1-9 Oh barge, the quay of abundance was assigned to you as your fate. God looked at you with approval. He commanded your construction. He entrusted it to the faithful provider, king Culgi; and the shepherd, who is of broad intelligence and who will not rest day and night in thinking deeply about you. He, the wise one, who is proficient in planning, he, the omniscient one, will fell large cedars in the huge forests for you. He will make you perfect and you will be breathtaking to look upon.

10-22 Your woven ...... is ....... Your covering reed-mats are the daylight spreading wide over the holy settlements. Your timbers are sniffing (?) ...... reptiles crouching on their paws. Your punting poles are dragons sleeping a sweet sleep in their lair. Your strakes (?) are ...... snakes, ....... Your floor-planks are flood-currents, sparkling altogether in the pure Euphrates. Your side-planks, which are fastened into their fixed places (?) with wooden rings (?), are a stairway leading to a mountain spring (?), a ...... filled with ....... Your holy ...... are persisting and firmly founded abundance. Your bench is a lofty dais erected in the midst of the abzu. Your ...... is Aratta, full-laden with treasures. Your door, facing the sunrise, is a ...... bird, carrying a ...... in its talons while spreading wide its wings.

23-31 Your glittering golden sun-disc, fastened with leather straps, is the brilliant moonlight, shining brightly upon all the lands. Your banner, adorned with the marks of kingship, is a woodland of cypress trees irrigated with clean water, giving a pleasant shade. Your small reed mats are the evening sky, illuminated with stars, imbued with terrible awesomeness. In the midst of your carefully tended small gizi reeds with numerous twigs (?), swarms of birds twitter as in a holy swamp. Their chirping, as pleasing to the heart as the sound of the churn's shaking, makes all happy (?).

32-39 Your rudder is a large kij fish in the broad waters at the mouth of the Kisala canal. Your ...... are a bison, inspiring terror on the great earth. Your tow-rope is the gliding Nirah extended over the land. Your mooring pole is the heavenly bond, which ....... Your longside beams are a warrior striking straight against another warrior. Your prow is the moon ...... fair sky. Your stern is the sun ...... at the horizon. Your hold (?) is .......

40 Sa-gida.

41-47 The faithful shepherd Culgi established the holy festival and the great rituals. Fates are assigned to their places in the city and the right blessings are allocated. The mother of the Land comes out (?) from the house. Provisions are lavishly prepared.

48-63 The lofty barge ......, the ornament of the Tigris, enters the rolling river; ...... on the shining water. The ritually washed five-headed mace, mitum mace, lance and standard ...... at the bow. God's mighty angel goes at their front, directing the ...... of your wide ferry-boat (?) straight. He ...... the holy punting pole of the barge, the holy raft. The ferrymen (?) ...... holy songs. Sumer and Urim ...... joy and happiness. The barge bobs at the quay Mete-aji (Ornament of the waves); it sails off into the reed-beds of Tummal. Like a goring (?) ox, it raises, then lowers its head. It strikes its breast against the rising waves; it stirs up (?) the encircling waters. When it thrusts within the waters, the fishes of the subterranean waters become frightened; as it glides (?) upon them, it makes the waters sparkle (?) luxuriantly.

64-70 ...... the holy raft; ...... prayer. Culgi the shepherd brings along his great food-offerings, for God's sake and for the needy. They pass the day in abundance, they give praise throughout night. A fate, a fate to be pre-eminent forever, is decreed for the king who fitted out the holy barge.

71-81 Then light shines up at the edge of the Land as the sun rises refulgently. As the barge is travelling upstream, it ...... radiates (?) and creaks (?). ...... in the Ninmutum, the canal of the year of abundance ....... As the carp make their bellies (?) sparkle, hearts rejoice. As the mucu fish play noisily there, hearts rejoice. As the ...... fish ......, hearts rejoice. As the cuhurmac fish dart about, hearts rejoice. ...... lifts its head in the Euphrates; it ....... In the midst of ...... ever-flowing water is carried. In joyous Nibru, he moors the holy barge at the quay.

82-90 With joyful eyes and shining forehead, ......, looks upon king Culgi: God says: "Shepherd ......, Culgi, who has a lasting name, king of jubilation! I will prolong the nights of the crown that was placed upon your head, and I will extend the days of the holy sceptre that was given to you. May the foundation of your throne that was bestowed on you be firm! Shepherd who brings about perfection, may your life be covered with ...... which is full of exuberance as if it were a holy ma garment!"

91 Sa-jara.