at has been will be.[526]
I am Nabu, the lord of the willing tablet,
Glorify me.

A message of this kind could hardly have been satisfactory except as a
general encouragement.

The popularity of the Nabu cult in Assyria, it will be recalled, is an
offset against the supremacy of Marduk in the south. The Assyrian kings
found it to their interest to incorporate as much of the Babylonian cult
as was possible into their own religious ritual. To Shamash they
assigned the role played by Marduk. There was no danger in paying homage
to Nabu, the son of Marduk. Ishtar they regarded as their own goddess
quite as much as Ashur. These four deities, therefore, Ishtar, Shamash,
Nabu, and Ashur, are the special gods of oracles recognized by the
Assyrian rulers. Marduk, who is the chief source of oracles in the
south, is more rarely appealed to in the north, though of course
recognized as powerful. He could not be expected to regard with favor an
empire that so seriously threatened his supremacy in the pantheon.

The occasion when an oracle was announced was often one of great
solemnity. Just as the prayers in which the questions of the kings were
embodied were carefully written out, so that the priest in reciting them
might not commit any mistakes, so the answer to the prayers were
transmitted to the king in writing. Among the oracles of the days of
Esarhaddon, there is one coming from Ashur in which the ceremonies
accompanying the deliverance are instanced.[527] The oracle deals with
the Gimirrites, the same people in regard to whom Esarhaddon so often
consults the sun-god. It is marked by the more definite character of its
announcements when compared with others. The text is in the form of a
communication made to the king, and, like other official documents, it
begins with a salutation. The gods give Esarhaddon greeting.[528]

Ashur has given him the four ends of the earth.
In the house where he shines and is great,[529] the king has no rival.
Like the rising sun he shines.
This is the greeting from Bel Tarbasi[530] and the assembled gods.

The god Ashur himself now addresses the king:

As for those enemies that plot against thee, that force thee to march
out,
Thou didst open thy mouth [saying], "Verily I implore Ashur."
I have heard thy cry.
Out of the great gate of heaven I proclaim aloud,
'Surely I will hasten to let fire devour them.
Thou shall stand among them.
In front of thee I shall ri