²⁰ “This is what Jehovah has said, your Repurchaser and the Former of you from the belly: ‘I, Jehovah, am doing everything, stretching out the heavens by myself, laying out the earth. Who was with me? I am frustrating the signs of the empty talkers, and I am the One that makes diviners themselves act crazily; the One turning wise men backwards, and the One that turns even their knowledge into foolishness; the One making the word of his servant come true, and the One that carries out completely the counsel of his own messengers; the One saying of Jerusalem, “She will be inhabited,” and of the cities of Judah, “They will be rebuilt, and her desolated places I shall raise up”; the One saying to the watery deep, “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 44:24-28.

22. Describe how the Euphrates River evaporates.

²² Uninspired diviners usually dare not be too specific in their predictions for fear that time will prove them wrong. By contrast, through Isaiah, Jehovah reveals the very name of the man he will use to free his people from captivity so that they can go home and rebuild Jerusalem and the temple. His name is Cyrus, and he is known as Cyrus the Great of Persia. Jehovah also gives details of the strategy that Cyrus will use to penetrate Babylon’s massive and elaborate defense system. Babylon will be protected by high walls and by waterways that run through and around the city. Cyrus will turn a main element of that system​—the Euphrates River—​to his advantage. According to ancient historians Herodotus and Xenophon, at a location upstream from Babylon, Cyrus diverted the waters of the Euphrates until the level of the river dropped low enough for his soldiers to wade through. As far as its ability to protect Babylon is concerned, the mighty Euphrates evaporates.