Ruler Mentioned in the Bible by name

Nebuchadrezzar

And Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came to the city while his servants were besieging it.

And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month [Tevet – Jan/Dec], on the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and encamped against it, and built siege works against it all around.

And the people who remained in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had left, over them he made Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, governor.

but Jehotsadaq was deported when the Lord (Yahweh) allowed Nebuchadnezzar to take away the people of Judah and Jerusalem.
[Jehotsadaq, also spelled Jozadak, concludes this list. He never assumed the role of high priest himself before he was deported. When the priesthood was restored after the exile, it was Joshua, Jehotsadaq's son, who took over, see Ezra 3:2; Hag. 1:1; Zech. 6:11.]

And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against him and bound him with bronze shackles and carried him away to Babylon.

Nebuchadnezzar also took some of the vessels from the house of the Lord (Yahweh) to Babylon and put them in his palace in Babylon.

At the beginning of the following year, King Nebuchadnezzar sent for him and brought him to Babylon, along with the precious vessels of the house of the Lord (Yahweh). And he made his brother Zedekiah (Hebr. Tsidqijaho) king over Judah and Jerusalem.

And he rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear an oath by God. He was stubborn and hardened his heart, so that he did not turn to the Lord (Yahweh), the God of Israel.

And King Cyrus brought all the accessories from the house of the Lord (Yahweh) that Nebuchadnezzar had taken from Jerusalem and placed in the house of his gods.

[No matter where you come from, you always go up to Jerusalem. There is also a special word for this in Hebrew, alija, which is used here. The name Zerubbabel (Hebr. Zerobavel) means 'one who is scattered/sown in Babylon'.]These are the sons of the province who went up [to Jerusalem] from captivity, of those who had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had brought to Babylon, and who returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his city;

But because our fathers angered the God of heaven, he gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. He destroyed this house and carried the people away to Babylon.

Moreover, King Cyrus (Koresh) brought from the temple in Babylon the vessels of gold and silver that had belonged to the house of God, but which Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to the temple in Babylon. King Cyrus (Koresh) gave them to a man named Sheshbazzar, whom he had appointed as governor,

The vessels of gold and silver from the house of God that Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon [Dan. 1:13] shall also be returned. They shall be restored to their rightful place in the temple in Jerusalem and placed in the house of God."

These are the people of the province who returned from captivity in exile, whom Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had carried away and who returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his own hometown.

who had been taken away from Jerusalem with the prisoners who were taken away with Jechoniah king of Judah when he was taken away by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon [in 597 BC, see 2 Kings 24:8–17].

Ask (inquire and see), I beg you, Lord (Yahweh) on our behalf, since Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, is fighting against us, perhaps the Lord (Yahweh) will act with us in accordance with all his wonderful deeds so that he [Nebuchadnezzar] will go up from (leave) us.

And afterward, declares (says, proclaims) the Lord (Yahweh), I will deliver Zedekiah (Hebr. Tsidqijaho), king of Judah, and his servants and the people who remain in this city from the plague, from the sword, and from famine, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, king of Babylon, and into the hands of your enemies and into the hands of those who seek your lives, and he shall strike them with the edge of the sword; he shall not spare them, nor have pity, nor have mercy.

and I will deliver you into the hands of those who seek your life and into the hands of those whom you fear, into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and into the hands of the Chaldeans.

The Lord (Yahweh) showed me, and behold, two baskets of figs stood before the temple of the Lord (Yahweh) after Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had carried away Jeconiah (Hebr. Jechonjaho) [here the spelling varies from the usual Jechonjah, see Jer. 27:20], the son of Jehoiakim (Hebr. Jehojaqims), king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, with the craftsmen and smiths from Jerusalem, and had taken them to Babylon.

behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, declares (says, proclaims) the Lord (Yahweh), and I will send to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land and against its inhabitants and against all the nations around it, and I will utterly destroy them and make them an astonishment and a hissing and an everlasting desolation.

And now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, my servant, and I have also given him the animals of the field to serve him.

And it shall come to pass, that the nations and kingdoms which will not serve Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and which will not put their necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation I will punish with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, saith the Lord (Yahweh), until I have consumed them with my hand.

which Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, did not take when he carried away captive Jeconiah (Hebr. Jechonjaho), son of Jehoiakim (Hebr. Jehojaqims), king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem.

Within two full years, I will bring back to this place all the vessels from the house of the Lord (Yahweh) that Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, took from this place and carried to Babylon.

For thus says the Lord of hosts (Yahweh Sebaot), the God of Israel (Elohim): I have put an iron yoke on the neck of all these nations, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. They shall serve him, and I have also given him the animals of the field.

And these are the words of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the remnant of the elders of the captives, and to the priests, and to the prophets, and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon

He sent the letter by (through the hand of) Elasa, the son of Shaphán, and Gemarjah (Hebr. Gemarjaho), the son of Hilkiah (Hebr. Chilqijahos), whom Zedekiah (Hebr. Tsidqijaho), king of Judah, sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. He said (wrote) to Babylon:

Thus says the Lord of hosts (Yahweh Sebaot), the God of Israel (Elohim), to Ahab, son of Qolijah, and to Zedekiah (Hebr. Tsidqijaho), the son of Maaseiah, who prophesied a lie in my name: Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and he shall smite them before your eyes,

Therefore, thus says the Lord (Yahweh): Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and he shall take it,

The word of the Lord (Yahweh) that came to Jeremiah when Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and his whole army and all the kingdoms under his hand and all the people were fighting against Jerusalem and all its cities, he said:

And it came to pass, when Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came up against the land, that we said, 'Come, and let us go to Jerusalem for fear of the army of the Chaldeans and for fear of the army of the Arameans,' so we are living in Jerusalem."

And Zedekiah (Hebr. Tsidqijaho), the son of Josiah (Hebr. Joshijahos), reigned as king in place of Coniah, the son of Jehoiakim (Hebr. Jehojaqims), whom Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, made king in the land of Judah.

In the ninth year of Zedekiah (Hebr. Tsidqijaho), king of Judah, in the tenth month [Tevet – Dec/Jan], Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and his entire army came against Jerusalem and besieged it.

But the army of the Chaldeans pursued them and caught Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho [in the Jordan Valley; he intended to flee to Moab or Ammon and seek asylum], and when they had caught him, they brought him to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, at Riblah in the land of Hamath [central Syria], and he [Nebuchadnezzar] pronounced judgment on him.

And Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, gave orders concerning Jeremiah to Nevuzaradan, the captain of the guard, saying

and say to them, 'This is what the Lord (Yahweh), the God of hosts (Sebaot Elohim), the God of Israel (Elohim), says: Behold, I will send for and bring Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, my servant, and I will set his throne on these stones that I have hidden, and he will spread his royal pavilion over them.

Thus says the Lord (Yahweh): Behold, I will deliver Pharaoh Chafra [also known as Apries, ruled 587-570 BC], king of Egypt, into the hand of his enemies, and into the hand of those who seek his soul (life), as I delivered Zedekiah (Hebr. Tsidqijaho), king of Judah, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, his enemy who sought his life."

To Egypt. Concerning Pharaoh Necho, king of Egypt, whose army is by the river Euphrates in Carchemish, which Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, smote in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, son of Josiah (Hebr. Joshijahos), king of Judah.

The word that the Lord (Yahweh) spoke to the prophet Jeremiah when Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came to strike the land of Egypt. [The verse is a heading to the second section on the fate of Egypt, see verses 14-24.]

And I will deliver them into the hand of those who seek their lives, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and into the hand of his servants; and afterward it shall be inhabited as in former days, declares the Lord (Yahweh).

To Qedar and to the kingdom of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, defeated. Thus says the Lord (Yahweh):
Arise, go up against Qedar
and destroy the sons of the east.

Flee, flee far away,
hide (take refuge) deep [in caves or far out in the wilderness], inhabitants of Hazor,
declares (says, proclaims) the Lord (Yahweh).
For Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, has taken counsel against you
and has devised a plan against you.

Israel is a scattered flock,
the lions have driven him away.
First the king of Assyria devoured him,
and finally Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, crushed his bones.

Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, has devoured me,
he has crushed me,
he has set me down like an empty vessel,
he has devoured me like a dragon,
he has filled his mouth with my delicacies,
he has washed me clean (taken everything from me, deprived me of everything).

And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month [Tevet], on the tenth day of the month [January 15, 588 BC], that Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came, he and his whole army, against Jerusalem, and encamped against it, and they built siege works against it all around.

This is the people whom Nebuchadnezzar carried away captive:
In the 7th year [597 BC]
3,023 Jews.

Thus says the Lord of hosts (Adonai Yahweh): See (Hebr. hinneh – refers to a future event), I will bring upon Tyre Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, from the north with horses and chariots and horsemen and a company of many people.

Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, made his army wage a great war against Tyre, and every head was made bald and every shoulder was pierced, but he received no reward from Tyre or his army for the war he waged against it.

Therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts (Adonai Yahweh): Behold, I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and he shall carry away her wealth and take her spoil and take her as booty. That shall be the reward of his army.

Thus says the Lord of hosts (Adonai Yahweh):
And I will destroy the riches of Egypt
by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon.

When the time came for the king to have them brought in [after three years of study], they were brought before Nebuchadnezzar by the chief of the court officials [Aspenas].

King Nebuchadnezzar had a statue made of gold, 60 cubits high [30 meters] and 6 cubits wide [3 meters]. He set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon.
[The revelation that Nebuchadnezzar received about his role in human history may be the reason for this statue. He was, after all, the head of gold, see Dan. 2:38. The statue was built after the events in chapter 2, since Dan's three friends have a leading position, see Dan. 2:49. The Greek translation Septuagint adds that it happened in Nebuchadnezzar's 18th year of reign, one year before the fall of Jerusalem, see 2 Kings 25:8. That may be the case, but the Hebrew text does not specify a time.
Dura was a common name in Mesopotamia for a place surrounded by mountains or a wall. It may be between the two walls of Babylon, or up to a few miles south of the city. Archaeologists have found a large square brick foundation a mile south of Babylon. This may be the pedestal on which the statue stood. With a width of 6 cubits and a height of 60 cubits, with proportions of 1/10, the statue appears to have been an obelisk covered with gold. A height of 30 meters is not unrealistic; in the 280s BC, the Colossus of Rhodes was built, which was 33 meters high. Part of the statue may have been a depiction of a Babylonian god. The Greek historian Herodotus, active in the 400s BC, writes about a golden statue of the god Marduk in Babylon.]

King Nebuchadnezzar summoned and gathered:
the satraps (his highest representatives who were responsible for various provinces, the word means "protector of the land"),
the administrators (who may also have had military responsibilities)
and
the governors,
the advisers (chief judges),
the treasurers (responsible for taxes and finances),
the judges (the word means "protectors of the law"),
police chiefs
and
all the leaders in the provinces [lower-level government officials] to attend the dedication ceremony for the statue that King Nebuchadnezzar had erected.
[The Aramaic word for dedication is chanukka, which describes a religious ceremony, see Ezra 6:16. It is likely that they pledged allegiance to the king and the state. A hundred years earlier, the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal had gathered his highest councilors in Babylon to take an oath of allegiance. This event is known because a letter has been preserved from one of the councilors who was abroad and could not attend. He took his oath of allegiance in the place where he was, and it is mentioned that he did so surrounded by images of gods.
This is not a gathering for the general public. Nebuchadnezzar gathers the civil, military, and judicial leaders of his country. The exact meaning of the various titles and their areas of responsibility is not entirely known. The list seems to be in descending order of influence. There are three groups separated by the word "and." There are several hundred, perhaps thousands, in total. Later, Dareyavesh appoints 120 satraps over the kingdom, and over them three princes, of whom Daniel is one, see Dan. 6:1–2. Nebuchadnezzar appointed local leaders for distant provinces, one such example being Gedaliah, who was appointed to rule over Judah, see 2 Kings 25:22–25.]

Then the satraps, the administrators and governors, the advisers, the treasurers, the judges, the police chiefs, and all the leaders of the provinces gathered for the [religious] dedication ceremony of the statue that King Nebuchadnezzar had built. They all stood before the statue that he had erected.

When you hear the sound of
horn (some kind of wind instrument, probably the horn of an animal),
flute (pipe, the Aramaic word is related to a Hebrew word for blowing and whistling),
zither (stringed instrument with between three and twelve strings),
lyre (trigon, small triangle-shaped instrument, probably with three strings for higher notes),
harp (Aramaic pesanterin, from Gk. psalterion – psalter, a triangular stringed instrument),
drum (wind or percussion instrument – Aramaic sumponeya; from Gk. symphonia or tympanon)
and all kinds of instruments,
you shall fall down and worship the golden statue that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up.
[The first two instruments are probably wind instruments, followed by three different types of string instruments. The sixth instrument is the most difficult to identify. Common suggestions are bagpipes or drums. Based on inscriptions of orchestras from this period, and its placement in the list, it is probably some kind of percussion instrument. There are several parallels with Revelation chapter 13. The beast from the earth makes an image that everyone must worship, and his number is 666, see Rev 13:12–18. The number six recurs several times in this chapter. The statue is 60 cubits high and 6 cubits wide, see Dan. 3:1. There are also six instruments that are named and listed three times, see Dan. 3:5, 7, 10.]

So when all the people heard the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, and all the other instruments, they fell down and worshiped the golden statue that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.

They said to King Nebuchadnezzar: "May the king live forever!

In wrath and anger [two words are used to describe his great fury], Nebuchadnezzar commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought before him. When they were brought before the king

[The following three verses and the entire chapter 4 are unusual in many ways. It is a letter written by a pagan king.]
[From:] King Nebuchadnezzar.
To all peoples, nations, and language groups throughout the earth: Peace and prosperity (literally: "may your peace/prosperity be great," a greeting phrase)!

but leave the stump with its roots in the ground.
[Even though the tree is cut down, the life-giving root remains. This is an exact description of what will happen to Nebuchadnezzar when he goes mad and loses his kingdom, but regains it when he comes to his senses again. It also becomes very clear that the dream is about a person. From this point on, the tree and the stump are described as a human being with a heart and in terms of him and he.]
Bound with chains of iron and bronze,
surrounded by the grass of the field:
Let him be moistened by the dew of heaven.
Let his lot be with the beasts among the crops of the field.

You will be driven away from people and forced to live among the animals of the field. You will eat grass like an ox and be moistened by the dew of heaven. Seven periods of time [years] will pass (go over you), until you realize that the Most High [God] rules over all the kingdoms of the earth and gives them to whomever he wants.

While Belshazzar was drinking wine (under the influence of alcohol), he ordered that the gold and silver vessels that his predecessor (father, ancestor, perhaps grandfather) Nebuchadnezzar had plundered from the temple in Jerusalem be brought forth so that the king, his nobles, his wives, and concubines (mistresses) could drink from them.
[It was not customary for women to be present, see, for example, Mark 6:21, 24. About 50 years earlier, at the same time that Daniel was taken away, Nebuchadnezzar took these sacred vessels from Jerusalem, see Dan. 1:2. Thousands of vessels had been taken away, a list of which can be found in Ezra 1:7–11.
The text emphasizes Belshazzar's connection to Nebuchadnezzar. The words father and son are often used in a broader sense for successors in ancient times. In an Assyrian text commonly referred to as "the black obelisk" of Shalmaneser III, Jehu is called "the son of Omri," even though he was not his son. He was from a completely different family. It is likely that Belshazzar was related to Nebuchadnezzar. There is reason to believe that Nabonidus married one of Nebuchadnezzar's daughters, which would make Belshazzar Nebuchadnezzar's grandson. He was well aware of the story of how the vessels came to Babylon, see Dan. 5:13. The fact that the holy vessels of the God of Israel were held as spoils of war in Babylon showed, in Belshazzar's mind, that the Babylonian gods were more powerful than the gods of other peoples. Desecrating and drinking from these vessels on this particular evening was probably considered by the alcohol-influenced Belshazzar to be an excellent idea to demonstratively show Babylon's power, see Prov 31:4–5.]

There is a man in your kingdom who has the spirit of the holy gods in him. In the days of your predecessor (father or perhaps grandfather) [see verse 2], he proved to have insight (light), understanding, and wisdom like the gods. Your predecessor, King Nebuchadnezzar, put him in charge of the diviners (scribes, from the word for pen), the conjurers (exorcists, mediums who spoke with spirits), the dream interpreters (Chaldeans), and the astrologers (from the word to carve, decide, and determine).

O king, the Most High God gave your predecessor (father, ancestor, perhaps grandfather) Nebuchadnezzar a kingdom, greatness, honor, and majesty.