'In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon into Jerusalem, and besieged it' Daniel 1 v 1
His name was actually Nebuchadrezzar and he ruled the Chaldean empire of Babylon 605 - 563 BC. While co-regent with his father for a year he shattered the Egyptian army at Carchemish and Hamath in 606 BC and took all Syria. The king of Judah rebelled, when Nebuchadrezzar failed to invade Egypt, so the latter besieged Jerusalem for three months in 597 BC. When it surrendered the royal family members were taken and imprisoned in Babylon for 37 years. All the treasures from the Temple and the palace were removed, and all nobles, soldiers, and skilled workers were taken into exile. Only poor people remained and King Zedekiah was allowed to rule them. The Babylonian army also besieged Tyre for 13 years and took it destroying it too. In 587 BC Zedekiah declared independence, so Nebuchadrezzar took Jerusalem after a two-year siege. The captured Zedekiah had to watch his sons killed then had his eyes gouged out, and died in Babylonian exile. Jerusalem was completely destroyed and the whole population enslaved.
The prophet Jeremiah and the people of Judah who remained fled to Egypt with the sacred scrolls (Ark of the Covenant). At this time the Ark of the Covenant was hidden. The Bible is reasonably favourable towards Nebuchadrezzar. He completed the rebuilding of Babylon started by his father. He built the great moat and outer defence wall, and paved the Processional Way with limestone. This was done for his own glorification as well as for the gods. There is no evidence of the seven years madness descried in the Book of Daniel, but that has been used since by artists. Blake's picture 'Nebuchadrezzar' and Verdi's opera 'Nabucco' are based on it. Nebuchadrezzar's son Awel-Marduk - Evil Merodach in the Bible - succeeded him. Belshazzar said in the Bible to be Nebuchadrezzar's son, was his grandson, and co-regent with his father Nabonidus. The writing on the wall at the feast prophesied his end, which happened when Babylon fell in 539 BC