Ancient Babylon became “the jewel of kingdoms.” (Isaiah 13:19, The New American Bible) This sprawling city was strategically located on the trade route from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea, serving as a commercial depot for both land and sea trade between the East and the West.

By the seventh century B.C.E., Babylon was the seemingly impregnable capital of the Babylonian Empire. The city straddled the Euphrates River, and the river’s waters were used to form a broad, deep moat and a network of canals. In addition, the city was protected by a massive system of double walls, buttressed by numerous defense towers. Little wonder that its inhabitants felt secure.

Nevertheless, in the eighth century B.C.E., before Babylon rose to the height of its glory, the prophet Isaiah foretold that Babylon would be ‘swept with the broom of annihilation.’ (Isaiah 13:19; 14:22, 23) Isaiah also described the very manner in which Babylon would fall. The invaders would ‘dry up’ its rivers—the source of its moatlike defense—making the city vulnerable. Isaiah even supplied the name of the conqueror—“Cyrus,” a great Persian king, “before whom gates shall be opened and no doors be shut.”—Isaiah 44:27–45:2, The New English Bible.

“She Will Never Be Inhabited”

What would become of Babylon after its fall? Isaiah foretold: “She will never be inhabited, nor will she reside for generation after generation. And there the Arab will not pitch his tent, and no shepherds will let their flocks lie down there.” (Isaiah 13:20) It may have seemed odd, to say the least, to predict that such a favorably situated city would become permanently uninhabited. Could Isaiah’s words have been written after he had observed a desolate Babylon?

Following the takeover by Cyrus, an inhabited Babylon—albeit an inferior one—continued for centuries. Recall that the Dead Sea Scrolls include a copy of the complete book of Isaiah that is dated to the second century B.C.E. About the time that that scroll was being copied, the Parthians took control of Babylon. In the first century C.E., there was a settlement of Jews in Babylon, and the Bible writer Peter visited there. (1 Peter 5:13) By that time, the Dead Sea Scroll of Isaiah had been in existence for the better part of two centuries. So, as of the first century C.E., Babylon still was not completely desolate, yet Isaiah’s book had been finished long before then.a

As foretold, Babylon eventually became mere “piles of stones.” (Jeremiah 51:37) According to the Hebrew scholar Jerome (fourth century C.E.), by his day Babylon was a hunting ground in which “beasts of every type” roamed.⁹ Babylon remains desolate to this day.

Isaiah never lived to see Babylon become uninhabited. But the ruins of that once powerful city, about 50 miles [80 km] south of Baghdad, in modern Iraq, bear silent testimony to the fulfillment of his words: “She will never be inhabited.” Any restoration of Babylon as a tourist attraction might lure visitors, but Babylon’s “progeny and posterity” are gone forever.—Isaiah 13:20; 14:22, 23.

The prophet Isaiah thus did not utter vague predictions that could be made to fit just any future happening. Neither did he rewrite history to make it appear as prophecy. Think about it: Why would an impostor risk “prophesying” something over which he would have absolutely no control—that mighty Babylon would never again be inhabited?