The readers will remember that the skeptics and destructive critics in general universally denied that such a man as Belshazzar, mentioned in the fifth chapter of Daniel, ever existed, until they were refuted by the discovery of an inscribed tablet containing a prayer of his father Nabonidus, king of Babylon, in which the son's name is mentioned. It may be a matter of interest to our readers generally to see a copy of this prayer. I find a translation of it in the June number of the Biblical World, made by Robert Francis Harper. The prayer was offered at the dedication of a temple which Nabonidus had erected in honor of the moon-god Sin, and it reads as follows:

      O Sin, lord of the gods, king of the gods of heaven and earth, the god of gods who inhabit the great heavens, upon thy joyful entrance into that temple may the good be done to Esagila, Ezida (and) E-gish-shir-gal, the temple of thy great divinity, be established on thy lips.

      And do thou implant the fear of thy great divinity in the hearts of its people, that they may not sin against thy great divinity, (and) like the heavens may their foundations stand fast.

      As for me, Nabonidus, king of Babylon, save me from sinning against thy great divinity.

      A life of far distant days grant me as a present. [460]

      And as regards Belshazzar, the first-born son, my offspring, do thou implant in his heart the fear of thy great divinity.

      May he not fall into sin.

      May he be satisfied with fulness of life.

      It would be well to make a study of this prayer by a heathen king, and to compare it with the prayers of Jews and Christians.

[SEBC 460-461]