| 1 Arfaxad re di Media, dopo aver assoggettate molte nazioni al suo impero, edificò una città fortissima che chiamò Ecbatana. | 1 In the twelfth year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, who ruled over the Assyrians in the great city of Nineveh, in the days of Arphaxad, who ruled over the Medes in Ecbatana-- |
| 2 La fece con pietre quadrate e tagliate, con mura larghe settanta cubiti e alte trenta, con torri alte cento cubiti. | 2 he is the king who built walls about Ecbatana with hewn stones three cubits thick and six cubits long; he made the walls seventy cubits high and fifty cubits wide; |
| 3 Le torri eran quadrate, avevan ciascun lato largo venti piedi; le porte l'aveva fatte proporzionate all'altezza delle torri. | 3 at the gates he built towers a hundred cubits high and sixty cubits wide at the foundations; |
| 4 Egli si gloriava come invincibile per la potenza del suo esercito e per la gloria delle sue quadrighe. | 4 and he made its gates, which were seventy cubits high and forty cubits wide, so that his armies could march out in force and his infantry form their ranks-- |
| 5 Ma, l'anno duodecimo del suo regno, Nabucodonosor, re degli Assiri, che regnava nella gran città di Ninive, combattè contro Arfaxad, e lo vinse | 5 it was in those days that King Nebuchadnezzar made war against King Arphaxad in the great plain which is on the borders of Ragae. |
| 6 nella gran pianura detta Ragau, tra l'Eufrate, il Tigri e il Iaadason, nella pianura di Erioc, re degli Elici. | 6 He was joined by all the people of the hill country and all those who lived along the Euphrates and the Tigris and the Hydaspes and in the plain where Arioch ruled the Elymaeans. Many nations joined the forces of the Chaldeans. |
| 7 Allora il regno di Nabucodonosor fu esaltato, ed egli, insuperbitosi nel suo cuore, mandò ambasciatori a tutti quelli che abitavano la Cilicia, Damasco, il Libano, | 7 Then Nebuchadnezzar king of the Assyrians sent to all who lived in Persia and to all who lived in the west, those who lived in Cilicia and Damascus and Lebanon and Antilebanon and all who lived along the seacoast, |
| 8 e ai popoli del Carmelo e di Cedar, e agli abitanti della Galilea, nella gran pianura di Esdrelon, | 8 and those among the nations of Carmel and Gilead, and Upper Galilee and the great Plain of Esdraelon, |
| 9 e a tutti quelli che erano nella Samaria, e di là dal Giordano fino a Gerusalemme, e in tutta la terra di Iesse, sino ai confini d'Etiopia. | 9 and all who were in Samaria and its surrounding towns, and beyond the Jordan as far as Jerusalem and Bethany and Chelous and Kadesh and the river of Egypt, and Tahpanhes and Raamses and the whole land of Goshen, |
| 10 A tutti questi Nabucodonosor re d'Assiria mandò ambasciatori; | 10 even beyond Tanis and Memphis, and all who lived in Egypt as far as the borders of Ethiopia. |
| 11 ma tutti, di comune accordo, si opposero, li rimandarono a mani vuote, li cacciarono ignorami osamente. | 11 But all who lived in the whole region disregarded the orders of Nebuchadnezzar king of the Assyrians, and refused to join him in the war; for they were not afraid of him, but looked upon him as only one man, and they sent back his messengers empty-handed and shamefaced. |
| 12 Allora il re Nabucodonosor, sdegnato contro tutti quei paesi, giurò pel suo trono e pel suo regno di prender vendetta sopra tutte quelle regioni. | 12 Then Nebuchadnezzar was very angry with this whole region, and swore by his throne and kingdom that he would surely take revenge on the whole territory of Cilicia and Damascus and Syria, that he would kill them by the sword, and also all the inhabitants of the land of Moab, and the people of Ammon, and all Judea, and every one in Egypt, as far as the coasts of the two seas. |
| 13 In the seventeenth year he led his forces against King Arphaxad, and defeated him in battle, and overthrew the whole army of Arphaxad, and all his cavalry and all his chariots. |
| 14 Thus he took possession of his cities, and came to Ecbatana, captured its towers, plundered its markets, and turned its beauty into shame. |
| 15 He captured Arphaxad in the mountains of Ragae and struck him down with hunting spears; and he utterly destroyed him, to this day. |
| 16 Then he returned with them to Nineveh, he and all his combined forces, a vast body of troops; and there he and his forces rested and feasted for one hundred and twenty days. |
