Dates. Babylonian dates are given as day-month-regnal year. For example, ‘10–XI–12 Nbk’ refers to the tenth day of the eleventh month in the twelfth regnal year of King Nebuchadnezzar II. In the same vein, ‘7 Dar’ refers to the seventh year of King Darius I. The abbreviations of kings’ names are given below. The corresponding Julian dates are adopted from Parker and Dubberstein 1942. All Julian dates in this study are BCE unless otherwise indicated.
| Nbk | Nebuchadnezzar II |
| AM | Amēl-Marduk |
| Ner | Neriglissar |
| Nbn | Nabonidus |
| Cyr | Cyrus |
| Camb | Cambyses |
| Bar | Bardiya |
| Nbk III | Nebuchadnezzar III |
| Nbk IV | Nebuchadnezzar IV |
| Dar | Darius I |
| Xer | Xerxes I |
| Art I | Artaxerxes I |
| Dar II | Darius II |
Filiation. In Neo-Babylonian legal texts, people are normally referred to by their name and patronymic. The standard formula in Babylonian cuneiform is PN a-šú šáPN2 (‘PN, son of PN2’), abbreviated in this study as PN/PN2. For those people who bore family names, the formula is PN a-šú šáPN2 a PN3 (‘PN, son of PN2, descendant of PN3’), abbreviated in this study as PN/PN2/PN3 or PN//PN3. See Section 1.5.1.
Weights and measures (see Baker 2004, ix–x; Jursa 2010a, xvii–xviii).
A kurru was the standard measure of capacity, circa 180 litres. 1 kurru = 5 pānu = 30 sūtu = 180 qû. Fractions of kurru are recorded in positional notation (e.g. 1;2.3.4 stands for 1 kurru 2 pānu 3 sūtu 4 qû).
A shekel (c. 8.3 grams) was the standard weight for measuring silver and gold. 60 shekels equal 1 mina (c. 500 grams) and 60 minas equal 1 talent (c. 30 kilograms).
The translations of biblical passages are adopted from the New Revised Standard Version.