Bible Dictionary: Tahpanhes

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International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

TAHPANHES

ta'-pan-hez, ta-pan'-hez (usually in the Old Testament tachpanchec; Septuagint Taphnas; Coptic, Taphnes): The various spellings of the Hebrew text are fairly well indicated in the King James Version by Tahapanes (Jeremiah 2:16); Tahpanhes (Jeremiah 43:7-9; Jeremiah 44:1; Jeremiah 46:14); Tehaphnehes (Ezekiel 30:18), while an Egyptian queen (XXIst Dynasty) is named Tahpenes (1 Kings 11:19, 20). Tahpanhes was a city on the eastern frontier of Lower Egypt, represented today by Tell Defenneh, a desert mound lying some 20 miles Southwest from Pelusium (Biblical "Sin") and a little North of the modern Al-Kantarah ("the bridge"), marking the old caravan route from Egypt to Palestine, Mesopotamia and Assyria. Its Egyptian name is unknown, but it was called Daphnai, by the Greeks, and by the modern Arabs Def'neh. The site is now desolate, but it was a fertile district when watered by the Pelusiac branch of the Nile (compare Isaiah 19:6, 7). Tahpanhes was so powerful that Jeremiah can say that it, with Memphis, has "broken the crown" of Israel's head (2:16), and Ezekiel can speak of its "daughters" (colonies or suburban towns), and names it with Heliopolis and Bubastis when the "yokes Septuagint "sceptres") of Egypt" shall be broken by Yahweh (30:18). In a later passage Jeremiah describes the flight of the Jews from their ruined capital to Tahpanhes after the death of Gedaliah (43:1-7) and prophesies that Nebuchadnezzar shall invade Egypt and punish it, establishing his throne upon the brick pavement (the King James Version "kiln") which is at the entry of Pharaoh's royal palace at Tahpanhes (Jeremiah 43:8-11). He calls Tahpanhes as a witness to the desolation of the cities of Judah (Jeremiah 44:1), but prophesies an equal destruction of Tahpanhes and other Egyptian cities (probably occupied by fugitive Jews) when Nebuchadnezzar shall smite them (Jeremiah 46:14).

This invasion of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar was for a long time strenuously denied (e.g. as late as 1889 by Kuenen, Historisch-critisch Onderzoek, 265-318); but since the discovery and publication (1878) of fragments of Nebuchadnezzar's annals in which he affirms his invasion of Egypt in his 37th year (568-567 B.C.), most scholars have agreed that the predictions of Jeremiah (43:9-13; 44:30) uttered shortly after 586 B.C. and of Ezekiel (29:19) uttered in 570 B.C. were fulfilled, "at least in their general sense" (Driver, Authority and Archaeology, 116). Three cuneiform inscriptions of Nebuchadnezzar were found by Arabs probably on or near this site. The excavation of Tahpanhes in 1886 by W. M. Flinders Petrie made it "highly probable that the large oblong platform of brickwork close to the palace fort built at this spot by Psammetichus I, circa 664 B.C., and now called Kasr Bint el-Yehudi, `the castle of the Jew's daughter,' is identical with the quadrangle `which is at the entry of Pharaoh's house in Tahpanhes' in which Jeremiah was commanded to bury the stones as a token that Nebuchadnezzar would spread his pavilion over them when he led his army into Egypt" (ibid., 117). Josephus explicitly mentions that Nebuchadnezzar, when he captured Tahpanhes, carried off a Jewish contingent from that city (Ant., IX, vii). Dr. Petrie found that while a small fort had existed here since the Rameside era (compare Herodotus ii.17), yet the town was practically founded by Psammetichus I, continued prosperous for a century or more, but dwindled to a small village in Ptolemaic times. Many sealings of wine jars stamped with the cartouches of Psammetichus I and Amosis were found in situ. Tahpanhes being the nearest Egyptian town to Palestine, Jeremiah and the other Jewish refugees would naturally flee there (43:7). It is not at all unlikely that Nebuchadnezzar's invasion of Egypt was partly due to Egypt's favorable reception of these refugees.

The pottery found at Tahpanhes "shows on the whole more evidence of Greeks than Egyptians in the place..... Especially between 607-587 B.C. a constant intercourse with the Greek settlers must have been going on and a wider intercourse than even a Greek colony in Palestine would have produced..... The whole circumstances were such as to give the best possible opportunity for the permeation of Greek words and Greek ideas among the upper classes of the Jewish exiles" (Petrie, Nebesheh and Defenneh, 1888, 50). This was, however, only one of many places where the Greeks and Hebrews met freely in this century (see e.g. Duruy, History of Greece, II, 126-80; Cobern, Daniel, 301-307). A large foreign traffic is shown at Tahpanhes in which no doubt the Jews took part. Discoveries from the 6th century B.C. included some very finely painted pottery, "full of archaic spirit and beauty," many amulets and much rich jewelry and bronze and iron weapons, a piece of scale armor, thousands of arrow heads, and three seals of a Syrian type. One of the few inscriptions prays the blessing of Neit upon "all beautiful souls." There was also dug up a vast number of minute weights evidently used for weighing precious metals, showing that the manufacture of jewelry was carried on here on a large scale. One of the most pathetic and suggestive "finds" from this century, which witnessed the Babylonian captivity, consisted of certain curious figures of captives, carved in limestone, with their legs bent backward from their knees and their ankles and elbows bound together (Petrie, op. cit., chapters ix-xii).

Camden M. Cobern

Strong's Hebrew

8471. Tachpanches -- a city in Egypt
... a city in Egypt. Transliteration: Tachpanches or Techaphneches Phonetic Spelling:
(takh-pan-khace') Short Definition: Tahpanhes. Word Origin of Eg. ...
/hebrew/8471.htm - 6k

8472. Tachpenes -- an Eg. queen
... queen NASB Word Usage Tahpenes (3). Tahapanes, Tahpanhes, Tehaphnehes. Of Egyptian
derivation; Tachpenes, an Egyptian woman -- Tahpenes. 8471, 8472. ...
/hebrew/8472.htm - 6k

Library

And After. (xxx, xxxi, xxxix-Xliv. )
... of their promise they refused to obey the Word of the Lord, fled for Egypt carrying
with them Jeremiah and Baruch, and reached the frontier town of Tahpanhes. ...
//christianbookshelf.org/smith/jeremiah/4 and after xxx xxxi.htm

His Earliest Oracles. (ii. 2-iv. 4. )
... The sons, too, of Noph and Tahpanhes have forced, 16 Have abused thee.(151) Is not
all this being done thee 17 For thy leaving of Me?(152) And now what to thee ...
//christianbookshelf.org/smith/jeremiah/1 his earliest oracles ii.htm

Letter cxxiii. (AD 410. )
... by Nebuchadnezzar, and refuses to listen to the counsels of Jeremiah, preferring
to look wistfully towards Egypt, that it may die in Tahpanhes, and perish ...
/.../augustine/the confessions and letters of st/letter cxxiii a d 410.htm

Chapter i.
... The panic which followed the murder of Gedaliah drove a host of Jewish fugitives
to Egypt, where they settled at Migdol (Magdolos), Tahpanhes (Taphnas = Daphne ...
/.../an introduction to the old testament in greek additional notes/chapter i.htm

Index of Names and Subjects.
... Smith, HP, 147. Smith, W. Robertson, 15, 159. Snouck Hurgronje: "Mekka," 37. Stade,
B., 267. Tahpanhes (Daphne), 94, 310, 311. Tchekov, 198. Thackeray, St. ...
//christianbookshelf.org/smith/jeremiah/index of names and subjects.htm

Carried Captive into Babylon
... even men, and women, and children," took flight into Egypt. "They obeyed not the
voice of the Lord: thus came they even to Tahpanhes." Jeremiah 43:5-7. ...
/.../white/the story of prophets and kings/chapter 37 carried captive into.htm

Footnotes
... on thy skull for forced. Noph = Memphis, Egypt's capital; Tahpanhes =
Daphne on the Egyptian road to Palestine. Either 14-19 or ...
//christianbookshelf.org/smith/jeremiah/footnotes.htm

The Medes and the Second Chaldaean Empire
History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, V 8. <. ...
/.../chapter iiithe medes and the.htm

Thesaurus

Tahpanhes (7 Occurrences)
... Int. Standard Bible Encyclopedia TAHPANHES. ta'-pan-hez, ta-pan'-hez (usually
in the Old Testament tachpanchec; Septuagint Taphnas ...
/t/tahpanhes.htm - 14k

Tah'panhes (5 Occurrences)
Tah'panhes. Tahpanhes, Tah'panhes. Tahpenes . ... Jeremiah 2:16 The children also
of Noph and Tahpanhes feed upon the crown of thy head. (See RSV). ...
/t/tah'panhes.htm - 7k

Hophra (1 Occurrence)
... They settled at Tahpanhes, then Daphnae (modern Tell Defenneh), now identified with
a mound bearing the significant name of Qatsr Bint el Yahudi, "the palace ...
/h/hophra.htm - 11k

Migdol (6 Occurrences)
... 2. Jeremiah 44:1; 46:14: In Jeremiah 44:1; Jeremiah 46:14, a Migdol is noticed with
Memphis, and with Tahpanhes Septuagint "Taphnas"), this latter being ...
/m/migdol.htm - 12k

Memphis (8 Occurrences)
... (WEB ASV NAS RSV NIV). Jeremiah 2:16 The children also of Memphis and Tahpanhes
have broken the crown of your head. (WEB ASV NAS RSV NIV). ...
/m/memphis.htm - 14k

Hanes (1 Occurrence)
... It was considered the same as Tahpanhes, a fortified town on the eastern frontier,
but has been also identified as Ahnas-el-Medeeneh, 70 miles from Cairo. Int. ...
/h/hanes.htm - 9k

Pharaoh (245 Occurrences)
... They settled at Tahpanhes, then Daphnae (modern Tell Defenneh), now identified with
a mound bearing the significant name of Qatsr Bint el Yahudi, "the palace ...
/p/pharaoh.htm - 60k

Tahapanes (1 Occurrence)
... Easton's Bible Dictionary =Tahpanhes=Tehaphnehes ... TAHAPANES. ta-hap'-a-nez (tachpanchec).
See TAHPANHES. Multi-Version Concordance Tahapanes (1 Occurrence). ...
/t/tahapanes.htm - 7k

Jeremiah (141 Occurrences)
... He may have died at Tahpanhes, or, according to a tradition, may have gone to Babylon
with the army of Nebuchadnezzar; but of this there is nothing certain. ...
/j/jeremiah.htm - 75k

Bible Concordance

Tahpanhes (7 Occurrences)

Jeremiah 2:16 The children also of Memphis and Tahpanhes have broken the crown of your head.
(WEB JPS ASV BBE NAS NIV)

Jeremiah 43:7 and they came into the land of Egypt; for they didn't obey the voice of Yahweh: and they came to Tahpanhes.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS NIV)

Jeremiah 43:8 Then came the word of Yahweh to Jeremiah in Tahpanhes, saying,
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS NIV)

Jeremiah 43:9 Take great stones in your hand, and hide them in mortar in the brick work, which is at the entry of Pharaoh's house in Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of Judah;
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS NIV)

Jeremiah 44:1 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews who lived in the land of Egypt, who lived at Migdol, and at Tahpanhes, and at Memphis, and in the country of Pathros, saying,
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS NIV)

Jeremiah 46:14 Declare in Egypt, and publish in Migdol, and publish in Memphis and in Tahpanhes: say, Stand forth, and prepare; for the sword has devoured around you.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS NIV)

Ezekiel 30:18 At Tehaphnehes also the day shall withdraw itself, when I shall break there the yokes of Egypt, and the pride of her power shall cease in her: as for her, a cloud shall cover her, and her daughters shall go into captivity.
(See NIV)

Subtopics

Tahpanhes

Tahpanhes: A City in Egypt

Related Terms

Tah'panhes (5 Occurrences)

Hophra (1 Occurrence)

Migdol (6 Occurrences)

Memphis (8 Occurrences)

Hanes (1 Occurrence)

Pharaoh (245 Occurrences)

Tahapanes (1 Occurrence)

Jeremiah (141 Occurrences)