Nebuchadnezzar

Boyd’s Bible Dictionary:

(may Nebo protect). King of Babylonish Empire, B. C. 605-561. Brought empire to greatest height of prosperity. Defeated Pharaoh-necho at Carchemish (Jer. 46:2-262Against Egypt, against the army of Pharaoh-necho king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates in Carchemish, which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon smote in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah. 3Order ye the buckler and shield, and draw near to battle. 4Harness the horses; and get up, ye horsemen, and stand forth with your helmets; furbish the spears, and put on the brigandines. 5Wherefore have I seen them dismayed and turned away back? and their mighty ones are beaten down, and are fled apace, and look not back: for fear was round about, saith the Lord. 6Let not the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape; they shall stumble, and fall toward the north by the river Euphrates. 7Who is this that cometh up as a flood, whose waters are moved as the rivers? 8Egypt riseth up like a flood, and his waters are moved like the rivers; and he saith, I will go up, and will cover the earth; I will destroy the city and the inhabitants thereof. 9Come up, ye horses; and rage, ye chariots; and let the mighty men come forth; the Ethiopians and the Libyans, that handle the shield; and the Lydians, that handle and bend the bow. 10For this is the day of the Lord God of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge him of his adversaries: and the sword shall devour, and it shall be satiate and made drunk with their blood: for the Lord God of hosts hath a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates. 11Go up into Gilead, and take balm, O virgin, the daughter of Egypt: in vain shalt thou use many medicines; for thou shalt not be cured. 12The nations have heard of thy shame, and thy cry hath filled the land: for the mighty man hath stumbled against the mighty, and they are fallen both together. 13The word that the Lord spake to Jeremiah the prophet, how Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon should come and smite the land of Egypt. 14Declare ye in Egypt, and publish in Migdol, and publish in Noph and in Tahpanhes: say ye, Stand fast, and prepare thee; for the sword shall devour round about thee. 15Why are thy valiant men swept away? they stood not, because the Lord did drive them. 16He made many to fall, yea, one fell upon another: and they said, Arise, and let us go again to our own people, and to the land of our nativity, from the oppressing sword. 17They did cry there, Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise; he hath passed the time appointed. 18As I live, saith the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts, Surely as Tabor is among the mountains, and as Carmel by the sea, so shall he come. 19O thou daughter dwelling in Egypt, furnish thyself to go into captivity: for Noph shall be waste and desolate without an inhabitant. 20Egypt is like a very fair heifer, but destruction cometh; it cometh out of the north. 21Also her hired men are in the midst of her like fatted bullocks; for they also are turned back, and are fled away together: they did not stand, because the day of their calamity was come upon them, and the time of their visitation. 22The voice thereof shall go like a serpent; for they shall march with an army, and come against her with axes, as hewers of wood. 23They shall cut down her forest, saith the Lord, though it cannot be searched; because they are more than the grasshoppers, and are innumerable. 24The daughter of Egypt shall be confounded; she shall be delivered into the hand of the people of the north. 25The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saith; Behold, I will punish the multitude of No, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with their gods, and their kings; even Pharaoh, and all them that trust in him: 26And I will deliver them into the hand of those that seek their lives, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of his servants: and afterward it shall be inhabited, as in the days of old, saith the Lord. (Jeremiah 46:2‑26)). Captured Jerusalem three different times (2 Kings 24-25; Dan. 1-4).

Concise Bible Dictionary:

Son of Nabopolassar and virtually founder of the later kingdom of Babylon, the first of the four great Gentile empires. Nebuchadnezzar acted as his father’s general and defeated Pharaoh-necho at Carchemish, B.C. 606 (Jer. 46:22Against Egypt, against the army of Pharaoh-necho king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates in Carchemish, which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon smote in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah. (Jeremiah 46:2)). Judah about this time became tributary to Babylon, and some captives (including Daniel) and holy vessels were carried away (2 Chron. 36:5-75Jehoiakim was twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord his God. 6Against him came up Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and bound him in fetters, to carry him to Babylon. 7Nebuchadnezzar also carried of the vessels of the house of the Lord to Babylon, and put them in his temple at Babylon. (2 Chronicles 36:5‑7); Dan. 1:1-41In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon unto Jerusalem, and besieged it. 2And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with part of the vessels of the house of God: which he carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his god; and he brought the vessels into the treasure house of his god. 3And the king spake unto Ashpenaz the master of his eunuchs, that he should bring certain of the children of Israel, and of the king's seed, and of the princes; 4Children in whom was no blemish, but well favored, and skilful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and understanding science, and such as had ability in them to stand in the king's palace, and whom they might teach the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans. (Daniel 1:1‑4)). This is called “the first captivity” of Judah.
Three years later, Judah revolted and Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem. In B.C. 599 the king and many captives, with the treasures of the temple, were taken to Babylon: this is called “the great captivity.” In B.C. 588 Nebuchadnezzar again besieged Jerusalem, burnt the temple, and destroyed the city. He also took Tyre, B.C. 573, after a siege of thirteen years, for which “he had no wages, nor his army” (the inhabitants having escaped with their riches by sea); but God rewarded him with the spoils of Egypt, which he conquered (2 Kings 24-25; 2 Chron. 36; Ezek. 29:18-2018Son of man, Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon caused his army to serve a great service against Tyrus: every head was made bald, and every shoulder was peeled: yet had he no wages, nor his army, for Tyrus, for the service that he had served against it: 19Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will give the land of Egypt unto Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon; and he shall take her multitude, and take her spoil, and take her prey; and it shall be the wages for his army. 20I have given him the land of Egypt for his labor wherewith he served against it, because they wrought for me, saith the Lord God. (Ezekiel 29:18‑20)).
The more personal history of Nebuchadnezzar is given by Daniel. Nebuchadnezzar had selected him, and some of his fellow captives, to fill honorable positions in the state. In the second year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign (B.C. 603) he had the remarkable dream of the Great Image, in the interpretation of which the fact was made known that he had been chosen by God as the first king of an entirely new era, the times of the Gentiles. The house of David had for the time been set aside as God’s ruler on earth, and in Nebuchadnezzar the Gentiles had been entrusted with supreme authority. Daniel could say to him, “Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory.... thou art this head of gold.”
Nebuchadnezzar was a heathen, but he had now learned that he held his kingdom from the God of heaven, and was responsible to Him. In setting up the image of gold he denied the God of heaven, and the head of Gentile power became idolatrous; but on the occasion of his casting into the fiery furnace the three Hebrew companions of Daniel, because they would not worship the image he had set up, he was amazed to see another Person in the furnace like a son of God. He called the three out of the furnace, addressing them as “servants of the most high God;” he blessed their God, and said that no one must speak anything against Him; but the miracle had no practical moral effect upon him. He had another dream, showing that for his pride God was going to humble him. Daniel counseled him to break off his sins by righteousness, and his iniquities by showing mercy to the poor. Twelve months were given him for repentance; but at the end of that time in his pride he said, “Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honor of my majesty?” Then a voice from heaven declared that his kingdom was departed from him. (A monument of Nebuchadnezzar says, “I completely made strong the defenses of Babylon, may it last forever.... the city which I have glorified forever” &c.)
He was now a maniac, and was driven away from men, and ate grass as the ox. He remained thus apparently seven years, signified by “seven times” (as a time, times, and half a time signify three and a half years in Daniel 12:77And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever that it shall be for a time, times, and an half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished. (Daniel 12:7)); then his reason returned, and the kingdom was restored to him. He now said, “I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase” (Dan. 2-4).
Thus Nebuchadnezzar learned to honor the God who had made him the head of gold. How long he survived this is not known. Evil-merodach, his son, succeeded him in B.C. 561. There is evidence that many towns were built during his reign in his name being found on the bricks among their ruins in every direction. His name appears thus:
 

Strong’s Dictionary of Hebrew Words:

Number:
5020 (find all occurrences in KJV Bible)
Transliteration:
Nbuwkadnetstsar
Phonic:
neb-oo-kad-nets-tsar’
Meaning:
(Aramaic) corresponding to 5019
KJV Usage:
Nebuchadnezzar

Jackson’s Dictionary of Scripture Proper Names:

confusing the lord of treasure: prophesy, the earthen vessel is preserved