 there were a series of three deportations. Nebuchadnezzar came, first of all, in about 605 or 606, and he carried away the young men of the nobles and the princes, among them a young man named Daniel and his three friends, Mishael, Hananiah, and Azariah, who became known as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in Babylonian terms. So the nation of Judah, the people of God, had been captive in the land of Babylon.