the Ammonites and Moabites; and when he had brought
all these nations under subjection, he fell upon Egypt, in order to
overthrow it; and he slew the king that then reigned [15] and set up
another; and he took those Jews that were there captives, and led them
away to Babylon. And such was the end of the nation of the Hebrews,
as it hath been delivered down to us, it having twice gone beyond
Euphrates; for the people of the ten tribes were carried out of Samaria
by the Assyrians, in the days of king Hoshea; after which the people
of the two tribes that remained after Jerusalem was taken [were carried
away] by Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon and Chaldea. Now as to
Shalmanezer, he removed the Israelites out of their country, and placed
therein the nation of the Cutheans, who had formerly belonged to the
inner parts of Persia and Media, but were then called Samaritans, by
taking the name of the country to which they were removed; but the king
of Babylon, who brought out the two tribes, [16] placed no other nation
in their country, by which means all Judea and Jerusalem, and the
temple, continued to be a desert for seventy years; but the entire
interval of time which passed from the captivity of the Israelites, to
the carrying away of the two tribes, proved to be a hundred and thirty
years, six months, and ten days.

CHAPTER 10. Concerning Daniel And What Befell Him At Babylon.

1. But now Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, took some of the most noble
of the Jews that were children, and the kinsmen of Zedekiah their
king, such as were remarkable for the beauty of their bodies, and the
comeliness of their countenances, and delivered them into the hands of
tutors, and to the improvement to be made by them. He also made some
of them to be eunuchs; which course he took also with those of other
nations whom he had taken in the flower of their age, and afforded them
their diet from his own table, and had them instructed in the institutes
of the country, and taught the learning of the Chaldeans; and they
had now exercised themselves sufficiently in that wisdom which he had
ordered they should apply themselves to. Now among these there were four
of the family of Zedekiah, of most excellent dispositions, one of whom
was called Daniel, another was called Ananias, another Misael, and
the fourth Azarias; and the king of Babylon changed their names, and
commanded that they should make use of other names. Daniel he called
Balt