Babylon
Capital of the Babylonian empire on the Euphrates. Nebuchadnezzar deported the people of Judah here, and in later Scripture the city becomes a symbol of exile and of worldly power.
Babylon lay on the Euphrates, some 85 kilometres south of modern Baghdad. Under Nebuchadnezzar II it was the capital of the empire that conquered Judah. Genesis sets the tower of Babel here (Genesis 11:1–9), the exiles of Judah were brought to it (2 Kings 24:15–16), and Cyrus the Great took it in 539 BC. The New Testament gives its name to another city, which most interpreters take to be Rome (1 Peter 5:13) (Revelation 17:5).
What happened here
- undatedThe Tower of Babel
Genesis tells how people with one language set out to build a city and a tower reaching the sky in the land of Shinar. God confuses their speech and scatters them over the earth, and the city is named Babel.
- about 605 BC to 536 BC, traditional dateDaniel at the Babylonian Court
The book of Daniel tells of a young Judean taken to Babylon who serves its kings and stays loyal to his God through the furnace and the lions’ den, and who sees “one like a son of man” receive an everlasting kingdom.
- 16 March 597 BC, firm dateThe First Deportation to Babylon
Nebuchadnezzar takes Jerusalem, deports the young king Jehoiachin with thousands of Judah’s leading people, and puts Zedekiah on the throne. Babylon’s own chronicle dates the capture to the day.
- 587/586 BC, estimated dateThe Fall of Jerusalem and the Destruction of the Temple
After a long siege the Babylonian army breaches Jerusalem, burns Solomon’s temple and the city, and deports most of the remaining people. The kingdom of Judah comes to an end.
- about 550 BC to 539 BC, estimated dateThe Prophecy of Comfort and the Suffering Servant
Isaiah 40–55 tells the exiles that their punishment is over, names Cyrus as the Lord’s anointed who will send them home, and speaks of a servant who suffers for the sins of many.
- 12 October 539 BC, firm dateCyrus Takes Babylon
The army of Cyrus of Persia enters Babylon without a battle in October 539 BC, and the Babylonian empire passes to Persia. The Judean exiles come under a king who lets displaced peoples go home.
- 538 BC, estimated dateThe Edict of Cyrus and the First Return
Cyrus of Persia, having taken Babylon, allows the Judean exiles to go home and rebuild the temple in Jerusalem, and hands back the temple vessels. A first group returns.
- 458 BC, estimated dateEzra Brings the Law to Jerusalem
The priest and scribe Ezra comes from Babylon with a commission from the Persian king, confronts marriages with foreign wives, and reads the law of Moses aloud to the assembled people, who bind themselves to keep it.