Babylon

Passages on this topic

From Nave’s Topical Bible (1896), a historical reference index. The groupings are Nave’s; the verses are shown in the text used across this site.

1. City of

Built by Nimrod

• Genesis 10:10 His kingdom began in Babylon, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.

In the land of Shinar

• Genesis 10:10 His kingdom began in Babylon, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.
• Genesis 11:2 And as people journeyed eastward, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.

Tower of

• Genesis 11:1–9 Now the whole world had one language and a common form of speech. And as people journeyed eastward, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” So they used brick instead of stone, and tar instead of…

Capital of the kingdom of Babylon

• Daniel 4:30 the king exclaimed, “Is this not Babylon the Great, which I myself have built as a royal residence by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?”
• 2 Kings 25:13 Moreover, the Chaldeans broke up the bronze pillars and stands and the bronze Sea in the house of the LORD, and they carried the bronze to Babylon.
• 2 Chronicles 36:6–7 Then Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against Jehoiakim and bound him with bronze shackles to take him to Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar also took to Babylon some of the articles from the house of the LORD, and he put them in his temple in Babylon.
• 2 Chronicles 36:10 In the spring, King Nebuchadnezzar summoned Jehoiachin and brought him to Babylon, along with the articles of value from the house of the LORD. And he made Jehoiachin’s relative Zedekiah king over Judah and Jerusalem.
• 2 Chronicles 36:18 who carried off everything to Babylon— all the articles of the house of God, both large and small, and the treasures of the house of the LORD and of the king and his officials.
• 2 Chronicles 36:20 Those who escaped the sword were carried by Nebuchadnezzar into exile in Babylon, and they became servants to him and his sons until the kingdom of Persia came to power.

Gates of

• Isaiah 45:1–2 This is what the LORD says to Cyrus His anointed, whose right hand I have grasped to subdue nations before him, to disarm kings, to open the doors before him, so that the gates will not be shut: “I will go before you and level the mountains; I will break down the gates of bronze and cut through the…
• Jeremiah 51:58 This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Babylon’s thick walls will be leveled, and her high gates consumed by fire. So the labor of the people will be for nothing; the nations will exhaust themselves to fuel the flames.”

Walled

• Jeremiah 51:44 I will punish Bel in Babylon. I will make him spew out what he swallowed. The nations will no longer stream to him; even the wall of Babylon will fall.
• Jeremiah 51:58 This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Babylon’s thick walls will be leveled, and her high gates consumed by fire. So the labor of the people will be for nothing; the nations will exhaust themselves to fuel the flames.”

Splendor of

• Isaiah 14:4 you will sing this song of contempt against the king of Babylon: How the oppressor has ceased, and how his fury has ended!

Peter writes from

• 1 Peter 5:13 The church in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you greetings, as does my son Mark.

Prophecies concerning

• Psalm 87:4 “I will mention Rahab and Babylon among those who know Me — along with Philistia, Tyre, and Cush — when I say, ‘This one was born in Zion.’”
• Psalm 137:8–9 O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, blessed is he who repays you as you have done to us. Blessed is he who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.
• Isaiah 13 This is the burden against Babylon that Isaiah son of Amoz received: Raise a banner on a barren hilltop; call aloud to them. Wave your hand, that they may enter the gates of the nobles. I have commanded My sanctified ones; I have even summoned My warriors to execute My wrath and exult in My triumph… (whole chapter)
• Isaiah 14:4–26 you will sing this song of contempt against the king of Babylon: How the oppressor has ceased, and how his fury has ended! The LORD has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of the rulers. It struck the peoples in anger with unceasing blows; it subdued the nations in rage with relentless pers…
• Isaiah 21:1–10 This is the burden against the Desert by the Sea: Like whirlwinds sweeping through the Negev, an invader comes from the desert, from a land of terror. A dire vision is declared to me: “The traitor still betrays, and the destroyer still destroys. Go up, O Elam! Lay siege, O Media! I will put an end…
• Isaiah 46:1–2 Bel crouches; Nebo cowers. Their idols weigh down beasts and cattle. The images you carry are burdensome, a load to the weary animal. The gods cower; they crouch together, unable to relieve the burden; but they themselves go into captivity.
• Isaiah 47 “Go down and sit in the dust, O Virgin Daughter of Babylon. Sit on the ground without a throne, O Daughter of the Chaldeans! For you will no longer be called tender or delicate. Take millstones and grind flour; remove your veil; strip off your skirt, bare your thigh, and wade through the streams. Y… (whole chapter)
• Isaiah 48:14 Come together, all of you, and listen: Which of the idols has foretold these things? The LORD’s chosen ally will carry out His desire against Babylon, and His arm will be against the Chaldeans.
• Isaiah 48:20 Leave Babylon! Flee from the Chaldeans! Declare it with a shout of joy, proclaim it, let it go out to the ends of the earth, saying, “The LORD has redeemed His servant Jacob!”
• Jeremiah 21:4–10 this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘I will turn against you the weapons of war in your hands, with which you are fighting the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans who besiege you outside the wall, and I will assemble their forces in the center of this city. And I Myself will fight against…

Figurative

• Revelation 14:8 Then a second angel followed, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, who has made all the nations drink the wine of the passion of her immorality.”
• Revelation 16:19 The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed. And God remembered Babylon the great and gave her the cup of the wine of the fury of His wrath.
• Revelation 17 Then one of the seven angels with the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits on many waters. The kings of the earth were immoral with her, and those who dwell on the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her immorality.” And the an… (whole chapter)
• Revelation 18 After this I saw another angel descending from heaven with great authority, and the earth was illuminated by his glory. 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 dete… (whole chapter)

2. Empire of

Founded by Nimrod

• Genesis 10:10 His kingdom began in Babylon, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.

Called LAND OF SHINAR

• Genesis 10:10 His kingdom began in Babylon, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.
• Genesis 11:2 And as people journeyed eastward, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.
• Genesis 14:1 In those days Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim
• Genesis 14:9 against Chedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of Goiim, Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar— four kings against five.
• Isaiah 11:11 On that day the Lord will extend His hand a second time to recover the remnant of His people from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.
• Daniel 1:2 And the Lord delivered into his hand Jehoiakim king of Judah, along with some of the articles from the house of God. He carried these off to the land of Shinar, to the house of his god, where he put them in the treasury of his god.
• Zechariah 5:11 “To build a house for it in the land of Shinar,” he told me. “And when it is ready, the basket will be set there on its pedestal.”

Sheshach

• Jeremiah 25:26 all the kings of the north, both near and far, one after another — all the kingdoms on the face of the earth. And after all of them, the king of Sheshach will drink it too.
• Jeremiah 51:41 How Sheshach has been captured! The praise of all the earth has been seized. What a horror Babylon has become among the nations!

Merathaim

• Jeremiah 50:21 Go up against the land of Merathaim, and against the residents of Pekod. Kill them and devote them to destruction. Do all that I have commanded you,” declares the LORD.

Called also [447]CHALDEA, which see

Divisions of

• 2 Kings 17:24 Then the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim and settled them in the towns of Samaria to replace the Israelites. They took possession of Samaria and lived in its towns.
• 2 Kings 24:7 Now the king of Egypt did not march out of his land again, because the king of Babylon had taken all his territory, from the Brook of Egypt to the Euphrates River.
• Isaiah 23:12–13 He said, “You shall rejoice no more, O oppressed Virgin Daughter of Sidon. Get up and cross over to Cyprus— even there you will find no rest.” Look at the land of the Chaldeans— a people now of no account. The Assyrians destined it for the desert creatures; they set up their siege towers and stripp…
• Daniel 3:1 King Nebuchadnezzar made a golden statue sixty cubits high and six cubits wide, and he set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon.
• Acts 7:4 So Abraham left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. After his father died, God brought him out of that place and into this land where you are now living.

Extent of, at the time of Nebuchadnezzar

• Daniel 2:37–38 You, O king, are the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given sovereignty, power, strength, and glory. Wherever the sons of men or beasts of the field or birds of the air dwell, He has given them into your hand and has made you ruler over them all. You are that head of gold.
• Daniel 4:1 King Nebuchadnezzar, To the people of every nation and language who dwell in all the earth: May your prosperity be multiplied.
• Daniel 6:1 Now it pleased Darius to appoint 120 satraps to rule throughout the kingdom,

At the time of Ahasuerus

• Esther 1:1 This is what happened in the days of Xerxes, who reigned over 127 provinces from India to Cush.
• Esther 8:9 At once the royal scribes were summoned, and on the twenty-third day of the third month (the month of Sivan), they recorded all of Mordecai’s orders to the Jews and to the satraps, governors, and princes of the 127 provinces from India to Cush — writing to each province in its own script, to every…
• Esther 9:30 And Mordecai sent letters with words of peace and truth to all the Jews in the 127 provinces of the kingdom of Xerxes,

Armies of, invade ancient Canaan

• Genesis 14 In those days Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim went to war against Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar). The latter five came as allies to… (whole chapter)

Samaria

• 2 Kings 17:5–24 Then the king of Assyria invaded the whole land, marched up to Samaria, and besieged it for three years. In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and carried away the Israelites to Assyria, where he settled them in Halah, in Gozan by the Habor River, and in the cities of th…

Judah

• 2 Kings 24:1–16 During Jehoiakim’s reign, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon invaded. So Jehoiakim became his vassal for three years, until he turned and rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar. And the LORD sent Chaldean, Aramean, Moabite, and Ammonite raiders against Jehoiakim in order to destroy Judah, according to the wor…

Jews carried to

• 2 Kings 25 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. And the city was kept under siege until King Zedekiah’s eleventh year. B… (whole chapter)
• 1 Chronicles 9:1 So all Israel was recorded in the genealogies written in the Book of the Kings of Israel. But Judah was exiled to Babylon because of their unfaithfulness.
• 2 Chronicles 33:11 So the LORD brought against them the military commanders of the king of Assyria, who captured Manasseh, put a hook in his nose, bound him with bronze shackles, and took him to Babylon.
• 2 Chronicles 36:17–21 So He brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans, who put their young men to the sword in the sanctuary, sparing neither young men nor young women, neither elderly nor infirm. God gave them all into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, who carried off everything to Babylon— all the articles of the ho…
• Jeremiah 32:2 At that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was imprisoned in the courtyard of the guard, which was in the palace of the king of Judah.
• Jeremiah 39 In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his entire army and laid siege to the city. And on the ninth day of the fourth month of Zedekiah’s eleventh year, the city was breached. Then all the officials of the king… (whole chapter)
• Jeremiah 52 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. His mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah; she was from Libnah. And Zedekiah did evil in the sight of the LORD, just as Jehoiakim had done. For because of the anger of the LORD, all this happen… (whole chapter)

Colonists from, sent to Samaria

• Ezra 4:9–10 From Rehum the commander, Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their associates— the judges and officials over Tripolis, Persia, Erech and Babylon, the Elamites of Susa, and the rest of the peoples whom the great and honorable Ashurbanipal deported and settled in the cities of Samaria and elsewhere…
• 2 Kings 17:29–32 Nevertheless, the people of each nation continued to make their own gods in the cities where they had settled, and they set them up in the shrines that the people of Samaria had made on the high places. The men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, the men of Cuth made Nergal, the men of Hamath made Ashi…

Conquest of Egypt by

• 2 Kings 24:7 Now the king of Egypt did not march out of his land again, because the king of Babylon had taken all his territory, from the Brook of Egypt to the Euphrates River.

Prophecies of conquests by

• 2 Kings 20:16–19 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the LORD: The time will surely come when everything in your palace and all that your fathers have stored up until this day will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the LORD. And some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood, wil…
• Jeremiah 20:4–7 For this is what the LORD says: ‘I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends. They will fall by the sword of their enemies before your very eyes. And I will hand Judah over to the king of Babylon, and he will carry them away to Babylon and put them to the sword. I will give away al…
• Jeremiah 21 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD when King Zedekiah sent to him Pashhur son of Malchijah and the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah. They said, “Please inquire of the LORD on our behalf, since Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon is waging war against us. Perhaps the LORD will perform f… (whole chapter)
• Jeremiah 22 This is what the LORD says: “Go down to the palace of the king of Judah and proclaim this message there, saying, ‘Hear the word of the LORD, O king of Judah, who sits on the throne of David— you and your officials and your people who enter these gates. This is what the LORD says: Administer justice… (whole chapter)
• Jeremiah 25:1–11 This is the word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, which was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. So the prophet Jeremiah spoke to all the people of Judah and all the residents of Jerusalem as follows…
• Jeremiah 27 At the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the LORD. This is what the LORD said to me: “Make for yourself a yoke out of leather straps and put it on your neck. Send word to the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Sidon through the envoys… (whole chapter)
• Jeremiah 28 In the fifth month of that same year, the fourth year, near the beginning of the reign of King Zedekiah of Judah, the prophet Hananiah son of Azzur, who was from Gibeon, said to me in the house of the LORD in the presence of the priests and all the people: “This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God o… (whole chapter)
• Jeremiah 29 This is the text of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders among the exiles and to the priests, the prophets, and all the others Nebuchadnezzar had carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. (This was after King Jeconiah, the queen mother, the court offi… (whole chapter)
• Jeremiah 32:28–29 Therefore this is what the LORD says: Behold, I am about to deliver this city into the hands of the Chaldeans and of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who will capture it. And the Chaldeans who are fighting against this city will come in, set it on fire, and burn it, along with the houses of those wh…
• Jeremiah 34 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, all his army, all the earthly kingdoms under his control, and all the other nations were fighting against Jerusalem and all its surrounding cities. The LORD, the God of Israel, told Jeremiah to go and speak to… (whole chapter)

Prophetic denunciations against

• Psalm 137:8–9 O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, blessed is he who repays you as you have done to us. Blessed is he who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.
• Isaiah 13 This is the burden against Babylon that Isaiah son of Amoz received: Raise a banner on a barren hilltop; call aloud to them. Wave your hand, that they may enter the gates of the nobles. I have commanded My sanctified ones; I have even summoned My warriors to execute My wrath and exult in My triumph… (whole chapter)
• Isaiah 14:21 Prepare a place to slaughter his sons for the iniquities of their forefathers. They will never rise up to possess a land or cover the earth with their cities.
• Isaiah 43:14–17 Thus says the LORD your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “For your sake, I will send to Babylon and bring them all as fugitives, even the Chaldeans, in the ships in which they rejoice. I am the LORD, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, and your King.” Thus says the LORD, who makes a way in the s…
• Isaiah 47 “Go down and sit in the dust, O Virgin Daughter of Babylon. Sit on the ground without a throne, O Daughter of the Chaldeans! For you will no longer be called tender or delicate. Take millstones and grind flour; remove your veil; strip off your skirt, bare your thigh, and wade through the streams. Y… (whole chapter)
• Jeremiah 50 This is the word that the LORD spoke through Jeremiah the prophet concerning Babylon and the land of the Chaldeans: “Announce and declare to the nations; lift up a banner and proclaim it; hold nothing back when you say, ‘Babylon is captured; Bel is put to shame; Marduk is shattered, her images are… (whole chapter)
• Jeremiah 51 This is what the LORD says: “Behold, I will stir up against Babylon and against the people of Leb-kamai the spirit of a destroyer. I will send strangers to Babylon to winnow her and empty her land; for they will come against her from every side in her day of disaster. Do not let the archer bend his… (whole chapter)

Government of

A limited monarchy

• Esther 1:13–19 Then the king consulted the wise men who knew the times, for it was customary for him to confer with the experts in law and justice. His closest advisors were Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan, the seven princes of Persia and Media who had personal access to the king…
• Esther 8:8 Now you may write in the king’s name as you please regarding the Jews, and seal it with the royal signet ring. For a decree that is written in the name of the king and sealed with the royal signet ring cannot be revoked.”
• Daniel 6:8 Therefore, O king, establish the decree and sign the document so that it cannot be changed — in accordance with the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be repealed.”
• Daniel 6:14 As soon as the king heard this, he was deeply distressed and set his mind on delivering Daniel, and he labored until sundown to rescue him.
• Daniel 6:17 A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the rings of his nobles, so that nothing concerning Daniel could be changed.

Tyrannical

• Esther 3:7–15 In the twelfth year of King Xerxes, in the first month, the month of Nisan, the Pur (that is, the lot) was cast before Haman to determine a day and month. And the lot fell on the twelfth month, the month of Adar. Then Haman informed King Xerxes, “There is a certain people scattered and dispersed am…
• Daniel 3 King Nebuchadnezzar made a golden statue sixty cubits high and six cubits wide, and he set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. Then King Nebuchadnezzar sent word to assemble the satraps, prefects, governors, advisers, treasurers, judges, magistrates, and all the other officials o… (whole chapter)

Sovereigns of

See Belshazzar

See Cyrus

See Darius

See Evil-Merodach

See Nebuchadnezzar

See Chaldea