At the outset of his prophetic career Jeremiah had announced a period of universal ruin and devastation, to be followed by a new constitution of things. This change began in the last years of Josiah's reign. The empire of Assyria, which had subjected so many nations to its yoke, was to be delivered over to total destruction, and in its place new empires were to arise. Media and Babylon, the nearest dependencies of Nineveh, avenged the crimes of which that city had been guilty in its proud treatment of its adherents. The adventurous Nabopolassar, of Babylon (625-605), had broken the last tie which bound his country to Assyria, and had made himself independent. Egypt also endeavoured to take advantage of the increasing weakness of Assyria. Here a daring king named Necho (Nekos, Nekaii), son of Psammetich, had ascended the throne, and strove to restore Egypt's former power. Necho assembled a great army, with the intention of conquering the district of the Lebanon as far as the Euphrates, and of humiliating Assyria. He took the fortified Philistine city of Gaza by storm, and advancing along the slope on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, he purposed reaching the Jordan by the plain of Jezreel. Josiah, however, opposed his advance through this territory, which had formerly been in the possession of the Israelites. Hardly had Necho and his army reached the middle of the plain of Jezreel, than the army of Judah barred his way at Megiddo. The Egyptian king, it is said, assured Josiah that his campaign was not directed against the land of Judah, but against more distant territories. Notwithstanding this, Josiah compelled him to do battle. The result was disastrous to the king of Judah, for his army was beaten, and he himself was dangerously wounded (608). His attendants hastily brought their beloved king to Jerusalem, and on his arrival there he breathed his last. When he was interred in the new mausoleum, men and women wept bitterly, and exclaimed, "Oh, king! oh, glory!" From year to year, on the anniversary of the day on which this last excellent king of the house of David had sunk pierced by arrows, a lamentation was sung, composed by Jeremiah for the occasion. No king was more sincerely mourned than Josiah. The unfortunate battle of Megiddo in the plain of Jezreel was the turning point in the history of Judah. CHAPTER XVI. END OF THE KINGDOM OF JUDAH. Effects of Josiah's Foreign Policy--Jehoahaz--Jehoiakim--Egyptian Idolatry introduced--The Prophets--Uriah the Son of Shemaiah--Jeremiah's renewed Labours--Fall of Assyria--Nebuchadnezzar--Baruch reads Jeremiah's Scroll--Submission of Jehoiakim--His Rebellion and Death--Jehoiachin--Zedekiah--Siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar--The Siege raised owing to the Intervention of Egypt--Defeat of the Egyptians--Renewal of the Siege--Capture of Jerusalem--Zedekiah in Babylon--Destruction of the Capital--Jeremiah's Lamentations. 608-586 B. C. E.