Pharaoh-hophra

The common title of the native kings of Egypt in the Bible, corresponding to P-ra or Ph-ra "the sun," of the hieroglyphics. Brugsch, Ebers and other modern Egyptologists define it to mean 'the great house," which would correspond to our "the Sublime Porte." As several kings are mentioned only by the title "Pharaoh" in the Bible, it is important to endeavor to discriminate them:

Pharaoh-hophra: The next king of Egypt mentioned in the Bible is Pharaoh-hophra, the second successor of Necho, from whom he was separated by the six-years reign of Psammetichus II. He came to the throne about B.C. 589, and ruled nineteen years. Herodotus who calls him Apries, makes him son of Psammetichus II., whom he calls Psammis, and great-grandson of Psammetichus I. In the Bible it is related that Zedekiah, the last king of Judah was aided by a Pharaoh against Nebuchadnezzar, in fulfillment of it treaty, and that an army came out of Egypt, so that the Chaldeans were obliged to raise the siege of Jerusalem. The city was first besieged in the ninth year of Zedekiah B.C. 590, and was captured in his eleventh year, B.C. 588. It was evidently continuously invested for a length of time before was taken, so that it is most probable that Pharaoh's expedition took place during 590 or 589. The Egyptian army returned without effecting its purpose. (Jeremiah 27:5-8; Ezekiel 17:11-18) comp. 2Kin 25:1-4 No subsequent Pharaoh is mentioned in Scripture, but there are predictions doubtless referring to the misfortunes of later princes until the second Persian conquest, when the prophecy, "There shall be no more a prince of the land of Egypt," (Ezekiel 30:13) was fulfilled, and you can find more about that here on st-takla.org on other commentaries and dictionary entries. (In the summer of 1881 a large number of the mummies of the Pharaohs were found in a tomb near Thebes--among them Raskenen, of the seventeenth dynasty, Ahmes I., founder of the eighteenth dynasty, Thothmes I,II, and III., and Rameses I. It was first thought that Rameses II, of the nineteenth dynasty, was there, But this was found to be a mistake. A group of coffins belonging to the twenty-first dynasty has been found, and it is probable that we will learn not a little about the early Pharaohs, especially from the inscriptions on their shrouds: ED.)

* See other occurrences of the same term: Pharaoh.