Nebuchadnezzar [(the second, who is called in the Book of Chronicles Nebuchadnezzar the Great) wrote Shir HaShirim 100, his mother was called Shamra'am, and similarly in the Midrash Acharei Mot (I have not found it there)], became king of Babylon in the fourth year of Jehoiakim (Yirmiyahu 25). And what is written at the beginning of Daniel, "in the second year of Jehoiakim came Nebuchadnezzar to Jerusalem," is because the first year of Nebuchadnezzar was partly in year two of Jehoiakim and partly in year three of Jehoiakim (Tzeda LaDerech).

And Rashi explained in Daniel that Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jehoiakim in year two of his reign and he was his servant for three years, and what is written "in the second year of Jehoiakim" even though in Yirmiyahu it is written "in the third year of Jehoiakim" means it was year one of Nebuchadnezzar, meaning two years after he rebelled, as it says (II Kings 24) "and Jehoiakim was his servant for three years, and he turned and rebelled against him for three years, and in year three he came upon him," and this was the eighth year of Nebuchadnezzar. The Master said that in the first year he conquered Nineveh, in the second year he came and conquered Jehoiakim, and for three years he served him, and for three years he rebelled against him.

And thus it was the eleventh year of Jehoiakim, three years before being conquered and three years that he served him and three years that he rebelled against him. And then Jehoiakim died under his hand, and Nebuchadnezzar made Jehoiachin king in his place, and so forth. And similarly in Divrei HaYamim II 36]. And Nebuchadnezzar reigned for 45 years [(Seder Olam chapter 28) (and in Vayikra Rabbah after he reigned forty years approximately)], for his son Evil-Merodach reigned 37 years after the exile of Jehoiachin [(as written at the end of II Kings and end of Yirmiyahu)], and Jehoiachin was exiled in year 8 of Nebuchadnezzar [(as written II Kings 24)].

Add 8 years to 37, it equals 45 [(Tzeda LaDerech). Nebuchadnezzar was a reincarnation of Nimrod, beginning nun and end dalet, and so Nebuchadnezzar. And he made the idol through the power of the Holy Names through a plate of the High Priest that Daniel pulled and swallowed from his mouth. Similarly in the days of Enosh they began to call in the name of HaShem, that they knew the Holy Names and wanted to build the tower (Na'ach chapter Noach).

In Midrash Vayikra chapter 2, there is a story of an ox that they pulled to be a sacrifice and it would not be pulled, and a poor man came and in his hand were small beans and he extended them to it and it ate them, and the ox sneezed and extracted a needle and was pulled to be sacrificed. And it appeared to the owner of the ox in a dream that the sacrifice of the poor man preceded yours, etc. And our Sages said that Nebuchadnezzar was the son of Solomon from the Queen of Sheba (see Year 3428).

And our Sages said that he sinned and the Holy One, blessed be He, called him His servant, and in his lifetime he ate grass like an ox and destroyed the Holy Temple. And the story of the ox mentioned above was in the Second Temple, and his rectification in this ox was to be sacrificed because of the magnitude of his sins and his corrupt beliefs that he said "I will ascend upon the heights of the clouds," because he was not pulled, and the needle was his corrupt beliefs.

And for this the merit of the charity that he did on Daniel's advice stood for him. And they said that his name was "poor man" because if he had not fed him he would have died, and he was the poor man mentioned who extended small beans to him, and he recognized in his wisdom the value of the ox, that if it does not sneeze it will be treif, and he wanted to do good to one who did good to him publicly in his lifetime, and because of this charity he reconsidered in repentance, and immediately sneezed and was pulled to sacrifice, giving himself over to be slaughtered willingly to rectify the seventy treifot against the seventy ministers (Bereishit)].

The destruction of Nineveh was in year 19 before the destruction of the First Temple, which was Year 3319 [(Shir HaShirim chapter 69 b and see 302)].

In this year, Year 3319, Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem and captured it as written [(Daniel 2)], in the second year of Jehoiakim's reign. And he took Jehoiakim to Babylon, and also Daniel, Chananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, and afterwards Nebuchadnezzar returned Jehoiakim to Jerusalem and he stood in his trust for three years, as it is written "and Jehoiakim was his servant for three years" [(II Kings 24)], and he rebelled against him [(Tzeda LaDerech).

And now I will copy for you what Shir HaShirim wrote in chapters 19 and 20, verbatim:] Jehoiakim, brother of Jehoahaz, sons of Josiah, in the third year of his reign was sealed in the decree of the kingdom of Judah [(Rashi at the beginning of chapter 25)], and Nebuchadnezzar came upon him and exiled from Judah and Benjamin 22,000 and from the remaining tribes 7,000, and all of them were great sages in Torah, and brought them to Babylon. And Jehoiakim died in Babylon.

And from this exile until Jerusalem was destroyed, 40 years passed [(27 according to Seder Olam)]. On 28 Kislev he burned the scroll that Baruch wrote. Jehoiachin reigned for 3 months and 12 days, and then Nebuchadnezzar exiled him and 18,000 from Judah and Benjamin and brought them to Babylon. And he took with him Zedekiah son of Josiah, his father's brother, and this was the fifth exile of Israel.

And Zedekiah returned from Babylon to Jerusalem with Nebuchadnezzar's permission and reigned for 11 years. And Jehoiachin remained in Babylon. In the 9th year of his reign Nebuchadnezzar's army came upon Jerusalem, and in Year 3308 of creation, which was year 11 of his reign, they exiled to Babylon 4,600 from Judah and 1,000 from Benjamin and 7,000 from the remaining tribes, and the craftsmen and gatekeepers, etc.

And then was the sixth exile of Israel. The destruction of Jerusalem was 137 years after the destruction of Samaria. On the 7th of Cheshvan of this year the eyes of Zedekiah were blinded because he transgressed his oath, etc. Seventeen years after the exile mentioned, Nebuzaradan came upon Jerusalem and burned the Temple and took all the vessels of the House of HaShem and the king's treasures and sent them to Babylon, and killed of Israel 940,000 besides those killed over the blood of Zechariah as seen in the Midrash.

And he exiled from Israel 832,000, and all of them were nobles of Judah and Benjamin, and they left in Jerusalem 6,000 and appointed over them Gedaliah son of Achikam, and Ishmael's sons killed him. And they fled, these with Yirmiyahu [(see Year 3298)] against his will, and brought him to Egypt. And Nebuzaradan exiled from Medea more than 60 thousand of the sons of Moshe and their sons ([Tzeda LaDerech] and between them), 22,000 from the sons of Yonadav son of Rechav.

And when they reached the rivers of Babylon, the Holy One, blessed be He, took them and hid them beyond the Sambatyon River, and all this is called the seventh exile of Israel. Eight years later Nebuchadnezzar captured Egypt and Tyre [and so forth. And now we return to the order of years and you will see how many are missing].