1
It was the twelfth year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, who ruled over the Assyrians in the great city of Nineveh. In those days Arphaxad ruled over the Medes in Ecbatana.
2
He built walls around Ecbatana with hewn stones three cubits thick and six cubits long; he made the walls seventy cubits high and fifty cubits wide.
3
At its gates he raised towers one hundred cubits high and sixty cubits wide at the foundations.
4
He made its gates seventy cubits high and forty cubits wide to allow his armies to march out in force and his infantry to form their ranks.
5
Then King Nebuchadnezzar made war against King Arphaxad in the great plain that is on the borders of Ragau.
6
There rallied to him all the people of the hill country and all those who lived along the Euphrates, the Tigris, and the Hydaspes, and, on the plain, Arioch, king of the Elymeans. Thus, many nations joined the forces of the Chaldeans.
7
Then Nebuchadnezzar, king of the Assyrians, sent messengers to all who lived in Persia and to all who lived in the west, those who lived in Cilicia and Damascus, Lebanon and Antilebanon, and all who lived along the seacoast,
8
and those among the nations of Carmel and Gilead, and Upper Galilee and the great plain of Esdraelon,