... of Assyria and Nineveh, and the king said: "Did I not hear that your master had killed you?" And [I] said to him: "Until now I am alive, my lord the king, and God has saved me from what my hands did not do." The king said to me: Go, Ahiqar, to your house, and come to me tomorrow, and tell me a word that has not been heard by me, nor by any of my nobles, nor in the city of my kingdom." So I sat down and meditated in my heart and wrote the following letter: "From Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to Sennacherib, king of Assyria and Nineveh: greetings.

Kings need kings, [and] brothers need brothers. At this time my gift is diminishing, and silver is lacking in my treasuries. Please send me from your treasuries 900 talents of silver, and in a little while I will restore them to their place." So I rolled up this letter and held it in my hands. And the king commanded, and I came into his presence, and I said to him: "Perhaps there is a word in this letter which you have never heard before". When I read before them, they cried out, as the king had commanded, and said: "This has been heard by [all of] us,

and it is so." So I said to t[hem: "Behold,] Egypt owes nine hundred talents to Assyria." When the king heard [this], he was astonished. Then he said to me: "I want to build a castle between the sky and the earth, and its height from the earth shall be a thousand ells." Then I let out the eaglets, and tied the ropes to their feet, and set the boys on them, and they said: "Give mud, mortar, tiles, and bricks to the builders who are idle; the master will yoke them together. When the king saw this, he was astonished. Then I, Ahiqar, took a rod and beat the king's nobles

until they all fled. Then the king became angry with me and said to me to me: "You rave wildly, Ahiqar! Who is able to carry anything up to these boys? And I said to him: "As for the matter of Sennacherib, my lord, you say nothing—but if he were near, he would build two castles in one day". The king said to me: "Get out of the castle, Ahiqar, and go to your lodging, and [in] the morning co[me to me]." And [when] it was morning, [I came] into his presence, and he said to me: "Tell me, Ahiqar, what is this? The horse

of your lord in Assyria [speaks], and our mares hear his voice, and their foals miscarry." So I went out from the presence of the king and told my servants to catch me a cat, and I whipped it in the streets of the city. When the Egyptians saw [this], they said to the king: "Ahiqar has done evil to our people and made us a laughingstock. For he has caught a cat and is whipping it in the streets of our city." The king sent for me and summoned me, and I came to him. He said to me: "In what way have you offended us?" And I answered and said to him: "O my lord the king, live forever! This cat has done me serious harm— not

a small matter: my master had entrusted me with a rooster whose voice was very beautiful. When it crowed, I knew that he [sc. my lord] wanted me, and I would go to my lord's gate. But that night, this cat went to Assyria, tore off the head of this rooster and returned." The king answered and said to me: "As far as I can see, Ahiqar, since you have grown old, you have become mad. For it is 360 parasangs from here to Assyria. How can you say that this cat traveled [there] in one night, cut off the head of the

of your rooster, and came back?" So I said to him: "And if it is 360 parasangs from Egypt to Assyria, how is it that your mares here hear the voice of my lord's horse and miscarry their foals?" When the king heard this, he became very sad and said to me: "Tell me this parable, Ahiqar. On top of a pillar there are twelve cedars; in each cedar, thirty wheels; and in each wheel, two ropes—one white and one black." I answered and said to him: "My lord the king, even the cattle-breeders in our land know this parable you have told.

The pillar you told me about is the year; the twelve cedars [are] the twelve months of the year; the thirty wheels [are] the thirty days of [each] month; and the two ropes, one white and one black, are the day and the night." Again, he said to me: "Make me five ropes from the sand of the river." And I said to him: "Command, O my lord, bring me a rope of sand from your treasury, and I will make [one] like it". However, he sa[id to me]: "Unless you do this, I will not give you the tribute of Egypt." So I sat down and pondered in my heart what I should do. I went out

from the king's palace and made five holes in the eastern [wall] of the palace. When the sun entered the holes, I scattered sand in them, and the path of the sun began to appear as if [the sand] were twisted in the holes. Then I said to the king: "Please, my lord, take up these, and I will twist others in their place." When the king and his nobles saw it, they were astonished, and the king commanded them to br[ing] me the top of a millstone. It was broken, and the king said to me, "Sew up this broken millstone for us, Ahiqar. S[o] I went and brought a lo[wer millstone]

and threw it down before the king, and said to him: "My lord the king, since I am a stranger here and have not the tools of my trade with me, command the cobblers to cut me straps from this lower millstone, which is the companion of the upper part of a millstone, and I will sew them up at once." When the king heard this, he laughed and said: "The day [on] which Ahiqar was born shall be blessed before the God of Egypt; and since I have seen you alive, I will make it a great day of celebration." Then he gave me the tribute of Egypt for three years, and I came immediately to see my lord, King Sennacherib.

He came out to meet me and received me. He made a great day of it and made me the head of his household. He answered and said to me "Ask what you will, Ahiqar." I worshipped the king and said: "O my lord the king! Whatever you will give me, give it to Nabusemakh, my poor companion, for he has given me my life. As for me, my lord, command them that they to give me my son Nadan, that I may teach him another lesson, for he has forgotten my former teaching." So the king ordered and gave me my son Nadan,

and the king said to me: "Ahiqar, [go] and do whatever you wish to your son Nadan, for no one shall deliver his body from your hands." Then I took my son Nadan and brought him to my house. I bound him with iron chains weighing twenty talents and cast him into vessels. I placed an iron collar around his neck and struck him a thousand blows on his shoulders and a thousand and one on his loins. I set him in the porch of the gate of my courtyard and gave him bread by weight and water by measure.

I entrusted him to my servant Nabuel to guard him, and I said to my servant: "Write down on a tablet everything I say to my son Nadan when I enter and when I leave." I answered and said to my son Nadan: ‘My son, he who does not listen with his ears will be made to listen with his neck.’ ‘My son Nadan replied and said to me: "Why are you angry with your son?" I answered and said to him: "My son, I set you upon the throne of honour, but you have cast me down from mine. Yet my righteousness has saved me."’ ‘My son, you have been to me like a scorpion striking a rock. And it says to it: “You have struck at an unfeeling heart.” It strikes a needle,’

‘and they say to it: "You have struck a sting worse than your own." ’ ‘My son, you have been to me like a goat that stands over a red berry and eats it. The red berry says to him: "Why do you eat me, when you use my root to treat your skin?" The goat says to it: "I eat you while I life, and after my death they will uproot you." ’ ‘My son, you have been to me like one who casts a stone at heaven— it does not reach heaven, but he received punishment from God.’ ‘My son, you are like the one who saw his companion shivering from cold and took and poured a pitcher of water and over him. ’ ‘O, my son, if you had killed me,’

‘you might have taken my place; but know [this,] my son: even if the tail of the pig grows to seven ells, it cannot take the place of the horse. Even if its bristles are softened and woven, it will not be fit for a body of free men.’ ‘My son, I intended you to stand in my place, to inherit my house and my wealth. But God was not pleased, and He did not heed your voice.’ ‘My son, you have been to me like a lion that came upon a donkey early in the morning, and said to it: "Welcome, my lord Cyrus." But the donkey said to him: "May the same greeting’

‘you give me return upon him who tied me up last night but did not bind my loins—[lest] I should see your face."’ ‘My son, a snare was set on a dunghill, and a sparrow came and saw it and said to it: "What are you doing here?" And the snare said to it: "I am praying to God." The sparrow said: "And what is that in your mouth?" The snare said: "Bread for strangers." The sparrow [then] approached to take it, and [the snare] caught it by the neck. As the sparrow [struggled and] flapped [it wings], it said: "If this is bread for strangers, may the God to whom you pray never answer your voice."’ ‘My son, I was like a bull tied to a lion, but the lion turned and crushed it.’

‘My son, you have been to me like a fleeting weevil that destroys the granaries of kings, but clings to nothing.’ ‘My son, you have been to me like a pot adorned with golden handles, while the soot has not been scraped from the bottom.’ ‘My son, you have been to me like a ploughman who sowed twenty ears of barley in a field; and when he harvested it, there were twenty ears. And he said to it: "What I have scattered, I have gathered, But you are a disgrace with your evil name, in that you have made a peck out of a peck while I live."’ ‘My son, you have been to me like a decoy bird’ [180v] ‘that does not save itself from death, yet whose voice dest[roys] its companions.’ ‘My son, you have been to me like a goat that leads its fellows to the slaughterhouse, but does not save itself.’ ‘My son, you have been to me like a dog that entered the potter's oven to warm itself, and once it was warm, got up to bark at them.’ ‘My son, you have been to me like a swine that went to the bathhouse and, upon seeing a trench of mud, descended [to it] to bathe, calling to its companions: "Come and bathe!"’ ‘My son! My finger was on my mouth, and your finger was on your eyes. Why did I raise you up[?]’