Cities & towns · Mesopotamia

Babylon

What was Babylon?

Babylon was the proud empire-city on the Euphrates that destroyed Jerusalem and carried Judah into exile — Scripture’s great symbol of human pride.

TodayRuins near Hillah, Iraq, on the Euphrates

RiverEuphrates

KingNebuchadnezzar

Symbol ofPride and worldly power

On Babylon’s plain humanity built the tower of Babel, and from its dynasty rose Nebuchadnezzar, who burned Jerusalem and its temple in 586 BC and deported the Jews.

In Babylon Daniel served kings and read the writing on the wall the night the city fell to the Medes and Persians, just as the prophets had foretold.

In Revelation, “Babylon the great” becomes the emblem of every world power drunk on luxury and violence — fallen at last, as God’s people are called out of her.

Key verses BSB · Public Domain (CC0)

2 Kings 25:1 “So in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his entire army. They encamped outside the city and built a siege wall all around it.” Daniel 5:30 “That very night Belshazzar king of the Chaldeans was slain,” Revelation 18:2 “And he cried out in a mighty voice: “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a lair for demons and a haunt for every unclean spirit, every unclean bird, and every detestable beast.”

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Original BibleDawn profile. Drafted with AI assistance and reviewed for accuracy. Scripture quoted from the public-domain Berean Standard Bible.