Lives of Scripture
Babylon
Founded, Genesis says, by Nimrod (Genesis 10:10), Babylon is also the setting of the tower of Babel, where God confused humanity's language (Genesis 11:1-9) — the city's first appearance already marking it as a symbol of human pride set against God. Centuries later it became the capital of the empire that destroyed Jerusalem and its temple in 586 BC and deported Judah's population there (2 Kings 25). Daniel and his three friends served in Nebuchadnezzar's court during that exile, and the book of Daniel records God's repeated humbling of Babylon's rulers (Daniel 1-5). Cyrus of Persia conquered Babylon in 539 BC and let the exiles return. Revelation later uses "Babylon" as a symbolic name for a final, doomed world power opposed to God (Revelation 17-18) — a use of the name, not a claim about the literal city's end-times future.
References: Genesis 10:10; Genesis 11:1-9; 2 Kings 25:1-21; Daniel 1-5; Revelation 18
People connected to Babylon
- Abed-nego (M) — one of the three preserved unharmed in the fiery furnace in this city
Daniel 3:19-27
- Belshazzar (M) — its last king, who saw the writing on the wall the night the city fell
Daniel 5:1; Daniel 5:30
- Cyrus (M) — conqueror of this city, who freed the exiles to return home
Ezra 1:1-2
- Daniel (M) — an exile here who rose to high office and was saved from the lions' den
Daniel 2:48; Daniel 6:16-23
- Evil-merodach (M) — its king, who freed the exiled Jehoiachin from prison here
2 Kings 25:27-30
- Ezekiel (M) — prophesied among the exiles by the Chebar canal near this city
Ezekiel 1:1-3
- Ezra (M) — the scribe who came up from this city to teach the Law in Jerusalem
Ezra 7:6
- Jehoiachin (M) — Judah's exiled king, held prisoner in this city for thirty-seven years
2 Kings 24:15; 2 Kings 25:27
- Meshach (M) — one of the three preserved unharmed in the fiery furnace in this city
Daniel 3:19-27
- Nebuchadnezzar (M) — its king, who deported Judah here and was himself humbled by God
Daniel 1:1; Daniel 4:28-33
- Nebuzaradan (M) — the guard commander who burned Jerusalem and deported its people here
2 Kings 25:8-11
- Shadrach (M) — one of the three preserved unharmed in the fiery furnace in this city
Daniel 3:19-27
- Zedekiah (M) — Judah's last king, brought here blinded and in chains
2 Kings 25:7
- Zerubbabel (M) — of the royal line, who led the first exiles back from this city
Ezra 2:2
Also named in Scripture at Babylon: Ahab (M), Arioch (M), Ashpenaz (M), Berodach-baladan (M), Darius (M), Elasah (M), Gabriel (M), Gemariah (M), Manasseh (M), Nebushazban (M), Nergal-sar-ezer (M), Seraiah (M), Shemaiah (M), Sherebiah (M), Sheshbazzar (M).