Prayer of Nabonidus

Layer

Full Word of God

Collection

3.7 Qumran — The Wilderness Library

Classification

Qumran witness

Relationship to Scripture

Closely related · not in the Restored Bible

The Prayer of Nabonidus

The words of the prayer which Nabonidus, king of [Babylon], the great king, prayed when he was stricken with an evil ulcer by the decree of God Most High in the city of Teima.

I, Nabonidus, was stricken with an evil ulcer for seven years, and far from men I was driven. [Text missing]

But when I confessed my sin and my fault, God left me a seer. He was a Jew of the exiles, and he declared and wrote that honor and great glory should be given to the name of God Most High. And thus he wrote:

“While you were stricken with the evil ulcer in the city of Teima [by the decree of God Most High], you prayed for seven years to gods of silver and gold, of bronze and iron, of wood and stone and clay, because you supposed that they were gods. [Line damaged]”

[Fragment breaks here]