Structural Elements of the Oracles

The oracles consist of a limited inventory of structural and thematic elements (see Chart 1), which could be combined freely. The order of the elements is likewise free, even though certain elements are usually placed at the beginning, others at the end of the oracle. All the elements are optional, though many of them are found in almost all the oracles. Their choice correlates with the contents of the oracles; the "fear not" formula, for example, occurs only in encouragement and support oracles (nos. 1, 2, 4, and 7).

The formulation of the elements can vary considerably, even within oracles by the same prophet. Certain formulations and phrases are attested only in the oracles of certain prophets (see above, pp. IL and LII), while other recur in the oracles of several prophets, note e.g. the "fear not" and praise formulae, and passages such as 1. 1:6 = 1.4:34f, and 1.1: 1 5ff = 1. 1 0:7ff. This points to a long prophetic tradition and "professional" education within the context of the Ištar cult.

The following discussion of the elements follows the order of Chart 1.^[[288]] It should be stressed that this order does not fully reflect the reality; although some oracles do contain most of elements in the order indicated, the order is quite variable and the full sequence of elements is not actually attested in any of the oracles.

+ indicates attested element

- indicates absence of element

? indicates possible but uncertain element

b indicates attestation at the beginning of the orcale

e indicates attestation at the end

lack of +/-/b/e indicates textual damage

1. The phrase "word of Ištar" (abat Issār; variant: "word of Queen Mullissu," no. 7:2; cf. also 2.4) occurs in five oracles of the corpus, mostly at the beginning and in combination with an address element,^[[289]] recalling the introductory formula of the royal letters (abat šarri ana NN, "the word of the king to NN"). This element corresponds in every respect to the biblical dbr yhwh, "the word of YHWH."^[[290]] With one exception (3.5), it is in complementary distribution with the self-identification of the oracular deity.

2. The addressee of the oracle is mostly indicated by a name or title in the vocative (e.g., "Esarhaddon!" 1.6), often combined with the "fear not" formula (e.g., "King of Assyria, fear not!" 1.2) or another imperative ("Listen, Assyrians !" 3.2). A dative address ("to NN") occurs in five oracles, usually in combination with the "word of Is tar" formula but once without it ("To the king's mother," 1.8). In three cases the addressee is specified indirectly only ("you," 3.3) or not at all (1.3, and 8). All these forms of address have parallels in biblical prophecies.

3. The "word of Ištar" formula is in most oracles replaced by a self-identification of the oracular deity, "I am DN" (anāku DN or DN anāku), mostly at the very beginning of the oracle (1.6, 1.8, 1. 10, 2. 3), but also at the end (1.5) and in the middle (1.1, 1.4, 1.6 and often); it may occur repeatedly within a single oracle (1.1, 1.2, 1.4, 1.6, etc.). This element corresponds to the biblical phrase 'ny yhwh "I am YHWH," see the discussion above, p. XIX.

4. The exhortation "fear not!" (lā tapallah) is a ubiquitous element of practically all encouragement oracles, where it is missing only in 1.3 and 1.10. It is often placed at the very beginning the oracle, in combination with the name of the addressee ( 1. 1, 1.2, 1.4, 2.2, 2.5), but it can also occur alone (1.1:24, 2.4:17), at the end (2.1, 2.4,7) or in the middle of an oracle (1.6, 1.8, 2.5, 4), sometimes several times (2.6, 7). It regularly combines with Aššurances of divine help, support and protection, and clearly corresponds to biblical 'l tyr'w, cf. e.g. 2 Chr. 20: 15, 'Thus said YHWH: Have no fear, do not be dismayed by the great horde, for the battle is in God's hands. "^[[291]]

5. Past support. References to divine help and support in the past are found in several oracles. They are regularly paired with promises of future support,^[[292]] and were clearly intended to enhance the credibility of the prophecy, for many of them emphasize that the previous oracles had come true ("What words have I spoken to you that you could not rely upon," l.1: 15ff; "What enemy has attacked you while I remained silent? The future shall be like the past," 1.4:34ff; "Could you not rely on the previous utterance which I spoke to you? Now you can rely on this later one too," 1. 10:7-12; "The future shall be like the past; I will go around you and protect you," 2.2: 17ff; see also 1.2 ii 2f, 1. 8:14-23, 3.3:22-25, 3.5: 15-21, and 4:6). For biblical parallels, cf. simply the Isaiah passage cited in the commentary on 1. 10:7-12 (p. 10 below).

6. Present/future support. The promise of present and future divine support to the king is a theme pervading the entire corpus. Even in 3.3 and 3.4 - the only oracles with no explicit promises for the future - the continuing divine support is implicit in the wording of the text. The individual promises are on the whole very generally formulated (safety, protection, defeat of unspecified enemies, stability of throne); even when names are mentioned (2.4, 3.2, 3.5, 7, 8), one looks in vain for accurate and concrete "predictions." This indicates that the course of history as such was of little or no interest to the prophets. What mattered was whether or not God was with the king; everything else (attainment or loss of power, glory, military victories, etc.) resulted from and depended on this one basic thing. It should be noted that even the references to past events (as in oracles 1.2 and 3.3) are phrased very vaguely throughout.

The predicates of the passages containing promises are regularly in the indicative present.^[[293]] The first person precative forms in 3.3 (lines 17 and 24) and 3.5 (passim) indicate divine will, not promises.

7. Demand for praise. Five oracles contain a demand to praise the oracular deity (na' 'idanni "praise me!" 1.4 bis, 1.10 bis, 2.3, 2.6; "let them see and praise me," 3.3; note also "glorify Mullissu!," 5 r.6"). In most cases, this demand accompanies a self-presentation of the deity (1.4, 2.6, 3.3), and is then always combined with a reference to divine support received in the past. In two cases, it is linked with promises of future support ( 1.4, 2.3).

This thematic element has no direct parallel in biblical prophecy, obviously because only a few of the extant prophecies are addressed to the king. However, several royal psalms praise the greatness of God, and the phrase "Praise YHWH" (hllw-yh) occurs frequently in psalms. It may be noted that the hymn of Aššurbanipal to Ištar of Arbela and Mullissu (SAA 3 3) could well be a response to a demand for praise presented in an oracle - perhaps no. 9, where this demand is not extant but could well have been included in the portion lost at the bottom of the tablet.

8. Cultic demands occur in three oracles of the corpus, all by La-dagil-ili. They include greater veneration of the Goddess (1.10), recognition of the gods of Esaggil (2.3), and provision for the cult of Is tar of Arbela (3.5). It is possible that demands for the restoration of Esaggil were also made in 2.1 and 2.6, but this is uncertain owing to the fragmentary state of these oracles. In any case, cultic demands must have been a fairly regular feature of Neo-Assyrian prophecy, to judge from CT 53 969, a contemporary letter to the king. ^[[294]]

288 See also the analysis and discussion in Weippert, "Assyrische Prophetien," ARINH (1981), p. 76ff and tables 3-4.

289 An exception is oracle 2.4, where the phrase follows an introductory rhetorical question and occurs in the middle of the prophecy as well.

290 Jer. 1:2.4.11, 2:1, Hos. 1:1, Joel 1:1, Jon. 1:1 , 3:1, Mic. 1:1, Zeph. 1:1 , Zech. 1:1.7, 4:6, 6:9, 7:1.8, 8: 1, 9:1, 12: 1, Mai. 1: I; cf. Isa. 2: 1 (dbr alone). Note that dbr yhwh likewise mostly introduces the oracle and is combined with an address e.g. in Zech. 4:6, "This is the word of the LORD concerning Zerubbabel" (zh dbr-yhwh 'l-zrbbl), and Mai. 1: I, "An oracle. The word of the LORD to Israel through Malachi" (mś' I dbr-yhwh 'l yšr'l byd PN).

291 For further examples see Nissinen, AOAT 232 (1993) 247f.

292 Such a reference is missing only in oracle 3.2, addressed to the Assyrians collectively, which instead begins with a reference to the victories of the king.

293 The only possible exception is lurr[ik] "I will length[en . .. )'' in no. 10 r.7 (context fragmentary).

294 See n. 214 above.

Simo Parpola

Simo Parpola, 'Structural Elements of the Oracles', Assyrian Prophecies, SAA 9. Original publication: Helsinki, Helsinki University Press, 1997; online contents: SAAo/SAA09 Project, a sub-project of MOCCI, 2021 [http://oracc.org/saao/saa09/theprophecycorpus/structuralelementsoftheoracles/]