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339 new powers bordering on Egypt in Africa was known. Indeed, "all the inhabitants of the world and the dwellers on Earth" shall be judged by Yahweh, for they have all gone astray. At center stage were the three longtime powers: Egypt, Assyria, Babylon; of them, Egypt—and its gods—were treated with the least respect. In spite of close and sometimes friendly relationships between the Hebrew kingdoms and Egypt (Solomon married a Pharaoh's daughter and was _pro- vided by the Egyptians with horses and chariots), Egypt was considered to be treacherous and unreliable. Its king Shesh- onq—the biblical Shishak (I Kings 11 and 14)—ransacked the Temple in Jerusalem, and Necho II, on his way to ward off Mesopotamian armies, killed the Judaean king Josiah who came out to greet him (II Kings 23). Both Isaiah and Jeremiah spoke out at length against Egypt and its gods, prophesying the demise of both. Isaiah (chapter 19), in an "Oracle on Egypt," envisioned Yahweh arriving in Egypt airborne on the day when He would judge and punish Egypt and the Egyptians: Behold Yahweh, riding upon a swift cloud, coming unto Egypt. The idols of Egypt shall tremble before Him, the heart of Egypt shall melt as He comes near. Predicting—correctly—the coming of internal strife and civil war in Egypt, the Prophet envisioned the Pharaoh fu- tilely seeking the counsel of his seers and wizards to find out Yahweh's intentions. The divine plan, Isaiah announced, was this: "On that day there shall be an altar to Yahweh in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to Yahweh at its border shall be a sign and a witness to Yahweh, Lord of Hosts, in the land of Egypt . . . and Yahweh shall make him- self known in Egypt." Jeremiah focused more on the gods of Egypt, relating (in chapter 43) Yahweh's vow to "kindle a fire in the temples of the gods of Egypt and burn them down ... to break the statues of Heliopolis, to destroy by fire the temples of the gods of Egypt." The Prophet Joel (3:19) explained why "Egypt shall be a desolation: Because Prophets of an Unseen God