium, as it were, between the
worshipper and the deity addressed. The fire-god is in truth the
messenger who carries the sacrifice into the presence of the god
worshipped. Even Shamash, though himself personifying fire, is forced to
acknowledge the power of Gibil-Nusku, who, we are told elsewhere, is
invoked, even when sacrifices are made to the sun-god.

Besides being the son of Anu, Gibil-Nusku is brought into association
with the two other members of the triad, Bel and Ea. He is the messenger
of Bel and the son of Ea. The former conception is again mythical. Fire
is also the instrument of the gods, and Nusku is particularly called the
messenger of Bel because Bel is one of the highest gods. In reality he
is the messenger of all the gods, and is frequently so designated. His
connection with Ea, on the other hand, seems to be the result of the
systematizing efforts of the schoolmen. Ea occupying the chief rank in
the incantations, the subsidiary role of Gibil-Nusku is indicated by
making him, just as Marduk, the son of Ea. In this way, too, the two
great means of purification--water and fire--are combined under a single
aspect. The combination was all the more appropriate since the fire-god,
as the promoter of culture, shared with Ea the protection of humanity.
Accordingly, all the titles of Ea are bestowed in one place or the other
upon Gibil-Nusku. But, after all, Gibil-Nusku is merely a phase of the
solar deity,[372] and hence by the side of this fire-god, Shamash and
the other solar deities, though in a measure subsidiary to Gibil-Nusku,
are frequently invoked. Shamash, as the gr