This is the ninth volume of Babel und Bibel an annual of ancient Near Eastern Old Testament and Semitic studies The principal goal of the annual is to reveal the inherent relationship between Assyriology Semitics and biblical studies a relationship that our predecessors comprehended and fruitfully explored but that is often neglected today The title Babel und Bibel is intended to point to the possibility of fruitful collaboration among the three disciplines in an effort to explore the various civilizations of the ancient Near East This volume includes as a major portion of its contents selected papers from the 6th Biannual Meeting of the International Association for Comparative Semitics