the Week of Proper 21 / Ordinary 26
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Isaiah 13:19
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And it will be that Babylon, the beauty of kingdoms, the honor of the Chaldeans' pride,Will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
And Babylon, the beauty of kingdoms, the glory of the Chaldeans' pride, Will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
And Babylon that glory of kingdomes, and beautie of the Chaldees honour shalbe destroyed, euen as God destroyed Sodome and Gomor.
And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldeans' pride, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, The beauty of the Chaldeans' pride, Will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
And Babylon, the glory of the kingdoms, the beauty of the pride of the Chaldeans, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
Babylon will be destroyed like the time God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. "Babylon is the most beautiful of all kingdoms. The Babylonians are very proud of their city.
Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldeans' pride, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
And Babylon the glory of kingdomes, the beautie of the Chaldees excellencie, shall be as when God ouerthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
And Babilo (yt glory of kigdomes and bewtie of the Caldees honor) shalbe destroyed, eue as God destroyed Sodom & Gomorra.
And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldeans' pride, Will be like Sodom and Gomorrah when God overthrew them.
And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldeans' pride, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beautiful town which is the pride of the Chaldaeans, will be like God's destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.
And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellence, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
Babylon, the most admired of kingdoms, the Chaldeans' source of honor and pride, will be destroyed by God just as Sodom and Gomorrah were.
The city of Babylon is glorious and powerful, the pride of the nation. But it will be like the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah after I, the Lord, destroyed them.
Thus Bavel, that jewel of kingdoms, the pride and glory of the Kasdim, will be like S'dom and ‘Amora when overthrown by God.
And Babel the glorie of kingdomes, the beautie and pride of the Chaldeans, shall be as the destruction of God in Sodom and Gomorah.
And Babylon, the glory of the kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldeans excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
Bavel, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Kasdim' pride, shall be as when God overthrew Sedom and `Amorah.
And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldeans' pride, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
Babylon, the most glorious of kingdoms, the flower of Chaldean pride, will be devastated like Sodom and Gomorrah when God destroyed them.
And Babylon, the beauty of nations, the shining-greatness and pride of the Babylonians, will be as when God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.
And Babylon, which is called glorious by the king of the Chaldeans, shall be as when God overthrew Sodoma, and Gomorrha.
And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldeans' pride, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
And Babylon, the jewel of the kingdoms, the glory of the pride of the Chaldeans, will be overthrown by God like Sodom and Gomorrah.
And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the splendor and pride of the Chaldeans, will be like Sodom and Gomorrah when God overthrew them.
Thus shall Babylon - The most lovely of kingdoms, The majestic beauty of the Chaldees - Become as in the divine overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah.
And that Babylon, glorious among kingdoms, the famous pride of the Chaldeans, shall be even as the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrha.
And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the splendor of the Chaldeans' pride, will be like when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the splendor and pomp of the Chaldeans, will be like Sodom and Gomorrah when God overthrew them.
And Babylon, the beauty of kingdoms, the glory of the Chaldeans' pride, Will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
Babylon is the most beautiful of all kingdoms, and the Babylonians are very proud of it. But God will destroy it like Sodom and Gomorrah.
Babylonia is the most beautiful kingdom of all; it is the pride of its people. But I, the Lord , will overthrow Babylon as I did Sodom and Gomorrah!
And Babylon, the jewel of the kingdoms, the glory of the pride of the Chaldeans, will be like Sodom and Gomorrah when God overthrew them.
And Babiloyne, thilke gloriouse citee in rewmes, noble in the pride of Caldeis, schal be destried, as God destried Sodom and Gomore.
And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the splendor and pride of the Chalde'ans, will be like Sodom and Gomor'rah when God overthrew them.
And Babylon, the beauty of kingdoms, The glory, the excellency of the Chaldeans, Hath been as overthrown by God, With Sodom and with Gomorrah.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
Babylon: Babylon, whose destruction and utter ruin are here predicted, was situated in the midst of a large plain, having a very deep and fruitful soil, on the Euphrates, about 252 miles south-east of Palmyra, and the same distance north-west of Susa and the Persian gulf, in lat. 32 degrees 30 minutes n and long. 44 degrees 20 minutes e. According to Herodotus, it formed a perfect square, each side of which was 120 stadia, and consequently its circumference 480 stadia, or sixty miles; inclosed by a wall 200 cubits high, and fifty wide, on the top of which were small watch towers of one story high, leaving a space between them, through which a chariot and four might pass and turn. On each side were twenty-five gates of solid brass; from each of which proceeded a street, 150 feet broad, making in all fifty streets; which, crossing each other at right angles, intersected the city into 676 squares, extending four stadia and a half on each side, along which stood the houses, all built three or four stories high, and highly decorated towards the street; the interior of these squares being employed as gardens, pleasure grounds, etc. Its principal ornaments were the temple of Belus, having a tower of eight stories, upon a base of a quarter of a mile square; a most magnificent palace; and the famous hanging gardens, or artificial mountains raised upon arches, and planted with large and beautiful trees. Cyrus took it by diverting the waters of the Euphrates, which ran through the midst, and entering by the channel; and the river being never restored to its proper course, overflowed the whole country, and made it a morass. Darius Hystaspes afterwards depopulated the place, lowered the walls, and demolished the gates; Xerxes destroyed the temples; the building of Seleucia nearly exhausted it of its inhabitants; a king of the Parthians carried a number of them into slavery, and destroyed the most beautiful parts; so that modern travellers describe it as a mass of shapeless ruins, the habitation of wild beasts. Isaiah 14:4-6, Isaiah 14:12-15, Jeremiah 51:41, Daniel 2:37, Daniel 2:38, Daniel 4:30
when God overthrew: Heb. the overthrowing of, Genesis 19:24, Deuteronomy 29:23, Jeremiah 49:18, Jeremiah 50:40, Zephaniah 2:9
Reciprocal: 2 Kings 20:12 - Babylon Psalms 107:33 - turneth Isaiah 14:17 - made Isaiah 21:9 - Babylon Isaiah 23:13 - land Isaiah 25:12 - to the dust Isaiah 32:14 - for Isaiah 39:1 - king Isaiah 47:5 - for Isaiah 47:9 - in a moment Jeremiah 25:12 - perpetual Jeremiah 50:3 - which Jeremiah 51:26 - shall not Jeremiah 51:29 - every Jeremiah 51:37 - become Jeremiah 51:62 - to cut Ezekiel 16:50 - therefore Amos 4:11 - as God Nahum 2:10 - empty Zephaniah 2:14 - flocks Luke 17:29 - General Romans 9:29 - we had been 2 Peter 2:6 - turning Revelation 18:2 - Babylon Revelation 18:9 - the smoke
Gill's Notes on the Bible
And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms,.... The first and most ancient kingdom, Genesis 10:10 and now, at the time of its fall, the largest and most extensive; wherefore of the image Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream, which was a representation of several kingdoms, this was the head, the head of gold, Daniel 2:31 so Babylon is called the "lady of kingdoms", Isaiah 47:5 the word here used for "glory" is the same with that which is rendered a "roe", Isaiah 13:14. Babylon was once as a pleasant roe, but now a chased one:
the beauty of the Chaldees excellency; the glory of that nation; what they gloried in, being so famous for pompous buildings, number of inhabitants, riches and wealth, see Daniel 4:30. Pliny n calls it the head of the Chaldean nations, and says it obtained great fame in the whole world:
shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah; which, though not at once, and by fire from heaven, as that was, yet was of God, and, when completed, was, like that, irrecoverable; which was begun by Cyrus and Darius, and in after times finished; and besides there was a circumstance which made it similar to that; for as the men of Sodom were eating and drinking, when their destruction came upon them, so Belshazzar, and his nobles, were feasting and revelling when the city was taken. The Jews o say, that, after Belshazzar was slain, Darius reigned one year, and in his second year the city was overthrown, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah by fire from heaven; but without any foundation; for certain it is that Babylon was in being many years after this, and continued to the time of Alexander the great.
n Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 26. o Jarchi & Kimchi ex Seder Olam Rabba, c. 28.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms - That is, the capital or chief ornament of many nations. Appellations of this kind, applied to Babylon, abound in the Scriptures. In Daniel 4:30, it is called ‘great Babylon;’ in Isaiah 14:4, it is called ‘the golden city;’ in Isaiah 47:5, ‘the lady of kingdoms;’ in Jeremiah 51:13, it is, spoken of as ‘abundant in treasures;’ and, in Jeremiah 51:41, as ‘the praise of the whole earth.’ All these expressions are designed to indicate its immense wealth and magnificence. It was the capital of a mighty empire, and was the chief city of the pagan world.
The beauty of the Chaldees’ excellency - Hebrew, ‘The glory of the pride of the Chaldees;’ or the ornament of the proud Chaldees. It was their boast and glory; it was that on which they chiefly prided themselves. How well it deserved these appellations we have already seen.
Shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah - Genesis 19:24. That is, shall be completely and entirely overthrown; shall cease to be inhabited, and shall be perfectly desolate. It does not mean that it shall be overthrown in the same manner as Sodom was, but that it should be as completely and entirely ruined. The successive steps in the overthrow of Babylon, by which this prophecy was so signally fulfilled, were the following:
(1) The taking of the city by Cyrus. This was accomplished by his clearing out the “Pallacopas,” a canal that was made for the purpose of emptying the superfluous waters of the Euphrates into the lakes and marshes formed by it in the south - west borders of the province toward Arabia. Into this canal he directed the waters of the Euphrates, and was thus enabled to enter the city in the channel of the river under the walls (see the notes at Isaiah 45:1-2). He took the city by surprise, and when the inhabitants, confident of security, had given themselves up to the riot of a grand public festival; and the king and the nobles were revelling at a public entertainment. From this cause, also, it happened that the waters, which were thus diverted from their usual channel, converted the whole country into a vast, unhealthy morass, that contributed greatly to the decline of Babylon.
(2) The “second” capture of Babylon by Darius Hystaspes. Cyrus was not the destroyer of the city, but he rather sought to preserve its magnificence, and to perpetuate its pre-eminence among the nations. He left it to his successor in all its strength and magnificence. But, after his death, it rebelled against Darius, and bade defiance to the power of the whole Persian empire. Fully resolved not to yield, they adopted the resolution of putting every woman in the city to death, with the exception of their mothers and one female, the best beloved in every family, to bake their bread. All the rest, says Herodotus (iii. 150), were assembled together and strangled. The city was taken at that time by Darius, by the aid of Zopyrus, son of Megabyzus, who, in order to do it, mutilated himself beyond the power of recovery. He cut off his nose and ears, and having scourged himself severely, presented himself before Darius. He proposed to Darius to enter the city, apparently as a deserter who had been cruelly treated by Darius, and to deliver the city into his hands.
He was one of the chief nobles of Persia; was admitted in this manner within the walls; represented himself as having been punished because he advised Darius to raise the siege; was admitted to the confidence of the Babylonians; and was finally entrusted with an important military command. After several successful conflicts with the Persians, and when it was supposed his fidelity had been fully tried, he was raised to the chief command of the army; and was appointed to the responsible office of τειχοφύλαξ teichophulax, or guardian of the walls. Having obtained this object, he opened the gates of Babylon to the Persian army, as he had designed, and the city was taken without difficulty (Herod. iii. 153-160). As soon as Darius had taken the city, he ‘leveled the walls, and took away the gates, neither of which things had Cyrus done before. Three thousand of the most distinguished of the nobility he ordered to be crucified; the rest he suffered to remain.’ - (Herod. iii. 159.)
(3) After its conquest by Darius, it was always regarded by the Persian monarchs with a jealous eye. Xerxes destroyed the temples of the city, and, among the rest, the celebrated temple or tower of Belus (Strabo, xvi. 1, 5.) ‘Darius,’ says Herodotus, ‘had designs upon the golden statue in the temple of Belus, but did not dare to take it; but Xerxes, his son, took it, and slew the priest who resisted its removal.’
(4) The city was captured a third time, by Alexander the Great. Mazaeus, the Persian general, surrendered the city into his hands, and he entered it with his army - “velut in aciem irent” - ‘as if they were marching to battle.’ - (Q. Curtius, v. 3.) It was afterward taken by Antigonus, by Demetrius, by Antiochus the Great, and by the Parthians; and each successive conquest contributed to its reduction.
(5) Cyrus transferred the capital from Babylon to Susa or Shusan Nehemiah 1:1; Ezra 2:8; Ezra 4:16; Ezra 9:11, Ezra 9:15, which became the capital of the kingdom of Persia, and, of course, contributed much to diminish the importance of Babylon itself.
(6) Seleucus Nicator founded Seleucia in the neighborhood of Babylon, on the Tigris, chiefly with a design to draw off the inhabitants of Babylon to a rival city, and to prevent its importance. A great part of its population migrated to the new city of Seleucia (Plin. “Nat. Hist.” vi. 30). Babylon thus gradually declined until it lost all its importance, and the very place where it stood was, for a long time, unknown. About the beginning of the first century, a small part of it only was inhabited, and the greater portion was cultivated (Diod. Sic. ii. 27). In the second century, nothing but the walls remained (Pausanius, “Arcad.” c. 33). It became gradually a great desert; and, in the fourth century, its walls, repaired for that purpose, formed an enclosure for wild beasts, and Babylon was converted into a hunting place for the pastime of the Persian monarchs. After this, there is an interval of many ages in the history of its mutilated remains, and of its mouldering decay (Keith, “On the Prophecies,” p. 216; Jerome, “Commentary on Isa.” ch. xiv.) Benjamin of Tudela vaguely alludes to the palace of Nebuchadnezzar, which, he says, could not be entered, on account of its being the abode of dragons and wild beasts. Sir John Maundeville, who traveled over Asia, 1322 a.d., says, that ‘Babylone is in the grete desertes of Arabye, upon the waye as men gert towarde the kyngdome of Caldce. But it is full longe sithe ony man durste neyhe to the toure, for it is alle deserte and full of dragons and grete serpentes, and fulle dyverse veneymouse bestes all abouten.’
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Isaiah 13:19. And Babylon — The great city of Babylon was at this time rising to its height of glory, while the Prophet Isaiah was repeatedly denouncing its utter destruction. From the first of Hezekiah to the first of Nebuchadnezzar, under whom it was brought to the highest degree of strength and splendour, are about one hundred and twenty years. I will here very briefly mention some particulars of the greatness of the place, and note the several steps by which this remarkable prophecy was at length accomplished in the total ruin of it.
It was, according to the lowest account given of it by ancient historians, a regular square, forty-five miles in compass, inclosed by a wall two hundred feet high and fifty broad; in which there were a hundred gates of brass. Its principal ornaments were the temple of Belus, in the middle of which was a tower of eight stories of building, upon a base of a quarter of a mile square, a most magnificent palace, and the famous hanging gardens, which were an artificial mountain, raised upon arches, and planted with trees of the largest as well as the most beautiful sorts.
Cyrus took the city by diverting the waters of the Euphrates which ran through the midst of it, and entering the place at night by the dry channel. The river being never restored afterward to its proper course, overflowed the whole country, and made it little better than a great morass; this and the great slaughter of the inhabitants, with other bad consequences of the taking of the city, was the first step to the ruin of the place. The Persian monarchs ever regarded it with a jealous eye; they kept it under, and took care to prevent its recovering its former greatness. Darius Hystaspes not long afterward most severely punished it for a revolt, greatly depopulated the place, lowered the walls, and demolished the gates. Xerxes destroyed the temples, and with the rest the great temple of Belus, Herod. iii. 159, Arrian Exp. Alexandri, lib. vii. The building of Seleucia on the Tigris exhausted Babylon by its neighbourhood, as well as by the immediate loss of inhabitants taken away by Seleucus to people his new city, Strabo, lib. xvi. A king of the Parthians soon after carried away into slavery a great number of the inhabitants, and burned and destroyed the most beautiful parts of the city, Valesii Excerpt. Diodori, p. 377. Strabo (ibid.) says that in his time great part of it was a mere desert; that the Persians had partly destroyed it; and that time and the neglect of the Macedonians, while they were masters of it, had nearly completed its destruction. Jerome (in loc.) says that in his time it was quite in ruins, and that the walls served only for the inclosure for a park or forest for the king's hunting. Modern travellers, who have endeavoured to find the remains of it, have given but a very unsatisfactory account of their success. What Benjamin of Tudela and Pietro della Valle supposed to have been some of its ruins, Tavernier thinks are the remains of some late Arabian building. Upon the whole, Babylon is so utterly annihilated, that even the place where this wonder of the world stood cannot now be determined with any certainty! See also Clarke's note on "Isaiah 43:14".
We are astonished at the accounts which ancient historians of the best credit give of the immense extent, height, and thickness of the walls of Nineveh and Babylon; nor are we less astonished when we are assured, by the concurrent testimony of modern travellers, that no remains, not the least traces, of these prodigious works are now to be found. Scattered fragments of its tiles and bricks are yet to be found. Proud Babylon reduced now to a few brick-bats! Our wonder will, I think, be moderated in both respects, if we consider the fabric of these celebrated walls, and the nature of the materials of which they consisted. Buildings in the east have always been, and are to this day, made of earth or clay, mixed or beat up with straw to make the parts cohere, and dried only in the sun. This is their method of making bricks; see on Isaiah 9:9. The walls of the city were built of the earth digged out on the spot, and dried upon the place, by which means both the ditch and the wall were at once formed, the former furnishing materials for the latter. That the walls of Babylon were of this kind is well known; and Berosus expressly says, (apud Joseph. Antiq. x. 11,) that Nebuchadnezzar added three new walls both to the old and new city, partly of brick and bitumen, and partly of brick alone. A wall of this sort must have a great thickness in proportion to its height, otherwise it cannot stand. The thickness of the walls of Babylon is said to have been one-fourth of their height, which seems to have been no more than was absolutely necessary. Maundrell, speaking of the garden walls of Damascus, says, "They are of a very singular structure. They are built of great pieces of earth, made in the fashion of brick, and hardened in the sun. In their dimensions they are two yards long each, and somewhat more than one broad, and half a yard thick." And afterward, speaking of the walls of the houses, he says, "From this dirty way of building they have this amongst other inconveniences, that upon any violent rain the whole city becomes, by the washing of the houses, as it were a quagmire," p. 124. And see note on Isaiah 30:13. When a wall of this sort comes to be out of repair, and is neglected, it is easy to conceive the necessary consequences, namely, that in no long course of ages it must be totally destroyed by the heavy rains, and at length washed away, and reduced to its original earth. - L.
