G — Biblically Based Apocryphal Works

The Prayer of Nabonidus (4Q242)

1While the Book of Daniel (iv) writes of the miraculous recovery of Nebuchadnezzar after an illness which lasted seven years, this interesting Aramaic composition tells a similar story about the last king of Babylon, Nabonidus. The principal difference between the two is that Nebuchadnezzar was cured by God Himself when he recognized His sovereignty, whereas a Jewish exorcist healed Nabonidus by teaching him the truth and forgiving his sins. J. T. Milik considers the work to be older than Daniel, but a late second or early first-century BCE dating seems to be less adventurous (cf. 'Prière de Nabonide et autres écrits d'un cycle de Daniel', RB 63 (1956), 407-11). Cf. also G. Vermes, Jesus the Jew, London, 1973, 67-8. For the editio princeps, see J. Collins, DJD, XXII, 83-93.

2The words of the prayer uttered by Nabunai king of the l[and of Ba]bylon, [the great] king, [when he was afflicted] with an evil ulcer in Teiman by decree of the [Most High God]. I was afflicted [with an evil ulcer] for seven years ... and an exorcist pardoned my sins. He was a Jew from [among the children of the exile of Judah, and he said], 'Recount this in writing to [glorify and exalt] the name of the [Most High God'. And I wrote this]: 'I was afflicted with an [evil] ulcer in Teiman [by decree of the Most High God]. For seven years [I] prayed to the gods of silver and gold, [bronze and iron], wood and stone and clay, because [I believed] that they were gods ... '