Memphis

Narrator: Chris Genthree
 •  1 min. read  •  grade level: 8
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The Hebrew of this is Moph, (Hos. 9:66For, lo, they are gone because of destruction: Egypt shall gather them up, Memphis shall bury them: the pleasant places for their silver, nettles shall possess them: thorns shall be in their tabernacles. (Hosea 9:6)), and is judged to be the capital of lower or northern Egypt. It is called NOPH in Jeremiah and Ezekiel. It was denounced in the prophets and given over to destruction (Isa. 19:1313The princes of Zoan are become fools, the princes of Noph are deceived; they have also seduced Egypt, even they that are the stay of the tribes thereof. (Isaiah 19:13); Jer. 2:1616Also the children of Noph and Tahapanes have broken the crown of thy head. (Jeremiah 2:16); Jer. 44:11The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews which dwell in the land of Egypt, which dwell at Migdol, and at Tahpanhes, and at Noph, and in the country of Pathros, saying, (Jeremiah 44:1); Jer. 46:14, 1914Declare ye in Egypt, and publish in Migdol, and publish in Noph and in Tahpanhes: say ye, Stand fast, and prepare thee; for the sword shall devour round about thee. (Jeremiah 46:14)
19O thou daughter dwelling in Egypt, furnish thyself to go into captivity: for Noph shall be waste and desolate without an inhabitant. (Jeremiah 46:19); Ezek. 30:13, 1613Thus saith the Lord God; I will also destroy the idols, and I will cause their images to cease out of Noph; and there shall be no more a prince of the land of Egypt: and I will put a fear in the land of Egypt. (Ezekiel 30:13)
16And I will set fire in Egypt: Sin shall have great pain, and No shall be rent asunder, and Noph shall have distresses daily. (Ezekiel 30:16)).
Memphis was one of the earliest cities of Egypt, and was in the district where some of the largest works were raised. In hieroglyphics it was styled Men-nofre, interpreted “abode of the good.” Some of the early dynasties were Memphian, during which the city rose to eminence. Its downfall was predicted by Ezekiel, “Thus saith the Lord God: I will also destroy the idols, and I will cause their images to cease out of Noph; and there shall be no more a prince of the land of Egypt” (Ezek. 30:1313Thus saith the Lord God; I will also destroy the idols, and I will cause their images to cease out of Noph; and there shall be no more a prince of the land of Egypt: and I will put a fear in the land of Egypt. (Ezekiel 30:13)). This was uttered about B.C. 570, and it was about B.C. 526 that Cambyses conquered Egypt. Enraged by the opposition he had encountered at Memphis, according to Herodotus, he committed great ravages in the city, scourged the priests, made sport of their gods, and burnt them. Memphis did not recover this attack, and its site was for a long while unknown. It is now held to have been on the west of the Nile, about 29° 53' N, where a few relics have been discovered.