The name is commonly translated from Akkadian as "he heard the prayer," but Ishmekarab's gender is uncertain and opinions of researchers on whether the deity was male or female vary.
[3] A curse formula from Susa written in Akkadian mentions the scepter of Ishmekarab as a symbolic deterrent against altering the text it was a part of.
[2] It is possible that a minor deity depicted alongside a god on a snake throne (Inshushinak or Napirisha) on Elamite cylinder seals can be identified as Ishmekarab.
[11] Manfred Krebernik also considers Ishmekarab to be a male deity, and translates the name accordingly with the masculine pronoun as "he heard the prayer" ("Er erhörte das Gebet").
[15] This view is also supported by Daniel T. Potts, who refers to Ishmekarab as the "lady of the siyan kuk" ("sacred precinct") at Chogha Zanbil.
[23][12] While the members are not identical in these three sources, Ishmekarab is present in all three,[2] though with some variance in the spelling of the name, rendered respectively as dIš-me-kà-ra-áb, dIš-me-ka-ra-ba and dIš-me-ka-ra-bu.
[2] Two temples bearing the name Ebabbar (Sumerian: "shining white house"[26]) existed, one in Sippar and another in Larsa, both dedicated to Shamash and his wife Aya.
[33] In this text, written in Akkadian, king Tempti-Agun states that he built a temple dedicated to this deity for the sake of his family, including his deceased mother Welkisha.
[35] Shutruk-Nahhunte also built some sort of structure dedicated to Ishmekarab as a "gift," but his inscription mentioning this contains no precise identification of its nature or location.
[36] According to an inscription of king Hutelutush-Inshushinak from Susa, another temple of Ishmekarab, surrounded by a sacred grove, existed in Kipû, a city whose location is presently unknown.
[39] A well established theory connects the Elamite group of Inshushinak, Lagamal and Ishme-karab with the later Zoroastrian belief that after death souls are judged by Mithra, Sraosha and Rashnu.
[40] However, this view is not universally accepted, and it has been pointed out that while the names of both Sraosha and Ishmekarab are etymologically connected to hearing, the natures of Rashnu and Lagamal do not appear to be similar.