Mesopotamia · OT & NT
Babylon
The Mesopotamian empire that destroyed Jerusalem in 586 BC and carried Judah into exile.
Today: Near Hillah, Iraq
Babylon was the capital of the great Mesopotamian empire on the Euphrates. Under Nebuchadnezzar it crushed Assyria and Egypt and became the dominant power of the ancient Near East. In three deportations (605, 597, and 586 BC) Judah was carried captive there; the temple was burned and Jerusalem leveled.
The seventy-year Babylonian exile is the great catastrophe of Old Testament history and the setting of Daniel and Ezekiel. Babylon also becomes a symbol throughout scripture for the proud, idolatrous world-system in opposition to God — culminating in 'Babylon the great' of Revelation 17–18.
Key verses
"Now in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, unto Jerusalem. And he burnt the house of Jehovah, and the king’s house; and all the houses of Jerusalem, even every great house, burnt he with fire. And all the army of the Chaldeans, that were with the captain of the guard, brake down the walls of Jerusalem round about. And the residue of the people that were left in the city, and those that fell away, that fell to the king of Babylon, and the residue of the multitude, did Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carry away captive."
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"For thus saith Jehovah, After seventy years are accomplished for Babylon, I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith Jehovah, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you hope in your latter end."
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"In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon unto Jerusalem, and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with part of the vessels of the house of God; and he carried them into the land of Shinar to the house of his god: and he brought the vessels into the treasure-house of his god."
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"By the rivers of Babylon, There we sat down, yea, we wept, When we remembered Zion."
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"And he cried with a mighty voice, saying, Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, and is become a habitation of demons, and a hold of every unclean spirit, and a hold of every unclean and hateful bird."
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