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Prayer of Nabonidus

Overview

Discovered in Qumran Cave 4, the Prayer of Nabonidus survives in a single fragmentary Aramaic manuscript consisting of four leather fragments. Paleographic analysis dates the script to the late first century BCE. The text offers an ancient Jewish perspective of a known ancient Near Eastern tradition about Babylonian King Nabonidus, who historically relinquished direct control of Babylon and relocated to Teima in Arabia. This version recasts this event as a court tale in which the king suffers from a divinely-inflicted illness. An unnamed Jewish diviner among the exiles heals the king through prayer, leading Nabonidus to acknowledge the sovereignty of the God of Israel. A version of a tradition like this was likely reworked in the book of Daniel, where a similar story is reimagined as the madness of King Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 4). The translation below is based on the transcription of the text in Accordance Bible Software (cf. Collins, DJD 22, 83-93).

Images

Images of the Prayer of Nabonidus are available through The Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library.

Translation

4Q242 1, 2a, 2b, 3

The ancient title of the work and a pseudepigraphic account of Nabonidus malady in Teima and remedy with the assistance of a Judaean diviner.

The words of the pr[ay]er that Nabonidus, king of [Ba]bylon, the [great] king, prayed[…]
with a severe inflammation at the command of G[o]d in Teima[…]
was afflicted seven years and sin[ce] G[od] set[…]
and my sin, he forgave it. A diviner, now he was a Judaean fr[om…]
“Declare and write to ascribe glory and gre[atness] to the name of G[od…]
“I was afflicted with a [severe] inflammation in Teima […]
seven years I was continually praying[ before] gods of silver and gold[…]
wood, stone, and clay because [I thoug]ht that th[ey] were gods[…]
[…]…[…]their[…]