20, 21. How do Babylon’s neighbors rejoice at her fall?

²⁰ More than 100 years before Babylon’s rise as the preeminent world power, Isaiah foretells the world’s reaction to her fall. Prophetically, he commands Israelites who have been freed from captivity to her: “You must raise up this proverbial saying against the king of Babylon and say: ‘How has the one driving others to work come to a stop, the oppression come to a stop!

Isaiah 14:4

Babylon has built up quite a reputation as a conqueror, an oppressor who turns free people into slaves. How fitting that her fall be celebrated with a “proverbial saying” directed primarily at the Babylonian dynasty​—starting with Nebuchadnezzar and ending with Nabonidus and Belshazzar—​that presided over the glory days of the great city!