Nebuchadnezzar
Gentile Babylonian · Exile & Return · Old Testament
- Also called
- Nebuchadrezzar
- Role
- King of Babylon who destroyed Jerusalem
- When
- c. 605-562 BC
What they did
Took Daniel and others captive, destroyed Jerusalem and the temple, and set up a golden image. After God humbled him for his pride, he praised the King of heaven.
Why it matters: the purpose of their role
God called him 'my servant' to carry out judgment (Jeremiah 27:6), and his confession shows that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men.
Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase. Daniel 4:37 (KJV)
Bible references
And in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, which is the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzar-adan, captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, unto Jerusalem: And he burnt the house of the LORD, and the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem, and every great man’s house burnt he with fire. 2 Kings 25:8-9 (KJV)
And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him. Jeremiah 27:6 (KJV)
The king answered unto Daniel, and said, Of a truth it is, that your God is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, seeing thou couldest reveal this secret. Daniel 2:47 (KJV)
Then Nebuchadnezzar spake, and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God. Daniel 3:28 (KJV)
Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase. Daniel 4:37 (KJV)
Family
Belshazzar is spoken of as his son in Daniel 5:2.