The Bible has two different spellings
of this name. Jeremiah (usually) and Ezekiel (always) use the spelling
Nebuchadrezzar (see Jeremiah 21:2, 7; 22:25; 24:1; 25:1, 9; 29:21; 32;1, 28;
34:11; 37:1; 39:1, 5, 11; 43:10; 44:30; 46:2, 13, 26; 49:28, 30; 50:17; 51:34;
52:4, 12, 28, 29, 30; Ezekiel 26:7; 29:18, 19; 30:10). Other biblical writer
use the spelling Nebuchadnezzar. Jeremiah and Ezekiel were pro-Babylonian, and
the others were not. The anglicized spellings of the Hebrew names reflect two variants
of the Akkadian name. Jeremiah and Ezekiel use the Hebrew form of the proper
name of the king, Nabu-kudurri-uṣur, which means: “O Nabu, protect my eldest
son!” Those who hated the Babylonians and the Babylonian captivity used the
Hebrew form of the satirical name, Nabu-kūdani-uṣur, which means: “O Nabu, beware
of the jack-ass!” It is doubtful that anyone would have dared to use the name
Nebuchadnezzar to his face. (John Gee, “Cherubim and Seraphim: Iconography in
the First Jerusalem Temple,” in The Temple Past, Present, & Future:
Proceedings of the Fifth Interpreter Foundation, ed. Stephen D. Ricks and
Jeffrey M. Bradshaw [Salt Lake City: Eborn Books/Provo, Utah: The Interpreter
Foundation, 2021], 108 n. 62s)
