2 Chronicles 35:20

Necho R.V. Neco. This was Neco II. (reigned 611 595 b.c., Maspero, Histoire Ancienne, p. 545, note), who according to Herodotus (II. 159) conquered the "Syrians" (Jews orAssyrians?) at "Magdol" (Megiddo orMagdol near the Pelusiac mouth of the Nile?) and then captured Cadytis (Kadesh on the Orontes orGaza?), an important city of Syria. The account of Herodotus is obscure, ambiguous and defective, but a comparison of 2 Kings with an inscription of Nabu-na'id king of Babylon (555 538 b.c.) sets Neco's action in a clearer light. The campaign (which took place about 608 b.c.) was directed "against the king of Assyria" (2 Kings 23:29), i.e. against the last king Sin-šar-iškun (Saracos) who was at war with Nabopolassar (father of Nebuchadnezzar), king of Babylon. Nabopolassar, hard pressed, called in to his help the Umman-manda (Scythians), who destroyed Nineveh circ. 608 b.c.; cp. Messerschmidt, die Inschrift der Stele Nabu-na'id's(pp. 5 13). Neco advanced to the Euphrates to secure some of the spoils of the Assyrian overthrow, but the victory of Nebuchadnezzar over Neco at Carchemish (circ. 605 b.c.) finally excluded Egypt from any share.

against Carchemish Cp. Jeremiah 46:2. It was a city situated near the junction of the Habor and Euphrates. In 2 Kin., "against the king of Assyria."