7, 8. What inspired message did Isaiah have for Babylon, and what did his words mean?

⁷ Judah and Jerusalem were to be desolated, without human inhabitant, for 70 years. However, Jehovah declared through Isaiah and Ezekiel that the city would be rebuilt and the land inhabited at the precise time that he had foretold! This was an amazing prediction. Why? Because Babylon had the reputation of never freeing her prisoners. (Isaiah 14:4, 15-17) So who could possibly liberate these captives? Who could overthrow mighty Babylon, with her colossal walls and river-defense system? Almighty Jehovah could! And he said that he would: “I am . . . the One saying to the watery deep [that is, the watery defense of the city], ‘Be evaporated; and all your rivers I shall dry up’; the One saying of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd, and all that I delight in he will completely carry out’; even in my saying of Jerusalem, ‘She will be rebuilt,’ and of the temple, ‘You will have your foundation laid.’”—Isaiah 44:25, 27, 28.

⁸ Think of that! The Euphrates River, a truly formidable barrier to men, was to Jehovah like a drop of water on a red-hot surface. Poof, the barrier would evaporate! Babylon would fall. Although it was about 150 years before the birth of Cyrus the Persian, Jehovah had Isaiah foretell this king’s capture of Babylon and the liberating of the Jewish captives by his authorizing their return to rebuild Jerusalem and its temple.

11. Why did the inhabitants of Babylon feel secure?

¹¹ At the time Cyrus moved against Babylon, its citizens felt very safe and secure. Their city was surrounded by a deep and broad protective moat, formed by the Euphrates River. Where the river ran through the city, there was a continuous quay along the east bank of the river. To separate it from the city, Nebuchadnezzar built what he called “a great wall, which like a mountain cannot be moved . . . Its head [he] raised mountain high.”a This wall had gates with huge copper doors. To enter them, one had to climb up the slope from the river’s edge. No wonder Babylon’s prisoners despaired of ever being set free!

12, 13. How did Jehovah’s words through his messenger Isaiah come true when Babylon fell to Cyrus?

¹² But not those Jewish captives who had faith in Jehovah! They had a bright hope. Through his prophets, God had promised to liberate them. How did God fulfill his promise? Cyrus ordered his armies to divert the Euphrates River at a point several miles north of Babylon. Thus, the city’s chief defense was turned into a relatively dry riverbed.