Ušburruda against depression

(7.7.1:1) If a man becomes increasingly depressed, 2(and) his heart ponders 1foolish[ness], 3you mix 2‘hair-of-the-wayside’-plant (and) dust of a (dried) mole cricket 3in water. You make two figurines embracing each other. 4On the shoulder of the first you write thus: 5De[se]rter, runaway, who does not keep to his u[n]it. 6On the shoulder of the second you write thus: 7Clamor, wailer, who does not ... [...]. 8Afterwards you call them by their name.

(7.7.1:10) You wipe 10the man’s body off 9with dough made of wheat flour and ... flour. 10Then you form a figurine (out of this dough) and 11mount it on both of their arms 12turning the heads of both of them, (one) to the right and (one) to the left. 13(([In the even]ing, before sunset,)) 14you sweep the ground 13near the wall, 14in a secluded place. You sprinkle pure water. 15You set up a portable altar, 16you strew 15date(s) 16(and) sasqû-flour 15on top of the altar. 16You place a censer with burāšu-juniper (next to it). 17You pour beer. Lifting these figurines 18you speak thus before Šamaš:

(7.7.1:19) Incantation: “Šamaš, king of heaven and earth, you are the judge of god and man,

(7.7.1:20) pay attention to my prayer to le[arn] of my condition!

(7.7.1:21) Foolishness, depression, 22fear (and) fright

(7.7.1:23) which I constantly experience and suffer 22in my body, in my flesh (and) in [my] sinews:

(7.7.1:24) Šamaš, before you this one replaces me, this one receives (my suffering) from me.

(7.7.1:25) (My suffering) is entrusted to the figurine of the Deserter, it is driven away to the west, it is removed from my body!”

(7.7.1:26) You say this. Then, 27you string 26seven loaves 27on a cord; you hang it around his neck (var.: on their arms). 29You smear 28the face of the figurine (made) of dough with the discharge under his foreskin. 30You bind 29nail (parings) from 30both <his feet> (and) 29hair (from) his (head) 30in a black cloth. You hang it around the neck of the figurine (made) of dough. 31You put them into a sewage opening in the wall 32directing their faces 31to the west. 32You close the sewage opening. 34Next to the sewage opening you set out 33crushed ((‘horned’)) salt-plant 34like (apotropaic) ritual flour heaps. 35This man washes his hands with river water and gypsum. You clear away the ritual arrangement. 36Then he goes straight home without looking back. 37The exorcist must not ent[er] (var.: go to) the house of the sick man before dawn.

(7.7.1:38) [If a man] becomes increasingly [d]epressed: rush seed.

(7.7.1:39) If ditto: seed of the azallû-plant, [‘he]als-a-thousand’-plant in bee[r (or) i]n oil [...].

(7.7.1:40) If ditto: ‘heals-a-thousand’-plant, tamarisk seed in beer [...].

(7.7.1:41) If ditto: kazallu-plant, ‘heals-a-thousand’-plant, ḫašû-plant, [...], 42seed of the ēru-tree, urnû-plant, [...], 43these seven drugs [...] on an empty stomach.

(7.7.1:44) If ditto: beetroot i[n ...].

(7.7.1:45) If ditto: A mole cricket, ‘field-drum’-plant, dust from a dust sto[rm ...], 46amēlānu-plant, human bone [...].

(7.7.1:47) If a man becomes increasingly depressed, [his] l[imbs are limp all the time], 48his tongue is always swollen, he bi[tes] his tongue, 49his ears buzz, his hands are numb, [his] kn[ees (and) legs] 50cause him a gnawing pain, his epigastrium continually pro[trudes], 51he is not able to have intercourse with a woman, cold tremors afflict him repeatedly, he [is in turn fat and thin], 52he continually salivat[es] from his mouth, [...], 53that man was given (bewitched) bread to eat, (bewitched) beer to drink, was anoi[nted] with (bewitched) oil, [...].

(7.7.1:54) To cure him 58you dry, crush (and) si[ft] 54lupine, ‘heals-a-thousand’-plant, [‘heals-twenty’-plant], soap[wort], 55sikillu-plant, erkulla-plant, imbuʾ [tâmti-mineral], ‘apri[cot-turn]ip’, 56[seed] of the ḫuluppu-tree, ur[nû-plant, ḫa]šû-plant, šibbur[ratu]-plant, 57nuḫurtu-plant, [...], ‘mar[sh]-apple’, 58[...] ... [...] ... 59[...] In the morning 60[you make] him [drink] (and) eat (it) on an empty stom[ach]. You make him vomit with a feather. Afterward[s] 61he drinks roasted [...] in [g]rape juice. 62You put [...]. On the (day of the) New Moon you bathe him; then he will recover.

(7.7.1:63) You take mating geckos from the open country, dry them and 64burn (them) as fumiga[nts] 63with burāšu-juniper, 64old human bone (and) with ‘horned’ salt-plant. 65You bur[n] kurkanû-plant (and) atāʾišu-plant with ‘horned’ salt-plant as fumi[gants]. 66You burn sulphur, a lizard (and) a male bat with ‘horned’ salt-plant as fumiga[nts]. 67Shoots of a fig-tree (and) tamarisk ‘grain’ in [...]. 68Sulphur (and) atāʾišu-plant in [...]. 69His [illn]ess will not return and will not come near him. Ruin will not approach [him].

(7.7.1:70) (Lines 70-71 ‘abracadabra’ incantation Pati patiti)

(7.7.1:72) It is [the wor]ding (of the incantation) to undo witchcraft.

(7.7.1:73) [Its ritual:] You slaughter a [...]-bird, you collect it[s blood] in a bowl. 74You recite the incantation seven times over it. Then this [m]an rubs himself daily (with it). 75That which he fears will not reach him.

(7.7.1:76) (too fragmentary for translation)