Arphaxad, king of the Medes, had subjected many nations unto his dominion and he built a very strong city which he called Ecbatana.

He built it of hewn and squared stones; and he raised its walls seventy cubits high and thirty cubits broad, and he erected its towers a hundred cubits high.

The breadth of each square side was twenty feet; and he made its gates as high as the towers.

And he gloried in his might, and the strength of his army, and the majesty of his chariots.

Now King Nebuchadnezzar, which was ruler over the great city Nineveh, in the twelfth year of his reign, fought against Arphaxad, and overcame him.

In the great plain which is called Ragau, near the Euphrates and the Tigris and the Jadason in the desert of Arioch, king of Elymais.

Then was the empire of king Nebuchadnezzar exalted, and his heart was lifted up; and he sent to all them that dwelt in Cilicia, and Damascus, and Lebanon,

And to the nations that are in Carmel, and Gilead, and the dwellers in Galilee in the great plain of Esdraelon,

And to all them that were in Samaria and beyond Jordan unto Jerusalem, and throughout all the land of Jesse until the borders of Ethiopia.

To all these did Nebuchadnezzar, king of the Assyrians, send messengers.

But they all with one consent utterly refused, and sent them away without honour, and brought them to naught.

Wherefore King Nebuchadnezzar being greatly incensed against all that country, swore by his throne and kingdom, that he would be avenged on all those regions.