The Babylonian Captivity. King Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon (reigned 605–562 B.C.E.) came to Judah in 588 B.C.E. and seized Jerusalem. He destroyed Solomon’s temple, and had the gold vessels in the temple cut into small pieces and carried back to Babylon. Worse still, he captured tens of thousands of the people of Judah and took them to Babylon. This marked the end of the four-hundred-year rule of the house of David.