Abstract

Many scholars of the Hebrew Bible have postulated that the source of the taunt-song of Isa xiv 12-15 is to be found in Ugaritic religious literature Many of these scholars believe that the passage contains elements of both El and Ba’al myths, an assumption that leads them to discount the proposition that all the mythological strands of Isa xiv 12-15 can be correlated with a single Ugaritic myth Still others contend that only a single myth concerning the usurpation of El can account for all of the mythological features This article disputes both of these positions, arguing that no usurpation of El is in view, and that the mythological provenance of Isa xiv 12-15 can be entirely correlated with the Ba’al-‘Athtar myth