Page:The Pharaohs and their people; scenes of old Egyptian life and history (IA pharaohstheirpeo00berkiala).pdf/308

 Babylon had taken from the river of Egypt unto the river Euphrates all that pertained to the king of Egypt.' For a moment indeed, Apries seemed to be moved by the cry for aid that came from Jerusalem. In his triumphal march of successful conquest, Nebuchadnezzar had besieged the city, and carried off its king and many others as prisoners to Babylon; he had then placed Zedekiah on the throne, after exacting from him a solemn oath of fealty. But in an evil moment the vassal king rebelled, and, in the hope that is sometimes born of desperation, sent ambassadors into Egypt 'that they might give him horses and much people' (see Ezekiel xvii. 11-21). Irritated by the successive acts of submission and revolt, Nebuchadnezzar now advanced upon the unhappy little country of Judah, which had come to be the sport, as it were, of two mighty states, and resolved to make an end of it altogether. The hope of Zedekiah came to naught; only for a brief interval was the siege suspended, by the news that an Egyptian army was on the march. Soon after, however, it