Then I bethought me of the God of Israel, of whom I had learned when I was a child (for I came out of the land of the Hebrews), and I turned to Him and besought Him in like manner that He would grant me a son.  And a voice came to me saying, “Forasmuch as thou hast put thy trust in false gods and sacrificed to them, thou shalt have no son.  Yet this do:  take thy sister’s son Nadan, who is a young child, and bring him up as thine own son.”

So I took Nadan and gave him to eight nurses to bring him up.  He was fed on all manner of dainties, he was clothed in purple and scarlet, and slept on the softest beds.  He grew up like a fair young cedar-tree; and I instructed him in all my wisdom, until I was sixty years old.

One day the king Esarhaddon returned from journeying through his kingdom, and sent for me and said, “Ahikar, my friend, my faithful and wise counsellor, you are becoming an old man.  If you die, who shall succeed you and serve me in your place?” I answered, “O king, live for ever.  There is with me the son of my sister, whom I have brought up as my own son, and have instructed him in all the ways of wisdom.”  The king said, “Go, bring him before me, and if I take pleasure in him, he shall serve me in your stead, and you can have rest from your labours, and joy and honour in your old age.”  So I brought Nadan to the king; and when the king saw him, he delighted in him and said, “The gods preserve you, my son!” And to me he said, “As you have served me and my father Sennacherib, so shall this youth serve me, and I will honour him and promote him for your sake.”  And I gave thanks to the king, and we went out, I and Nadan, from his presence.  And I took Nadan home and spoke to him in private, telling him how he should conduct himself, and of what men he ought to beware, and whom he should trust.  All these precepts are written in the book of Ahikar, but they are not put down here.

Now I hoped that Nadan would pay heed to my words of instruction; but when the king had exalted him, and taken him to live at the palace with him, I was grieved to see that Nadan began to become wasteful and unruly, and that, if I had suffered him, he would have squandered my money and ill-treated my servants.  I admonished him, therefore, but it was in vain.  He said, “My uncle Ahikar is getting old and timorous:  his wisdom is failing him:  one need not pay much heed to what he says.”  And by degrees I saw that the king began to believe Nadan, and that he no longer received me with such honour as in the old days:  and this was a grief to me.

Now as I no longer had Nadan to live with me, I considered, and took his younger brother Nabu-zardan into my house.  But when Nadan heard of this, he was very angry, for he thought, “Is this old man going to leave all his possessions to my younger brother, and turn me out?” So he began to think and plot how he might put me out of the way, and himself gain favour with the king.