I beseech you, O lady of ladies, O goddess of goddesses!

O Ishtar, queen of all habitations, who guides humankind aright,

O Irnini, you are noble, great among the Igigi.

You are mighty. You are sovereign. Exalted are your names!

You are the luminary of the heavens and the earth, the valiant daughter of Sin.

The one who wields weapons, who sets up battles,

Who gathers all of the rites, who wears the crown of lordship,

O lady, resplendent is your greatness, exalted above all the gods!

Star of the battle cry, who makes brothers at peace come to blows,

Yet who perennially provides a comrade,

Powerful one, lady of the battlefield, who constantly pushes aside the mountains,

Gushea, who is clad with combat, clothed in terror,

You bring judgment and decision, the command of earth and heaven, to completion.

Chapels, shrines, cult stands, and daises attend to you.

Where is your name absent? Where are your rites absent?

Where are your plans not implemented? Where are your cult daises not laid out?

Where are you not great? Where are you not exalted?

Anu, Enlil, and Ea elevated you, among the gods they magnified your sovereignty.

They exalted you among all of the Igigi; they made your position supreme.

At the mention of your name the heavens and earth quake.

The gods shake, the Anunnaki tremble.

Humanity praises your terrifying name.

You are indeed great and exalted.

All the black-headed ones, the throng of humankind, praise your heroism.

With truth and justice you render the verdict of the subject peoples.

You look upon the wronged and afflicted, whom you lead aright every day.

Have mercy lit. your ahulap, O lady of the heavens and the earth, the shepherd of the teeming people!

Have mercy, O lady of holy Eanna, the pure storehouse!

Have mercy, O lady! Your feet are tireless, your legs lit. knees swift!

Have mercy, O lady of every battle and fray!

Resplendent one, the lioness of the Igigi, who makes the angry gods bow down,

Who is most capable of all the princes, who seizes the lead rope of the kings,

Who opens the veils of all the young women,

Whether you are lifted up or laid down, O valiant Ishtar, your heroic deeds are great.

Brilliant torch of the heavens and earth, radiance of all the habitations,

Fierce in unopposable combat, powerful in battle,

The firebrand kindled against the enemies, who brings about the annihilation of barbarians lit. wild ones,

Scintillating Ishtar, who gathers the assembly,

O goddess of men, Ishtar of women, whose counsel no one can learn,

Wherever you cast your gaze lit. look with favor, the dead live, the sick rise up.

The mistreated prospers when he sees your face.

I, your weary, exhausted, afflicted servant, call upon you!

Look at me! Receive my prayer, my lady!

Look upon me earnestly! Hear my supplication!

Order my reprieve lit. my ahulap. Let your mood be put at ease.

Have mercy on my miserable body, which is full of confusion and trouble.

Have mercy on my afflicted heart, which is full of tears and sighing.

Have mercy on my miserable, confused, and troubled omens.

Have mercy on my sleepless household, which moans with mourning.

Have mercy on my feelings, which persist in tears and sighing.

O Irninitu, raging lion, let your heart be at rest.

O angry bull, may your mood be put at ease.

Let your favorable eyes be upon me.

With your radiant countenance look upon me earnestly.

Expel the evil sorcery in my body. Let me see your brilliant light!

How long, my lady, will my legal opponents scowl at me?

And with lies and injustices conceive evil things against me?

My persecutors and ill-wishers rampage against me.

How long, my lady, will morons and weaklings defeat me?

The wearied move ahead while lit. and I bring up the rear.

The weak grow strong while lit. and I grow faint.

I toss like a wave an evil wind whips up.

My heart flutters and flies like a bird of the heavens.

I moan night and day like a dove.

I am "glowing"? and weep bitterly.

From woe and alas my mood is afflicted.

What did I even do against my personal god and my personal goddess?

I am being treated like one who does not fear my personal god and personal goddess!

Illness, headache, loss, and destruction beset me.

Terrors/troubles, divine aversion lit. turning of faces, and divine wrath lit. being full of anger beset me,

As well as anger, fury, and rejection of both the gods and humankind.

I have experienced lit. seen, O my lady, dark days, gloomy months, and years of grief.

I have experienced lit. seen, O my lady, plague, confusion and disorder.

Death and hardship restrain me.

My shrine is dead quiet, my sanctuary gravely still.

A morbid silence permeates my house, gate, and fields.

My personal god turned his face elsewhere.

My family is dispersed, my fold scattered.

I hereby direct my attention to you, my lady. My ears are fixed on you.

I beseech you: forgive my guilt!

Fogive my guilt, my offense, my sin, and my misdeed.

Disregard my sins gloss: my confusion. Accept my prayer!

Release my bonds! Set me free!

Guide my path aright. May I walk about the street cheerfully lit. brightly, proudly among the living!

Speak that at your command my angry personal god may be reconciled with me.

That my personal goddess, who is mad at me, return to me.

May my dark and smoky brazier become bright.

May my extinguished torch be kindled.

May my dispersed family gather.

May my pen become wide; my sheepfold be broadened.

Receive my humble request lit. touching of my nose; hear my supplication.

Look upon me earnestly!

How long, my lady, will you be angry and your face turned away?

How long, my lady, will you be furious and your mood enraged?

Turn your head lit. neck that you had cast down; decide lit. set your face on a favorable word.

As the river releases water ?, may your mood be released.

Let me trample over the barbarians lit. my wild ones as if over, or, as if they were the ground.

Subdue those angry with me. Make them prostrate at my feet lit. under me.

May my supplications and prayers come to you.

May your tremendous forgiveness be upon me.

May those who see me in the street magnify your name!

And may I extoll your divinity and your heroic deeds to the black-headed people.

"Ishtar is exalted! Ishtar is queen!

"The Lady is exalted! The Lady is queen!

"Irnini, the valiant daughter of Sin, has no rival!"

It is the wording of a lifted-hand prayer to Ishtar.

Its ritual: In an inaccessible place, you sweep the roof, you sprinkle pure water, and you lay down four bricks at an angle to one another.

You heap up poplar twigs. You set them on fire. Aromatics, fine flour, and juniper

you strew. You libate mihhû-beer but do not prostrate yourself. This recitation before Ishtar

you recite three times. You prostrate yourself, and do not look behind you on your way home.

Incantation: O exalted Ishtar who illuminates the world.

Copy from Borsippa. According to its original, Nergal-balassu-iqbi, son of Atamar-KAL.ME?, the exorcist.

Written and checked for his well-being and deposited in Esagil.