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NEBUCHADREZZAR.—The Nabû-kudur-uzur of the Babylonians, for which ‘Nebuchadnezzar’ (the familiar form often retained in the present work) is an error, was son and successor of Nahopolassar, founder of the New Bab. [Note: Babylonian.] empire (b.c. 604–561). The fall of Nineveh gave Egypt a chance to reclaim Syria, and Pharaoh-Necho made an attempt to regain it. Josiah fell in a vain effort to repel him (2Ki_23:29), but Nebuchadrezzar defeated him at Carchemish (b.c. 605). He then recovered the whole of the West, and seems to have been threatening Egypt when recalled to Babylon by news of his father’s death. At this time he first captured Jerusalem (Dan_1:1-2). We know little of his wars from his own inscriptions, which deal almost entirely with his buildings and pious acts at home. According to classical historians, he made Babylon one of the wonders of the world. He fortified it with a triple line of walls and a moat; he restored temples and cities throughout his kingdom. A fragment of his annals records that in his 37th year he. fought against Amasis in Egypt (cf. Jer_46:13-26, Eze_29:2-20). For his relations with Judah, see Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, Zedekiah, Gedaliah. He certainly was the greatest king of Babylon since Hammurabi. For his madness, see Medicine, p. 599a.
C. H. W. Johns.