[614] 2 Kings xxiv. 1-10. That Jehoiakim could not have attempted a rebellion without reliance on the help of Egypt, is clear without further proof. Josephus ("Antiq." 10, 6, 2) says: Jehoiakim had revolted because he heard that the Egyptians were taking the field against Nebuchadnezzar; but the Egyptians had not had the courage really to take the field. An attack of Nebuchadnezzar on Egypt, as well as Egyptian prisoners who are led from Syria to Babylonia, are mentioned in the statements of Berosus, quoted by Josephus above, p. 328, _n._ But these statements are so general that they may also be referred to the war which Nebuchadnezzar carried on with the Egyptians in 587 B.C., p. 341. Nevertheless, the observation in the Second Book of Kings, which follows after Jehoiakim's death, "that Nebuchadnezzar had taken all the land, as far as the brook of Egypt (2 xxiv. 7), which belonged to the king of Egypt," may have reference to a struggle then going on with Egypt. Beyond their own borders the Egyptians could only have maintained Gaza, and a few other cities of the Phenicians. The statement of the Chronicles that Jehoiakim was carried to Babylon in chains cannot be maintained against the accounts of the Books of Kings. [615] 2 Kings xxiv. 10, 11. [616] Jerem. xxii. 24-27. [617] This date is fixed by the remark that it occurred in the eighth year of Nebuchadnezzar (2 Kings xxiv. 12). [618] Ezekiel xvii. 13. 2 Kings xxiv. 13-17. 2 Chron. xxxvi. 13. In Jerem. xxxix. 1-3, and lii. 28, the number of the captives is given at 3023; the passages quoted from the Books of Kings put the number of the soldiers at 7000, of the captives generally at 10,000. [619] Jerem. xxviii. 1-4. [620] Jerem. xxviii. 12-17. [621] Jerem. xxix.; cf. xxiv. 5 ff. [622] Jerem. xx. 7, 8. [623] Jerem. xx. 9. [624] Jerem. xx. 14-18. [625] Jerem. xv. 15. [626] Jerem. xvii. 6. [627] Jerem. xi. 19. [628] Jerem. xv. 16-18. [629] Jerem. xii. 1. [630] Jerem. xii. 3. [631] Jerem. xviii. 21-23. [632] Jerem. i. 17-19; xv. 20, 21. [633] Jerem. xiv. 11-16. [634] Jerem. xiv. 20-22; xv. 1. [635] Jerem. xvii. 1. [636] Jerem. xxvii. 1-12. [637] Jerem. li. 59. [638] This conclusion is rendered certain by the fact that afterwards the island city of Tyre is the only one spoken of as not subjugated. Cf. p. 352. [639] Ezek. xxxii. 29 mentions Sidon among the nations which had succumbed to the sword of the king before the twentieth year of Nebuchadnezzar. Cf. xxviii. 21-26. Jerem. xlvii. 4. [640] Jerem. xlvi. 19, 26. The position of affairs shows that this announcement belongs to this date. According to Ezek. viii. 1, Zedekiah appears to have had dealings with Egypt as early as 591 B.C. Cf. Joseph. "Antiq." 10, 7, 5. [641] 2 Kings xxv. 1-3, 8. Jerem. xxxiv. 1-7. Ezek. xxiv. 1. [642] 2 Kings xxv. 1. [643] Jerem. xxxiv. 7. [644] Ezek. xxi. 21, 22, 25, 26. [645] Jerem. xxi. 1, 10.