
The lord, that which is appropriate verily he caused to appear,
The lord whose decisions are unalterable,
Enlil, who brings up the seed of the land from the earth,
Took care to move away heaven from earth,
Took care to move away earth from heaven.
In order to make grow the creature which came forth,
In the "bond of heaven and earth" (Nippur) he stretched out the . . .
He brought the pickax into existence, the "day" came forth,
He introduced labor, decreed the fate,
Upon the pickax and basket he directs the "power."
Enlil made his pickax exalted,
His pickax of gold, whose head is of lapis lazuli,
The pickax of his house, of … silver and gold,
His pickax whose … is of lapis lazuli,
Whose tooth is a one-horned ox ascending a large wall.
The lord called up the pickax, decrees its fate,
He set the kindu, the holy crown, upon his head,
The head of man he placed in the mould,
Before Enlil he (man?) covers his land,
Upon his black-headed people he looked steadfastly.
The Anunnaki who stood about him,
He placed it (the pickax?) as a gift in their hands,
They soothe Enlil with prayer,
They give the pickax to the black-headed people to hold.
The pickax and the basket build cities,
The steadfast house the pickax builds, the steadfast house the pickax establishes
The steadfast house it causes to prosper.
The house which rebels against the king,
The house which is not submissive to its king,
The pickax makes it submissive to the king.
Of the bad . . . plants it crushes the head,
Plucks at the roots, tears at the crown,
The pickax spares the . . . plants;
The pickax, its fate decreed by father Enlil,
The pickax is exalted.