Le Verbe de Dieu

An invocation that occurs frequently in a series of lamentation songs, bewailing catastrophes that have stpept over the land, portrays the strength ascribed to him:

“Lord of lands,
Lord of the true word,
Enlil, father of Sumer,
Shepherd of the dark-headed people,
Seeing through his own power,
Strong guide of (his) people,
Causing multitudes to dwell together.”

The original personification of Enlil as the mighty, onrushing storm whose voice is heard in the roar of the thunder leads to an elaborate symbolism of the “word” of the deity, which becomes a synonym of his power.
In many variations this “word” of the storm-god is celebrated.

“The word which rages in the heavens above,
The word which causes the earth below to quake,
The word which strikes terror among the Aminimln a
Beyond the seer, beyond the diviner,
An onrushing storm which none can oppose,
Raging in the heavens above, causing the earth below to quake,
Tearing mother from daughter like a buru-reed.
It overwhelms the marshes in full verdure,
It overflows the harvest in season,
A flood tearing away the dams,
It uproots the huge mesu-trees,
Reducing all things to submission.”

Such is Enlil who, as the chief god of Nippur, becomes the head of the pantheon with the Sumerian conquest of the country and who retains this position long after Nippur has ceased to be the political centre.

Extrait de The civilization of Babylonia and Assyria byMorris Jastrow Jr.