HOPHRA
(Hophʹra) [from Egyptian, “the heart of (the sun-god) Ra endures”].
In the Septuagint Version (Jer. 51:30 [corresponding to 44:30 in most versions]) he is called Ou·a·phreʹ. The A·priʹes of Herodotus has been understood by scholars to be Hophra.
Hophra was king of Egypt in the time of Zedekiah king of Judah and Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. It is believed to be Pharaoh Hophra with whom Zedekiah formed an alliance for protection against Nebuchadnezzar, contrary to the commands that Jehovah had given years beforehand through Isaiah the prophet, warning Israel not to look to Egypt for help. (Isa. 30:1-5; 31:1-3) Nebuchadnezzar came up against Jerusalem in 609 B.C.E., but lifted the siege temporarily because of news that a military force was coming out of Egypt. The Egyptians disappointed Zedekiah, being forced to withdraw, and the Babylonians returned to destroy the city.—Jer. 37:5-10.
It was evidently early in the siege when the rulers of Jerusalem entered into a covenant with the people of Jerusalem to proclaim to all their Hebrew servants liberty, according to the Law. No doubt this was a belated and insincere attempt to get Jehovah’s favor, for when the siege was temporarily lifted, they showed their true attitude toward God’s law by enslaving their brothers once again.—Jer. 34:8-11.
At the time that the alliance with Egypt was made, Ezekiel, exiled in Babylon, prophetically said of Zedekiah: “But he finally rebelled against him [the king of Babylon] in sending his messengers to Egypt, for it to give him horses and a multitudinous people . . . And by a great military force and by a multitudinous congregation Pharaoh will not make him effective in the war.” The Egyptians were also compared to a weak reed, which, if leaned on, would give no support but would break and injure him that depended on it. (Ezek. 17:15, 17; 29:6, 7) It was apparently Hophra who was ruling in Egypt when Jehovah spoke through Ezekiel: “Here I am against you, O Pharaoh, king of Egypt.”—Ezek. 29:3.
Jeremiah foretold that Pharaoh Hophra would be given “into the hand of his enemies and into the hand of those seeking for his soul.” (Jer. 44:30) According to Herodotus, Hophra (A·priʹes) was highly arrogant. But his troops revolted and set up Amasis as rival king, later taking Hophra prisoner and finally strangling him to death. However, Josephus says that the king of Egypt was killed by Nebuchadnezzar some time after Nebuchadnezzar’s twenty-third year of rulership. Whether this was Hophra or whether he had been killed beforehand and another king ruled in his place, as Herodotus relates, is uncertain.