The Rise of Babylon
A new superpower steps in
The Babylonian Empire rose to power when the mighty Assyrian Empire collapsed in the late 600s BC. Assyria had ruled the Middle East for more than 200 years, crushing anyone who got in the way. But when Nineveh, their capital city, fell in 612 BC, the empire started to unravel. Babylon, a former Assyrian ally, stepped in to fill the vacuum.
The fall of Assyria
Assyrian survivors retreated west to the city of Haran. But the Babylonians, led by King Nabopolassar, chased them down and destroyed what was left of Assyria’s army. Egypt’s Pharaoh Necho II marched north to help the Assyrians, hoping to stop Babylon before it became too strong. But the Egyptians were too late. By 609 BC, Haran was gone, and Assyria was history.
Egypt’s last stand
The Egyptians regrouped and tried to take a stand at Carchemish, a fortress city on the Euphrates River. That’s where Babylon’s army—now led by Nabopolassar’s son, Nebuchadnezzar—crushed them in 605 BC. That victory made Babylon the uncontested superpower of the region.
Marching toward Judah
With Assyria gone and Egypt in retreat, Babylon controlled everything from the Persian Gulf to the border of Egypt. Soon afterward, Nebuchadnezzar turned south toward Judah, where Jerusalem sat squarely in the path of his expanding empire.
A new world order
The fall of Assyria and the rise of Babylon changed the world map—and the Bible story. Prophets like Jeremiah and Ezekiel lived through the shift, warning Judah that Babylon’s rise wasn’t just politics. It was divine judgment coming to their door.
