Memphis
City · Memphis → near Cairo, Egypt
A capital of old Egypt and a seat of its idols. The prophets named it when they warned that Egypt could not save.
People
- Isaiah
- Jeremiah
- Ezekiel
- Hosea
At a glance
- Realm
- Egypt (Lower Egypt)
- Role
- Ancient capital, shrine of Ptah
- Peoples
- Egyptians
- First mention
- Isaiah 19 (Noph)
The story
Memphis, called Noph in the Scriptures, was one of the oldest capitals of Egypt, set where the Nile opens into its delta. Its great temple of Ptah and the tombs and pyramids of its dead made it a proud seat of Egypt’s gods.
The prophets named Noph among the idols that could not save, and warned that its images would be cut off. When the last of Judah fled down into Egypt against the LORD’s word, they settled in cities like Noph, and Jeremiah told them the judgment would find them even there.