Megiddo, on the southern verge of the plain.  In vain did Neco seek to persuade him to retire, and leave the passage free.  Josiah was obstinate, and a battle became unavoidable.  As was to be expected, the Jewish army suffered complete defeat; Neco swept it from his path, and pursued his way, while Josiah mortally wounded, was conveyed in his reserve chariot to Jerusalem.  The triumphant Pharaoh pushed forward into Syria and carried all before him as far as Carchemish on the Euphrates.  The whole country submitted to him.  After a campaign which lasted three months, Neco returned in triumph to his own land, carrying with him Jehoahaz, the second son of Josiah, as a prisoner, and leaving Jehoiakim, the eldest son, as tributary monarch, at Jerusalem.

For three years Egypt enjoyed the sense of triumph, and felt herself once more a conquering power, capable of contending on equal terms with any state or kingdom that the world contained.  But then Nemesis swooped down on her.  In B.C. 605 Nabopolassar of Babylon woke up to a consciousness of his loss of prestige, and determined on an effort to retrieve it.  Too old to undertake a distant campaign in person, he placed his son, Nebuchadnezzar, at the head of his troops, and sent him into Syria to recover the lost provinces.  Neco met him on the Euphrates.  A great battle was fought at Carchemish between the forces of Egypt and Babylon, in which the former suffered a terrible defeat.  We have no historical account of it, but may gratefully accept, instead, the prophetic description of Jeremiah:—­

  “Order ye the buckler and the shield, and draw ye near to battle;
  Harness the horses; and get up, ye horsemen,
          and stand forth with your helmets;
  Furbish the spears, and put on the brigandines. 
  Wherefore have I seen them dismayed, and turned away backward? 
  And their mighty ones are beaten down, and fled apace,
          and look not behind them;
  For fear is round about, saith Jehovah. 
  Let not the swift flee away, nor the mighty men escape;
  They shall stumble and fall toward the north by the river Euphrates. 
  Who is this that cometh up as a flood [like the Nile],
          whose waters are moved as the rivers? 
  Egypt rises up as a flood [like the Nile],
          and his waters are moved as the rivers;
  And he saith, I will go up, and I will cover the earth;
  I will destroy the city, with its inhabitants. 
  Come up, ye horses; and rage, ye chariots;
          and let the mighty men come forth;
  Cush and Phut, that handle the shield,
          and Lud that handles and bends the bow. 
  For this is the day of the Lord, the Lord of hosts,
          a day of vengeance, that he may smite his foes;
  And the sword shall devour, and be made satiate and drunk with blood;
  For the Lord, the Lord of Hosts hath a sacrifice in the north country,
          by the river Euphrates.