Ludlul bel nemeqi (I Will Praise the Lord of Wisdom)

Ludlul bel nemeqi — "I will praise the lord of wisdom" — is a four-tablet wisdom poem sometimes called the Babylonian Job. The protagonist Shubshi-meshre-Shakkan was once wealthy, respected, and devout; without explanation, his god and goddess have turned away. His prayers are ignored, his divination yields no signs. He loses servants, property, and social standing; former friends abandon him; he is struck with a wasting illness of remarkable clinical specificity — paralysed limbs, sores filling his mouth, mourning women stationed outside his door. He questions the gods but receives no answer: "I wish I knew that these things were pleasing to one's god." Through three dreams, Marduk sends messengers of healing who progressively restore him. His illness lifts, his fortunes return, he processes through Babylon's gates praising Marduk. Why he suffered is never explained — only that Marduk's ways are inscrutable and restoration is possible.