The question what Nabonidus was doing in Tayma will probably remain unsolved for ever. From the following text, known as the Verse Account of Nabonidus, we may deduce that during his life time, there were strong rumors that the king suffered from a mental illness and proposed a religious reform (preferring the Moon god Sin to all other gods). These rumors were used by the author of the Verse Account of Nabonidus to explain Nabonidus' stay abroad: being mad, he ignored the supreme god Marduk and went away.

Nabonidus' devotion to the Moon is a historical fact, proven by an inscription found in Harran (in 1956). That he blasphemed against Marduk, however, must be an exaggeration.

The translation below was made by A. Leo Oppenheim and is copied from James B. Pritchard's Ancient Near Eastern texts relating to the Old Testament, 1950 Princeton. Some minor changes have been made.