CARCHEMISFI (ktir'ke mish), (I kb. formerly Charchemish (z Chron. xx xv :20).
A great fortress. west of the Euphrates, at a ford of the river and north of its confluence with the Sajur. It was also the eastern capital of the Hittites.
The Assyrian king, Assur-Natsti-pal (B. C. Ms to 86o), threatened to assault it, but was bought off with rich and numerous presents, for the un interrupted prosperity of several centuries had filled it with merchants and riches.
Sargon captured it in 717 B. C., and with it fell the empire of the Hittites (Is. x :9). In the prophecy of Jeremiah against Egypt he stales: 'Against the army of Pharaoh-necho, king of Egypt, which lay on the river Euphrates, at Car chemish, and which Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, overthrew (B. C. 605) in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah' (Jer. xlvi :2). According to 2 Chron. xxxv :2o, Necho had five years before defeated and slain Josiah, who was in alliance with Baby lon and had advanced to the Euphrates to take Carchemish.
It is possible that the ruin of Carchemish dates from the battle. However that may be, long be fore the beginning of the Christian era it had been supplanted by Mabog or Membij, and the great sanctuary which had made it a 'holy city' was transferred to its rival and successor.
To Mr. Skene, for many years the English con sul at Aleppo, is due the credit of first discover ing the true site of the old Hittite capital. On
the western bank of the Euphrates, midway be tween Birejik and the mouth of the Sajur, rises an artificial mound of earth, under which ruins and sculptured blocks of stone had been found from time to time. It was known as Jerablas, or Kalaat Jerablas, 'the fortress of Jerablas,' some times wrongly written Jerabis; and in the name of Jerablfis Mr. Skene had no difficulty in recog nizing an Arab corruption of Hierapolis. In the Roman age the name of Hierapolis, or 'Holy City,' had been transferred to its neighbor Membij, which inherited the traditions and religious fame of the older Carchemish ; but when the triumph of Christianity in Syria brought with it the fall of the great temple of Membij, the name disappeared from the later city and was remembered only in connection with the ruins of the ancient Car chemish.
CARE (Ids), CARES, (Gr. The Greek word has the sense of being drawn in different directions, and answers to our dis traction. It is uscd in the sense of anxiety in I Pet. v:7, where it is contrasted with uaco, o, to be of interest to, and may be read, "Casting all your anxiety upon him, for he is interested in you" (Comp. Ps. lv:22; Luke viii:t4; xxi:34).