BABYLON

Bible Miracles: Prophecies Regarding Babylon

Bible correctly and repeatedly foretells the future. There are many fulfilled prophecies regarding Babylon and the time period from their rise and fall.

Judah Destruction & Jews Return

Jeremiah 25:11-12: And this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. Then it will come to pass, when seventy years are completed, that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity,’ says the Lord; ‘and I will make it a perpetual desolation. NKJV

2 Kings 20:16-18: Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord: ‘Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house, and what your fathers have accumulated until this day, shall be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left,’ says the Lord. ‘And they shall take away some of your sons who will descend from you, whom you will beget; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’ NKJV

Jeremiah 32:36-37: Now therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning this city of which you say, ‘It shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence: Behold, I will gather them out of all countries where I have driven them in My anger, in My fury, and in great wrath; I will bring them back to this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely.  NKJV

These above prophecies were written decades before these events and history showed that In 597 BC Jerusalem was captured by Babylon. Jews remained in Babylon captivity precisely for 70 years which then ended in 539 BC, when Cyrus conquered Babylon, bringing an end to the empire. Jews survived their captivity and in 538 BC, they were released from captivity and many eventually returned to their homeland.

Cyrus, God’s Instrument

Isaiah 45:1 prophecy conclusively fulfilled hundreds of years later in 539 BC.

Isaiah 45:1: Thus says the Lord to His anointed, To Cyrus, whose right hand I have held, To subdue nations before him. And loose the armor of kings. To open before him the double doors. So that the gates will not be shut.   NKJV

More than 150 years before the event prophet Isaiah said God would open the gates of Babylon for Cyrus and history tells us that despite Babylon’s remarkable defenses, Cyrus was able to enter the city and conquer it.

Babylon’s End

Another Isaiah prophecy fulfilled hundreds of years later in 539 BC. As recorded in Book of Isaiah chapter 13 verse 19 and chapter 14 verse 23

Isaiah 13:19: And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, The beauty of the Chaldeans’ pride, Will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. NKJV

Isaiah 14:23: I will turn her into a place for owls and into swampland; I will sweep her with the broom of destruction,” declares the LORD Almighty. NIV

Again More than 150 years before the event prophet Isaiah tells us that Babylon would be overthrown, forever. History proves the fact that following Cyrus destruction of Babylon in 539 BC, it never again raised to power as an empire.

This prophecy has more significance if you consider that Babylon had also been defeated by the Assyrian Empire before, but Babylon was able to recover and later conquer the Assyrian Empire. In spite of this, and just as Isaiah predicted, the Babylonian empire was defeated, and never recovered from Cyrus’ conquest, the kingdom never again rose to power. And history shows us that the structures of Babylon fell into a gradual state of ruin during the next several centuries.