The beginning of this kingdom was Babel, or Babylon (Gen. 10:8-10). Cult and temple prostitutes were common. Then the city was broken into, and all the men of war fled by night by way of the gate between the two walls beside the king's garden, though the Chaldeans were all around the city. Isaiah 13:19. "Into his right hand came the divination, 'Jerusalem,' to set battering rams, to open the mouth for slaughter, to lift up the voice with a battle cry, to set battering rams against the gates, to cast up ramps, to build a siege wall. Their horses were 736; their mules, 245; their camels, 435; their donkeys, 6,720. The king of Egypt did not come out of his land again, for the king of Babylon had taken all that belonged to the king of Egypt from the brook of Egypt to the river Euphrates. The captain of the guard also took away the firepans and the basins, what was fine gold and what was fine silver. Nebuchadnezzar also brought some of the articles of the house of the Lord to Babylon and put them in his temple at Babylon. Major attention is devoted to the captivity of Judah in the prophecies of both Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Then the king of Babylon made his uncle Mattaniah king in his place, and changed his name to Zedekiah. and the light of a lamp will not shine in you any longer; and the voice of the bridegroom and bride will not be heard in you any longer; for your merchants were the great men of the earth, because all the nations were deceived by your sorcery. For there our captors demanded of us songs, And our tormentors mirth, saying, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion." He built an enormous city of which the ruins still remain. "Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon, 'Build houses and live in them; and plant gardens and eat their produce. The episode teaches Bible readers important lessons about unity and the sin of pride. Then he led away into exile all Jerusalem and all the captains and all the mighty men of valor, ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and the smiths None remained except the poorest people of the land. Then he led away into exile all Jerusalem and all the captains and all the mighty men of valor, ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and the smiths. 'I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.' It was rebuilt by Esarhaddon, and was finally wrested from Assyria around 625 b.c. After these things I heard something like a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying,Hallelujah! It was one of the cities founded by King Nimrod, according to Genesis 10:9-10. So the king of Babylon took him captive in the eighth year of his reign. The sons of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they did not depart from them until the LORD removed Israel from His sight, as He spoke through all His servants the prophets So Israel was carried away into exile from their own land to Assyria until this day. The context of the book of Revelation seems to suggest Babylon (Revelation 14:8, 16:19, 18:2, 10, and 21) and theWhore of Babylon (Revelation 17:5) are symbolic of a spirit of a seductive culture which will fall to Gods wrath. And they went by way of the Arabah. He also took from the city one official who was overseer of the men of war, and seven of the kings advisers who were found in the city, and the scribe of the commander of the army who mustered the people of the land, and sixty men of the people of the land who were found in the midst of the city. Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he and his mother and his servants and his captains and his officials So the king of Babylon took him captive in the eighth year of his reign. They also feared the LORD and appointed from among themselves priests of the high places, who acted for them in the houses of the high places. "If it pleases the king, let a royal edict be issued by him and let it be written in the laws of Persia and Media so that it cannot be repealed, that Vashti may no longer come into the presence of King Ahasuerus, and let the king give her royal position to another who is more worthy than she. And a second time they said, Hallelujah! A copy of the edict to be issued as law in every province was published to all the peoples so that they should be ready for this day. The men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, the men of Cuth made Nergal, the men of Hamath made Ashima, and the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites burned their children in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech the gods of Sepharvaim. Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. These will wage war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, because He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those who are with Him are the called and chosen and faithful. And he *said to me, The waters which you saw where the harlot sits, are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues. So the "great harlot" is Babylon the Great. Suddenly Babylon has fallen and been broken;Wail over her!Bring balm for her pain;Perhaps she may be healed. And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Nebuchadnezzar was the last truly great ruler of Babylon. All rights reserved. Its earliest act of defiance was building the Tower of Babel. They forsook all the commandments of the LORD their God and made for themselves molten images, even two calves, and made an Asherah and worshiped all the host of heaven and served Baal. and for his allowance, a regular allowance was given him by the king, a portion for each day, all the days of his life. When you visit this site, it may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. The destruction of Babylon is related to the judgment upon "all the kings of the nations" (14:18). Hezekiah listened to them, and showed them all his treasure house, the silver and the gold and the spices and the precious oil and the house of his armor and all that was found in his treasuries. Nabonidus then assumed power appointing his son Belshazzar as co-ruler. Although the city of Babylon does not rise to prominence until 1830 b.c., the area in which it is located, called Babylonia, had a long history. Those who see you will gaze at you,They will ponder over you, saying,Is this the man who made the earth tremble,Who shook kingdoms, Who made the world like a wildernessAnd overthrew its cities,Who did not allow his prisoners to go home? All the kings of the nations lie in glory,Each in his own tomb. Does the Bible mention Alexander the Great? They broke away from the Babylonian rule and then later reigned over Babylon for a few centuries around 1000 BC. Now the bronze pillars which were in the house of the Lord, and the stands and the bronze sea which were in the house of the Lord, the Chaldeans broke in pieces and carried the bronze to Babylon. I will rise up against them, declares the Lord of hosts, and will cut off from Babylon name and survivors, offspring and posterity, declares the Lord. At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon went up to Jerusalem, and the city came under siege. "Sheol from beneath is excited over you to meet you when you come; It arouses for you the spirits of the dead, all the leaders of the earth; It raises all the kings of the nations from their thrones. Article Images Copyright 2023 Getty Images unless otherwise indicated. The couriers went out impelled by the king's command while the decree was issued at the citadel in Susa; and while the king and Haman sat down to drink, the city of Susa was in confusion. Their quiver is like an open grave,All of them are mighty men. But you said in your heart,I will ascend to heaven;I will raise my throne above the stars of God,And I will sit on the mount of assemblyIn the recesses of the north. And they used brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar. The two pillars, the one sea, and the stands which Solomon had made for the house of the Lordthe bronze of all these vessels was beyond weight. It is obvious from these many passages in the prophets that Babylon occupies a large place in the prophetic program of the Old Testament for the nations surrounding Israel. Here it is declared: It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there. Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away into exile some of the poorest of the people, the rest of the people who were left in the city, the deserters who had deserted to the king of Babylon and the rest of the artisans. "The LORD has broken the staff of the wicked, The scepter of rulers Which used to strike the peoples in fury with unceasing strokes, Which subdued the nations in anger with unrestrained persecution. And though she should fortify her lofty stronghold, From Me destroyers will come to her, declares the. Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, "Come, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who is seated on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality, and with the wine of whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth . Whoever there is among you of all His people, may the Lord his God be with him, and let him go up!, Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he sent a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying: Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and He has appointed me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. "Those who see you will gaze at you, They will ponder over you, saying, 'Is this the man who made the earth tremble, Who shook kingdoms, Who made the world like a wilderness And overthrew its cities, Who did not allow his prisoners to go home?' Thats what Babylon wasa place where people traded worshiping God for self and idol worship. His successors were insignificant by comparison. Though Babylon should ascend to the heavens. So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city. And His arm will be against the Chaldeans. read more. "But you said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, And I will sit on the mount of assembly In the recesses of the north. "For the queen's conduct will become known to all the women causing them to look with contempt on their husbands by saying, 'King Ahasuerus commanded Queen Vashti to be brought in to his presence, but she did not come.' Christian theologians and Supremacists teachers have set out to darken the eyes of their followers. She could be brutal; she could be proud and she thought she would reign forever. Alexander the Great started to restore the city in 323 BC and planned to make it the capital of his empire, but he died that year in Nebuchadnezzar's palace. "Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another's speech." For all its renown in the ancient world, the Babylonianempire, in its second brief iteration, survived less than a century and disappeared from sight when the Medo-Persians under Cyrus the Great defeated the kingdom in 539 BC. 6 I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of God's holy people, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus. The king said to Haman, "The silver is yours, and the people also, to do with them as you please." In an age when empires rose and fell, Babylon enjoyed an unusually long reign of power and grandeur. behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, declares the Lord, and I will send to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, My servant, and will bring them against this land and against its inhabitants and against all these nations round about; and I will utterly destroy them and make them a horror and a hissing, and an everlasting desolation. She who gave you birth will be humiliated. So Jehoiakim slept with his fathers, and Jehoiachin his son became king in his place. Then they burned the house of God and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, and burned all its fortified buildings with fire and destroyed all its valuable articles. They forsook all the commandments of the LORD their God and made for themselves molten images, even two calves, and made an Asherah and worshiped all the host of heaven and served Baal. Which sends envoys by the sea,Even in papyrus vessels on the surface of the waters.Go, swift messengers, to a nation tall and smooth,To a people feared far and wide,A powerful and oppressive nationWhose land the rivers divide. All the men of valor, seven thousand, and the craftsmen and the smiths, one thousand, all strong and fit for war, and these the king of Babylon brought into exile to Babylon. What I have heard from the LORD of hosts, The God of Israel, I make known to you. Even in papyrus vessels on the surface of the waters. These came with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum and Baanah.The number of the men of the people of Israel: These are the people of the province who came up from the captivity of the exiles whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away, and who returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his city, who came with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Azariah, Raamiah, Nahamani, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispereth, Bigvai, Nehum, Baanah.The number of men of the people of Israel: The Lord sent against him bands of Chaldeans, bands of Arameans, bands of Moabites, and bands of Ammonites. He burned the house of the LORD, the king's house, and all the houses of Jerusalem; even every great house he burned with fire. 'Your pomp and the music of your harps Have been brought down to Sheol; Maggots are spread out as your bed beneath you And worms are your covering.' Babylon later became Nebuchadnezzar's capital. A snarling lion from the sixth. read more. The king of Egypt did not come out of his land again, for the king of Babylon had taken all that belonged to the king of Egypt from the brook of Egypt to the river Euphrates. Now on the tenth day of the fifth month, which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard, who was in the service of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. They are coming from a far country,From the farthest horizons,The Lord and His instruments of indignation,To destroy the whole land. Therefore thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon And he will carry off her wealth and capture her spoil and seize her plunder; and it will be wages for his army. "Now behold, here comes a troop of riders, horsemen in pairs." But he and his army had no wages from Tyre for the labor that he had performed against it." I will punish Bel in Babylon,And I will make what he has swallowed come out of his mouth;And the nations will no longer stream to him.Even the wall of Babylon has fallen down! "Sheol from beneath is excited over you to meet you when you come; It arouses for you the spirits of the dead, all the leaders of the earth; It raises all the kings of the nations from their thrones. Just as Satan is called the father of lies, the evil world system, Babyloncontrolled by himis mother to his evil acts. Salvation and glory and power belong to our God; And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sits on the throne saying, Amen. By the rivers of Babylon, There we sat down and wept, When we remembered Zion. "Even the cypress trees rejoice over you, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, 'Since you were laid low, no tree cutter comes up against us.' May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth If I do not remember you, If I do not exalt Jerusalem Above my chief joy. Copyright 2002-2023 Got Questions Ministries. When God's people required discipline, God used the Babylonian Empire to accomplish it, but He limited Judah's captivity to 70 years ( Jeremiah 25:11 ). And the kings of the earth, who committed acts of immorality and lived sensuously with her, will weep and lament over her when they see the smoke of her burning, standing at a distance because of the fear of her torment, saying, Woe, woe, the great city, Babylon, the strong city! Concerning Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon defeated Thus says the LORD, "Arise, go up to Kedar And devastate the men of the east. Added is the prediction of the destruction of Tyre in Ezekiel 26:7- 28:19. Then he led away into exile all Jerusalem and all the captains and all the mighty men of valor, ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and the smiths None remained except the poorest people of the land. Now these are those who came up from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, Addan and Immer, but they were not able to give evidence of their fathers' households and their descendants, whether they were of Israel: the sons of Delaiah, the sons of Tobiah, the sons of Nekoda, 652. The sons of Israel did things secretly which were not right against the LORD their God. In the end, God determines the outcome of all things and raises up nations and destroys them just as easily (Job 12:23; Proverbs 21:1). The number of the men of the people of Israel: the sons of Parosh, 2,172; the sons of Shephatiah, 372; the sons of Arah, 775; the sons of Pahath-moab of the sons of Jeshua and Joab, 2,812; the sons of Elam, 1,254; the sons of Zattu, 945; the sons of Zaccai, 760; the sons of Bani, 642; the sons of Bebai, 623; the sons of Azgad, 1,222; the sons of Adonikam, 666; the sons of Bigvai, 2,056; the sons of Adin, 454; the sons of Ater of Hezekiah, 98; the sons of Bezai, 323; the sons of Jorah, 112; the sons of Hashum, 223; the sons of Gibbar, 95; the men of Bethlehem, 123; the men of Netophah, 56; the men of Anathoth, 128; the sons of Azmaveth, 42; the sons of Kiriath-arim, Chephirah and Beeroth, 743; the sons of Ramah and Geba, 621; the men of Michmas, 122; the men of Bethel and Ai, 223; the sons of Nebo, 52; the sons of Magbish, 156; the sons of the other Elam, 1,254; the sons of Harim, 320; the sons of Lod, Hadid and Ono, 725; the men of Jericho, 345; the sons of Senaah, 3,630. read more. And a voice came from the throne, saying, Give praise to our God, all you His bond-servants, you who fear Him, the small and the great.. And it will be in the day when the LORD gives you rest from your pain and turmoil and harsh service in which you have been enslaved, read more. This event saw the conquest of Babylon by the Achaemenid Empire under Cyrus the Great and marked the end of the Neo-Babylonian Empire. They said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly." "For the king of Babylon stands at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination; he shakes the arrows, he consults the household idols, he looks at the liver. The whole assembly numbered 42,360, besides their male and female servants who numbered 7,337; and they had 200 singing men and women. Their armies had proceeded to conquer much of the territory around Babylon before the fateful night in 539 b.c. "When he sees riders, horsemen in pairs, A train of donkeys, a train of camels, Let him pay close attention, very close attention." The first was like a lion and had the wings of an eagle. Ezekiel also prophesied from there (Ezekiel 1:1) and spoke of the detestable things that would occur in the temple (Ezekiel 8:5-6). "They will all respond and say to you, 'Even you have been made weak as we, You have become like us. "You will not be united with them in burial, Because you have ruined your country, You have slain your people. Modern Babylon, we are told, sits astride a beast (Rev. These two empires achieved regional dominance between the 19th and 15th centuries BC, and again between the 7th and 6th centuries BC. Instead of trying to excavate the ruins, the 20th-century Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein built new palaces and monuments to himself on top of them. Daniel 5:7. And Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon came to the city, while his servants were besieging it. The evil of Babylon in the Bible emanated from the objects of its worship and the actions of its rulers and subjects. They took away the pots, the shovels, the snuffers, the spoons, and all the bronze vessels which were used in temple service. "I will hurl you and your mother who bore you into another country where you were not born, and there you will die. How can we sing the LORD'S song In a foreign land? Copyright 2023, Bible Study Tools. Their horde of faces moves forward. How the faithful city has become a harlot,She who was full of justice!Righteousness once lodged in her,But now murderers. Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? They will all respond and say to you,Even you have been made weak as we,You have become like us. Now the bronze pillars which belonged to the house of the. Zedekiah before Nebuchadnezzar. Now you write to the Jews as you see fit, in the kings name, and seal it with the kings signet ring; for a decree which is written in the name of the king and sealed with the kings signet ring may not be revoked.. Hezekiah was pleased, and showed them all his treasure house, the silver and the gold and the spices and the precious oil and his whole armory and all that was found in his treasuries. The prophecies of Daniel were meticulously fulfilled. 17:3, 6-7). Then they burned the house of God and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, and burned all its fortified buildings with fire and destroyed all its valuable articles. How the faithful city has become a harlot. Babylon is called, mother of prostitutes and of earths abominations in Revelation 17:5. Prior to this event, the Babylonian Empire had already fallen on evil days. He carried out from there all the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king's house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the LORD, just as the LORD had said. Like his ancient hero, Nebuchadnezzar, he had his name inscribed on bricks for posterity. Babylon is the fountainhead of all idolatry and has many harlot daughters (such as the Roman Catholic Church). "I will rise up against them," declares the LORD of hosts, "and will cut off from Babylon name and survivors, offspring and posterity," declares the LORD. A prominent theme of Jeremiahs prophecies were predictions against Egypt in which he anticipated that Nebuchadnezzar would conquer Egypt. They will roar together like young lions. Then they made their sons and their daughters pass through the fire, and practiced divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him. When I saw her, I wondered greatly. For they prophesy falsely to you in My name; I have not sent them, declares the Lord. attacked by Sennacherib, Babylon was destroyed by fire. It came about as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. Get Your Bible Minute in Your Inbox Every Morning. In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. Those who had escaped from the sword he carried away to Babylon; and they were servants to him and to his sons until the rule of the kingdom of Persia, to fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its sabbaths All the days of its desolation it kept sabbath until seventy years were complete. At the time of the downfall of the city of Babylon recorded in Daniel 5, the city was still a monument to the genius of Nebuchadnezzar. Despite its many wonders, Babylon worshiped pagan gods, chief among them Marduk, or Merodach, and Bel, as noted in Jeremiah 50:2. All who came upon them have devoured them;And their adversaries have said, We are not guilty,Inasmuch as they have sinned against the Lord who is the habitation of righteousness,Even the Lord, the hope of their fathers. Wander away from the midst of BabylonAnd go forth from the land of the Chaldeans;Be also like male goats at the head of the flock. So Darius the Mede received the kingdom at about the age of sixty-two. read more. I also will remove you beyond Babylon.. Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he and his mother and his servants and his captains and his officials So the king of Babylon took him captive in the eighth year of his reign. Then I heard something like the voice of a great multitude and like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, saying,Hallelujah! At the turn of the year King Nebuchadnezzar sent and brought him to Babylon with the valuable articles of the house of the Lord, and he made his kinsman Zedekiah king over Judah and Jerusalem. As rulers, their judges exacted punishments that make even the most hard-hearted person squeamish. For a nation has come up against her out of the north; it will make her land an object of horror, and there will be no inhabitant in it. "If it is pleasing to the king, let it be decreed that they be destroyed, and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who carry on the king's business, to put into the king's treasuries." Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. I will also make it a possession for the hedgehog and swamps of water, and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction, declares the Lord of hosts. The Bible has solid Proof America is Babylon. At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon went up to Jerusalem, and the city came under siege.