16 While Shalmaneser was king, I often helped my relatives and other Jews when they were in need.
17 I gave them food when they were hungry and clothes when they had none. And whenever I saw the dead body of an Israelite tossed outside Nineveh's city wall, I always buried the body.
18 King Sennacherib had invaded Judah and insulted God, the King of Heaven. So God punished him and his army, forcing him to run for his life. Sennacherib was angry, and he killed many Israelites when he got back to Assyria. But I secretly took the bodies away and buried them, and when Sennacherib looked for them, they were gone.
19 Someone in Nineveh went to the king and told him that I had secretly buried the bodies. And when I found out that the king knew what I had done and wanted me hunted down and killed, I was afraid and ran away.
20 Then the king seized everything I owned—all I had left were my wife Anna and my son Tobias.
21 About 40 days later, Sennacherib was murdered by two of his sons. They ran away to the Ararat mountains, and Sennacherib's other son Esarhaddon became king. Esarhaddon appointed Ahikar, the son of my brother Hanael, to be in charge of both the royal accounting department and the treasury.
22 My nephew Ahikar had been in charge of the accounting department and the treasury under Sennacherib, and he had also been responsible for Sennacherib's official ring and his wine. Ahikar talked Esarhaddon into letting me come back to Nineveh.