Bible Dictionaries
Nabuchodonosor II

　　(Hebrew: O! Nebo, protect the boundary)

　　King of Babylon (c.605-562 B.C.). He took pride not only in the arts of war, but in works of peace, and his long reign marks the height of the grandeur reached by the second Babylonian Empire, when, through his efforts, Babylon became one of the wonders of the world. Of a humane disposition, he repeatedly spared Jerusalem, and destroyed it only when it became a political necessity (4Kings 25; Daniel 1). He commanded that Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago be placed in the fiery furnace, from which they were rescued by an angel of the Lord (Daniel 3). God punished him for his pride "Therefore, Nabuchodonosor, do now praise, and magnify, and glorify the King of heaven: because all his works are true, and his ways judgments, and them that walk in pride he is able to abase" (Daniel 4).