Verse 20

Josiah’s Reign Ends After Josiah had done all this for the temple, King Necho of Egypt marched up to do battle at Carchemish on the Euphrates River. Josiah marched out to oppose him.

Referenced Verses

• 2 Kgs 23:29-30 : 29 During Josiah’s reign Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt marched toward the Euphrates River to help the king of Assyria. King Josiah marched out to fight him, but Necho killed him at Megiddo when he saw him. 30 His servants transported his dead body from Megiddo in a chariot and brought it to Jerusalem, where they buried him in his tomb. The people of the land took Josiah’s son Jehoahaz, poured olive oil on his head, and made him king in his father’s place.
• Isa 10:9 : 9 Is not Calneh like Carchemish? Hamath like Arpad? Samaria like Damascus?
• Jer 46:2-9 : 2 The Prophecy about Egypt’s Defeat at Carchemish He spoke about Egypt and the army of Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt which was encamped along the Euphrates River at Carchemish. Now this was the army that King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon defeated in the fourth year that Jehoiakim son of Josiah was ruling over Judah. 3 “Fall into ranks with your shields ready! Prepare to march into battle! 4 Harness the horses to the chariots! Mount your horses! Take your positions with helmets on! Ready your spears! Put on the armor! 5 “What do I see! The soldiers are frightened. They are retreating. They are being scattered. They have fled for refuge without looking back. Terror is all around them,” says the LORD. 6 But even the swiftest cannot get away. Even the strongest cannot escape. There in the north by the Euphrates River they have stumbled and fallen in defeat. 7 Who is this that rises like the Nile, like its streams turbulent at flood stage? 8 Egypt rises like the Nile, like its streams turbulent at flood stage. Egypt said,‘I will arise and cover the earth. I will destroy cities and the people who inhabit them.’ 9 Go ahead and charge into battle, you horsemen! Drive furiously, you charioteers! Let the soldiers march out into battle, those from Ethiopia and Libya who carry shields, and those from Lydia who are armed with the bow. 10 But that day belongs to the Sovereign LORD of Heaven’s Armies. It is a day of reckoning, when he will pay back his adversaries. His sword will devour them until its appetite is satisfied! It will drink its fill from their blood! Indeed it will be a sacrifice for the Sovereign LORD of Heaven’s Armies in the land of the north by the Euphrates River. 11 Go up to Gilead and get medicinal ointment, you dear poor people of Egypt. But it will prove useless no matter how much medicine you use; there will be no healing for you. 12 The nations have heard of your shameful defeat. Your cries of distress fill the earth. One soldier has stumbled over another and both of them have fallen down defeated.”