Who was King Nebuchadnezzar’s son?

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Nebuchadnezzar was king of Babylon from 605BC to 562BC. We know of two of his children: a son, Amel Marduk (known as Evil-Merodach in 2 Kings 25:27), and a daughter Nitocris.

Amel-Marduk succeeded Nebuchadnezzar as king. According to Berossus (Jos Ap 1.20), Amel-Marduk was killed in a coup. His brother-in-law, Neriglissar (probably the same as Nergal-Sharezer mentioned in Jeremiah 39:3,13) succeeded him. When Neriglissar died, his son Labashi-Marduk became king although still a child, but was assassinated after only 9 months.

Finally, Nabonidus, the son of a priestess, became king in 556 B.C. and married Nitocris (probably the queen in Daniel 5:10). Their eldest son Belshazzar was made regent and co-ruler with him. In about 550 B.C., Nabonidus moved to Arabia leaving Babylon in the hands of Belshazzar. He didn’t return for 10 years, and then only to be captured by the Persians.

Thus was fulfilled Jeremiah’s prophecy (Jer 27:7) that “all nations would serve him [Nebuchadnezzar], his son [Evil-Merodach] and his grandson [Belshazzar] until the time for his land comes.” In the process, two sons-in-law (Neriglissar and Nabonidus) and another grandson (Labashi-Marduk) also reigned.

Kings of Babylon
Nabopolassar 626–605
Nebuchadnezzar 605–561
Evil-Merodach 561–560
Neriglissar 560–556
Labashi-Marduk 556
Nabonidus 556–539
Belshazzar 553–539
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    • Raymond A Hedley

      Check your WORLD History books and other reference books – For Nabonidus (Nabu – naido) never returned from the deserts of Arabia, it still remains an unsolved mystery today. His son Belshazzar (Belt-shar-utsur) was killed and overtaken by the Mede and Persian following the writing on the wall.

      • Rob J Hyndman

        Thanks for your comment. See the this page about the Nabonidus Chronicle from the British museum which says that Nabonidus was captured by the Persians. The Wikipedia page on Nabonidus gives a similar account and many references.

        • Surby

          Wikipedia is not accepted in academia because it is unreliable at a Grad college. They will fail any paper that uses Wikipedia. Like E.C.U or App state

          • Jonathan Morgan

            It’s off topic for this article, but purely as a source of facts there are few resources with the breadth and accuracy of Wikipedia. Once there might have been a case for calling Wikipedia unreliable, but now it is not much better than calling all academia unreliable because bad papers have got through peer review and been published.

    • eon smith

      did nebuchanezzar have a son and did he get ill and where can i find it in the bible

      • Jonathan Morgan

        I don’t believe there is any explicit mention of a son of Nebuchadnezzar (though Belshazzar, mentioned above, has Nebuchadnezzar called his father, really meaning ancestor). The most we know of Evil-Merodach from the Bible is that he reigned, and he let Jehoiachin king of Judah free and gave him privileges.

        • Surby

          By the old hebrew way is that any male in the line is called a son even the grandson