Ancient Ziggurats
Ancient Manners and Customs, Daily Life, Cultures, Bible Lands

Ancient Ziggurat Reconstructed at the site of Ur in Iraq

Ziggurats in the ancient world were the centerpiece in any city where they were built, and they were more than a place of worship to the ancient Mesopotamians, they were the dwelling places of the gods. Babylon for example had a Ziggurat in the heart of their city. The Ziggurat was a temple on a man-made mountain where they would perform religious ceremonies exalting the god of that city. It is interesting that the Babylonians actually designed the architecture of the Ziggurat. They looked like pyramids but they were stepped rather than smooth. Ziggurat's usually contained seven stories, the bottom story would be the largest, the next story would be slightly smaller, and the next would be slightly smaller, and that is why it looked like a stepped pyramid. The Temple of Ishtar built by in ancient Nimrud by King Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon was actually built over the ruins of an earlier Ziggurat believed by some to have been the Tower of Babel.
  Ziggurats in Biblical Times

The Ziggurat was a word which means "mountain top" and in the ancient world it was a pyramid which was constructed in stages, with a Temple at the top. It was believed that the gods dwelt at the top and they called this "The Mountain Of The World." The Gods dwelt at the peak of the mountain top and strangely enough the colors of each stage of the Ziggurat were the seven different colors of the rainbow.

Description and Size of the Ziggurats

The Ziggurat was square at the base, about 300 feet in each direction. Their height was usually 200 - 300 feet tall. There were commonly seven stages of steps in the tower and each stage it would be slightly smaller throughout each of the seven stages. These step tower Ziggurats were used as temples in ancient Mesopotamia. There were no rooms, but long stairways or ramps on the outside of the structure connecting each level. They were often landscaped beautifully on the terraces, as it was with the Hanging Gardens of Babylon (see below) where water was brought up with machinery to keep it lush. Some Ziggurats were shaped like a cone, and ramps would wrap around the tower all the way to the top as in the picture below in the background. The Ziggurats were made of mud brick, mud and straw, or clay and then heated for strength. The Babylonians actually used an asphalt to glue each brick together.

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon

The Hanging gardens with the Tower of babel i the background.

The largest Ziggurats were over 300 square feet and 200 feet high. They were representative of man-made mountains that were created for the gods that they worshiped on the high mountain peaks. The Ziggurat at Ur is an example of when men came down to worship on the flat plains of the Tigris Euphrates Valley.

Drawing of a Ziggurat with seven stages.

The Great Ziggurat at Nimrud

The great Ziggurat of the Seven Spheres at ancient Nimrud (Borsippa) facing the northeast is connected to the Great Ziggurat or Tower of Babel, the original home of the race and the seat of that sacred mountain usually referred to as "the Great Mountain of Countries", scholars say is called "doubly sacred, the meeting-place of the gods and the place of entrance to the Arallu or Lower World."

Excavations conducted here by Sir Henry Rawlinson in 1854 showed it to be the stage tower or ziggurat, called the "house of the seven divisions of heaven and earth," of E-Zida, the temple of Nebo. On a large platform rose seven solid terraces, each smaller than the one below it, the lowest being 272 ft. square and 26 ft. high. Each of these terraces was faced with, bricks of I a different colour. The approach to this ziggurat was toward the north-east, and on this side lay also the principal rooms of the temple of which this was the tower. These rooms were partly excavated by Hormuzd Rassam in 1879-1880. In its final form this temple and tower were the work of Nebuchadrezzar, but from the clay cylinders found by Sir Henry Rawlinson in two of the corners of the tower it appears that he restored an incomplete ziggurat of a former king, "which was long since fallen into decay." Some of the best authorities believe that it was this ambitious but incomplete and ruinous ziggurat, existing before the time of Nebuchadrezzar, which gave occasion to or afforded local attachment for the Biblical story of the Tower of Babel. - Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society

This sketch is from at Kouyunjik of a limestone carved relief representing a Ziggurat in the background.


In Babylon King Nebuchadnezzar rebuilt the famous Temple at Borsippa (Nimrud) in 600 BC, and in his own inscriptions he reveals not only how beautiful it was, and how large it was, but also the exact measurements.

A sketch of the seven stepped Ziggurat
 

The Colors of the Ziggurat

"The ornamentation of the edifice was chiefly by means of color. The seven Stages represented the Seven Spheres, in which moved, according to ancient Chaldean astronomy, the seven planets. To each planet fancy, partly grounding itself upon fact, had from of old assigned a peculiar tint or hue. The Sun (Shamash) was golden ; the Moon (Sin or Nannar), silver ; the distant Saturn (Adar), almost beyond the region of light, was black; Jupiter (Marduk) was orange; the fiery Mars (Nergal) was red; Venus (Ishtar) was a pale yellow; Mercury (Nebo or Nabu, whose shrine stood on the top stage), a deep blue. The seven stages of the tower gave a visible embodiment to these fancies. The basement stage, assigned to Saturn, was blackened by means of a coating of bitumen spread over the face of the masonry ; the second stage, assigned to Jupiter, obtained the appropriate orange color by means of a facing of burnt bricks of that hue ; the third stage, that of Mars, was made blood-red by the use of half-burnt bricks formed of a bright-red clay ; the fourth stage, assigned to the Sun, appears to have been actually covered with thin plates of gold; the fifth, the stage of Venus, received a pale yellow tint from the employment of bricks of that hue ; the sixth, the sphere of Mercury, was given an azAire tint by vitrifaction, the whole stage having been subjected to an intense heat after it was erected, whereby the bricks composing it were converted into a mass of blue slag ; the seventh stage, that of the moon, was probably, like the fourth, coated with actual plates of metal. Thus the building rose up in stripes of varied color, arranged almost as nature's cunning hand arranges hues in the rainbow, tones of red coming first, succeeded by a broad stripe of yellow, the yellow being followed by blue. Above this the glowing silvery summit melted into the bright sheen of the sky. . . . The Tower is to be regarded as fronting the north-east, the coolest side, and that least exposed to the sun's rays from the time that they become oppressive in Babylonia. On this side was the ascent, which consisted probably of a broad staircase extending along the whole front of the building. The side platforms, at any rate of the first and second stages, probably of all, were occupied by a series of chambers. . . . In these were doubtless lodged the priests and other attendants upon the temple service..." - The Story of Chaldea P. 280

Ziggurats and Archaeology

Ziggurats (Akkadian ziqqurat, "to build on a raised area") were massive structures built in the ancient Mesopotamian valley and western Iranian plateau, having the form of a terraced step pyramid of successively receding stories or levels. Notable ziggurats include the Great Ziggurat of Ur near Nasiriyah, Iraq; the Ziggurat of Aqar Quf near Baghdad, Iraq; Chogha Zanbil in Khūzestān, Iran; and Sialk near Kashan, Iran....The Mesopotamians believed that these pyramid temples connected heaven and earth. In fact, the ziggurat at Babylon was known as Etemenankia or "House of the Platform between Heaven and Earth". - Wikipedia

The Tower of Babel

When the Earth begin to populate once again after the flood of Noah mankind gather together in one place, with one language, and under one ruler. They gathered in a plain called the land of Shinar, and followed a leader whose name was Nimrod, who was a mighty King and hunter before the Lord. he organized all men to build a large tower that would reach to heaven. Although the Bible does not record the actual name its common name is the Tower of Babel. In the Akkadian language (the language of ancient Mesopotamia) the word "Babel" means "the gate of God." The word in Hebrew means "mixture or confusion." It is believed by most scholars that the tower of Babel was actually a Ziggurat, that really existed in history, and the man Nimrod was an actual man that existed toward the latter part of the third millennium BC.

Confusion of Tongues Painting - Dore 1865
 

The Ziggurat Topics

Ancient Babylonia - The Ziggurat - Some of the earliest proper ziggurats were built by Ur-Nammu (2112-2095), a late Sumerian king of Ur. These were with three "steps" but later Ziggurats h ad as ...

Ziggurat at Ur of the Chaldees - This sketch illustrates how the appearance of the Ziggurat at Ur might've looked during the time of Abraham. The tower was square, terrorist, built out of solid ...

Ancient Ziggurat\'s and Temples: Illustrated History - Illustrations of Ancient Ziggurat's and Temples from the Ancient World Ancient Temple of Diana Coin In ancient times Diana was the Goddess of the Ephesians.

Ziggurat at Ur - The restored remains of the great ziggurat of ancient Ur, in southern Iraq. It was built with similar characteristics as the Tower of Babel mentioned in the Bible ...

Ancient Babylonia - Ziggurat - Ancient Babylonia - Ziggurat. ziggurat_stairs1.gif Form of temple common to the Sumerians, Babylonians and Assyrians. The earliest examples date ...

Ancient Babylonia - Archaeology - The Ziggurats Nabonidus Stele Cyrus Cylinder. BAR1.gif. PED1.gif. Babylonia. The modern recovery of the history of Babylonia began in the 19th century, ...

Ancient Babylonia - The Ishtar Gate - The Babylonians would assemble in front of it and march through the triumphal arch and proceed along the Sacred Way to the 7-story Ziggurat, which was ...

Ziggurat at Ur of the Chaldees - This sketch illustrates how the appearance of the Ziggurat at Ur might've looked during the time of Abraham. The tower was square, terrorist, built out of solid ...

Ziggurat - Ancient Persian Temples - Images and Illustrations (Bible ... - Ancient Ziggurat in Persian Temples - Bible History Online.

Illustration of a Ziggurat

Painting of The Tower of Babel by Pieter Brueghel the Elder (1563)

Topics Mentioning Babel in Smith's Bible Dictionary

Ur
was the land of Haran's nativity, #Ge 11:28| the place from which Terah and Abraham started "to go into the land of Canaan." #Ge 11:31| It is called in Genesis "Ur of the Chaldaeans," while in the Act

Cities
The earliest notice in Scripture of city-building is of Enoch by Cain, in the land of his exile. #Ge 4:17| After the confusion of tongues the descendants of Nimrod founded Babel, Erech, Accad and Caln

Babel
(confusion), Bab'ylon (Greek form of Babel), is properly the capital city of the country which is called in Genesis Shinar, and in the later books Chaldea, or the land of the Chaldeans. The first rise

Shinar
(country of two rivers), the ancient name of the great alluvial tract through which the Tigris and Euphrates pass before reaching the sea --the tract known in later times as Chaldaea or Babylonia. It

Tongues, Confusion of
The unity of the human race is most clearly implied, if not positively asserted, in the Mosaic writings. Unity of language is assumed by the sacred historian apparently as a corollary of the unity of

Nimrod
(rebellion; or the valiant), a son of Cush and grandson of Ham. The events of his life are recorded in Ge 10:8 ff., from which we learn (1) that he was a Cushite; (2) that he established an empire i

Topics Mentioning Babel in the ISBE Bible Encyclopedia

BABEL, BABYLON (1)
ba'-bel, bab'-i-lon (Topographical): Babylon was the Greek name of the city written in the cuneiform script of the Babylonians, bab-ili, which means in Semitic, "the gate of god." The Hebrews called t

BABEL, BABYLON (2)
@babhel; Assyro-Bab Bab-ili, Bab-ilani, "gate of god," or "of the gods," rendered in Sumerian as Ka-dingira, "gate of god," regarded as a folk-etymology): See BABEL, TOWER OF, section 14. 1. Names by

BABEL, TOWER OF
This expression does not occur in the Old Testament, but is used popularly for the tower mighdol built by the inhabitants of the world who, traveling in the East, built a city on the Plain of Shinar,

ASTROLOGY
as-trol'-o-ji: I. THE DESIRE TO FORECAST THE FUTURE 1. Methods of Soothsaying 2. Divination 3. Looking in the Liver 4. The Astrologers, or Dividers of the Heavens 5. The Stargazers, or Seers of the Co

LIBRARIES
li'-bra-riz, li'-brer-iz: 1. The Bible a Library 2. Mythological and Apocryphal Libraries 3. Libraries for the Dead 4. Memory Libraries 5. Prehistoric and Primitive Libraries 6. Mesopotamian Period 7.

ASTRONOMY, II
II. The Constellations. The principal achievement of the science of astronomy in the centuries during which the books of the Old Testament were written was the arrangement and naming of the constellat

ARCHAEOLOGY; ARCHAEOLOGY AND CRITICISM
ar-ke-ol'-o-ji, krit'-i-siz'-m: Archaeology, the science of antiquities, is in this article limited to the Biblical field, a field which has been variously delimited (De Wette, 1814, Gesenius), but wh

SEMITES, SEMITIC RELIGION
sem'-its, sem-it'-ik, 1. Biblical References 2. The Five Sons of Shem 3. Original Home of the Semites 4. Confusion with Other Races 5. Reliability of Genesis 10 6. Semitic Languages 7. Semitic Religio

JEREMIAH (2)
jer-e-mi'-a: 1. Name and Person 2. Life of Jeremiah 3. The Personal Character of Jeremiah 4. The Prophecies of Jeremiah 5. The Book of Jeremiah 6. Authenticity and Integrity of the Book 7. Relation to

CRAFTS
|| I. SOURCES OF OUR KNOWLEDGE OF THE CRAFTS OF THE BIBLE 1. Written Records and Discoveries of Craftsmanship (1) Jewish (2) Canaanitish and Phoenician (3) Assyrian and Babylonian (4) Egyptian 2. Post

ARCHITECTURE
ar'-ki-tek-tur: I. GENERAL HISTORY 1. Plans, Estimates and Measuring 2. Old Testament References II. TEMPLE AND PALACE OF SOLOMON 1. Construction and Materials 2. Style 3. Facts 4. Phoenician Designer

BABYLONIA
bab-i-lo'-ni-a 1. Mounds 2. Explorations 3. Names 4. Semites 5. Sumerians 6. Home of the Semites 7. Immigration 8. Language 9. Script 10. Architecture 11. Art 12. Literature 13. Libraries 14. Personal

POTTER; POTTERY
pot'-er, pot'-er-i: 1. Historical Development 2. Forms 3. Methods of Production 4. Uses 5. Biblical Terms 6. Archaeological Significance LITERATURE 1. Historical Development: (1) Prehistoric. The mak

CHALDEA; CHALDEANS
kal-de'-a, kal-de'-anz (kasdim, 'erets kasdim; Chaldaia, Chaldaioi): 1. Geographical Position Seats of the Chaldeans 2. Originally Sumero-Akkadian 3. History of the Chaldean Tribes 4. Merodach-baladan

CHEDORLAOMER
ked-or-la-o'-mer, ked-or-la'-omer (kedhorla`omer; Chodollogomor): 1. was He the Elamite King Kudur-lahgumal? 2. Kudur-lahgumal and the Babylonians 3. The Son of Eri-Ekua 4. Durmah-ilani, Tudhul(a) and

ERECH
e'-rek, er'-ek ('erekh; Orech): 1. Etymology of the Name: The second of the cities founded by Nimrod, the others being Babel, Accad and Calneh (Gen 10:10). The derivation of the name is well known, Er

TABLE OF NATIONS
|| 1. The Table and Its Object 2. What It Includes and Excludes 3. Order of the Three Races 4. Extent of Each 5. Sons of Japheth 6. Sons and Descendants of Ham 7. Further Descendants of Ham 8. Sons of

CUSH (1)
kush (kush): 1. The Ancestor of Many Nations: (1) The first of the sons of Ham, from whom sprang Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah and Sabtecah. He was also the father of Nimrod, who rounded Babel (Babylo

SHINAR
shi'-nar (shin`ar; Senaar Sen(n)aar): 1. Identification 2. Possible Babylonian Form of the Name 3. Sumerian and Other Equivalents 4. The Syriac Sen'ar 5. The Primitive Tongue of Shinar 6. Comparison w

CALAH
ka'-la (kalach; Chalach, also Chalak or Kalach; in Assyrian Kalhu, Kalha, Kalhi, Kalah): The name of one of the great cities of Nimrod (Gen 10:11), or rather, Asshur (text), which formed, with Nineveh

TONGUES, CONFUSION OF
tungz: 1. The Narrative: According to Gen 11:1-9, at some time not very long after the Flood, "the whole earth was of one language and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed east" (the

HAVILAH
hav'-i-la (chawilah; Heuila): (1) Son of Cush (Gen 10:7; 1 Ch 1:9). (2) Son of Yoktan, descendant of Shem (Gen 10:29; 1 Ch 1:23). (3) Mentioned with Shur as one of the limits of the territory of the I

CALNEH
kal'-ne (kalneh; Chalanne): The name of the fourth city of Nimrod's kingdom (Gen 10:10), the three preceding it being Babel, Erech, and Accad, i.e. the capital of the realm of Babylonia and the chief

Topics Mentioning Babel in Easton's Bible Dictionary
Dispersion
(Gr. diaspora, "scattered," James 1:1; 1 Pet. 1:1) of the Jews. At various times, and from the operation of divers causes, the Jews were separated and scattered into foreign countries "to the outmost

Babylon
the Greek form of BABEL; Semitic form Babilu, meaning "The Gate of God." In the Assyrian tablets it means "The city of the dispersion of the tribes." The monumental list of its kings reaches back to B

Anakim
the descendants of Anak (Josh. 11:21; Num. 13:33; Deut. 9:2). They dwelt in the south of Israel, in the neighbourhood of Hebron (Gen. 23:2; Josh. 15:13). In the days of Abraham (Gen. 14:5, 6) they inh

Shinar, The Land of
LXX. and Vulgate "Senaar;" in the inscriptions, "Shumir;" probably identical with Babylonia or Southern Mesopotamia, extending almost to the Persian Gulf. Here the tower of Babel was built (Gen. 11:1-

Bricks
the making of, formed the chief labour of the Israelites in Egypt (Ex. 1:13, 14). Those found among the ruins of Babylon and Nineveh are about a foot square and four inches thick. They were usually dr

Tongues, Confusion of
at Babel, the cause of the early separation of mankind and their division into nations. The descendants of Noah built a tower to prevent their dispersion; but God "confounded their language" (Gen. 11:

Peleg
division, one of the sons of Eber; so called because "in his days was the earth divided" (Gen. 10:25). Possibly he may have lived at the time of the dispersion from Babel. But more probably the refere

Towers
of Babel (Gen. 11:4), Edar (Gen. 35:21), Penuel (Judg. 8:9, 17), Shechem (9:46), David (Cant. 4:4), Lebanon (7:4), Syene (Ezek. 29:10), Hananeel (Zech. 14:10), Siloam (Luke 13:4). There were several t

Nimrod
firm, a descendant of Cush, the son of Ham. He was the first who claimed to be a "mighty one in the earth." Babel was the beginning of his kingdom, which he gradually enlarged (Gen. 10:8-10). The "lan

Babel, tower of
the name given to the tower which the primitive fathers of our race built in the land of Shinar after the Deluge (Gen. 11:1-9). Their object in building this tower was probably that it might be seen a

Sheshach
(Jer. 25:26), supposed to be equivalent to Babel (Babylon), according to a secret (cabalistic) mode of writing among the Jews of unknown antiquity, which consisted in substituting the last letter of t

Topics Mentioning Babel in Fausset's Bible Dictionary

Mesopotamia
("region between the rivers"); 700 miles long, from 20 to 250 broad; bounded N.E. by the Tigris, S.W. by the Euphrates. Its Hebrew name Aram Naharaim means "Aram between the rivers." The tribe sprung from Aram, Shem's fourth son, first colonized it. Man's first dwelling after the flood. Here was

Brick
The earliest were those used in building Babel, of clay burned in the fire. Genesis 11:3, "Let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly (margin burn them to a burning). And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar." So Herodotus states that in building Babylon's walls the clay dug o

Merodach baladan
From the idol Merodach and Baladan ("Bel is his lord"). Read in the Assyrian inscriptions Mardoc Erapad, or Empalin Ptolemy's canon, Merodach Baldan in Polyhistor (Eusebius, Chron. Can. 1; 5:1). Reigned twice in Babylon with an interval between. Warred with Sargon and Sennacherib successively, ha

Ham
("hot".) 1. The Egyptian. frontKEM.) (Egypt is singularly the land of Ham, Psalm 78:51; Psalm 105:23), "black"; the sun-burnt and those whose soil is black, as Ethiopia means. Father (i.e. ancestor) of Cush (Ethiopia), Mizraim (See EGYPT), Phut (Libya), and Canaan. These mean races. not indivi

Chaldaea
(See BABEL.) Properly the S. part of Babylonia, chiefly on the right bank of the Euphrates, but used to designate the whole country. Ur or Umqueir, more toward the mouth of the Euphrates, was the original chief city of Chaldaea; here inscriptions of the 22nd century B.C., deciphered lately, prove

Hebrew language
Called "the language of Canaan" (Isaiah 19:18), as distinguished from that of Egypt; "the Jewish" as distinguished from Aramean (2 Kings 18:26; 2 Kings 18:28). (See HEBREW above.) Internal evidence also favors its Palestinian origin; as yam "the sea," in oldest documents used for the west. It is

Accad
One of the cities in the land of Shinar, with Babel, Erech, and Calneh, the beginning of Nimrod's kingdom (Genesis 10:10). Jerome (Onomasticon) testifies that the Jews then believed Nisibis was Accad, a city on the river Khabour, in the N.E. of Mesopotamia, midway between Orfa and Nineveh. So the

Nimrod
Cush's son or descendant, Ham's grandson (Genesis 10:8). "Nimrod began to be a mighty one in the earth," i.e. he was the first of Noah's descendants who became renowned for bold and daring deeds, the Septuagint "giant" (compare Genesis 6:4; Genesis 6:13; Isaiah 13:3). "He was a mighty hunter befo

Cush (2)
Genesis 10:6-8; 1 Chronicles 1:8-10. Oldest son of Ham; his descendants were Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, Sabtechah; Raamah's sons, Sheba and Dedan; Nimrod, mentioned after the rest as Cush's son, was probably a more remote descendant: Cush ethnologically includes not only Ethiopia (meanin

Calah
A most ancient Assyrian city founded by Asshur (Genesis 10:11), or rather by Nimrod; for the right translation is, "out of that city (namely, Babel in Shinar) he (Nimrod) went forth to Asshur (Assyria E. of the Tigris) and builded Nineveh and Rehoboth-ir (i.e. city markets), and Calah and Rosen,

Peleg
("division".) Eber's son, Joktan's brother (Genesis 10:25; Genesis 11:16). "In his days the earth was divided." His name marks an epoch in the world's history: (1) God's intimation of His will that the earth was to be divided in an orderly distribution of the various families of mankind, which

The Bible Mentions Babylon Often

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2 Kings 24:7 - And the king of Egypt came not again any more out of his land: for the king of Babylon had taken from the river of Egypt unto the river Euphrates all that pertained to the king of Egypt.

Ezra 6:5 - And also let the golden and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took forth out of the temple which [is] at Jerusalem, and brought unto Babylon, be restored, and brought again unto the temple which [is] at Jerusalem, [every one] to his place, and place [them] in the house of God.

2 Kings 25:27 - And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the seven and twentieth [day] of the month, [that] Evilmerodach king of Babylon in the year that he began to reign did lift up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah out of prison;

Jeremiah 52:31 - And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, in the five and twentieth [day] of the month, [that] Evilmerodach king of Babylon in the [first] year of his reign lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah, and brought him forth out of prison,

Jeremiah 21:7 - And afterward, saith the LORD, I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, and his servants, and the people, and such as are left in this city from the pestilence, from the sword, and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those that seek their life: and he shall smite them with the edge of the sword; he shall not spare them, neither have pity, nor have mercy.

Jeremiah 50:2 - Declare ye among the nations, and publish, and set up a standard; publish, [and] conceal not: say, Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces; her idols are confounded, her images are broken in pieces.

Jeremiah 44:30 - Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will give Pharaohhophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies, and into the hand of them that seek his life; as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, his enemy, and that sought his life.

Micah 4:10 - Be in pain, and labour to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail: for now shalt thou go forth out of the city, and thou shalt dwell in the field, and thou shalt go [even] to Babylon; there shalt thou be delivered; there the LORD shall redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies.

Jeremiah 32:4 - And Zedekiah king of Judah shall not escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans, but shall surely be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, and shall speak with him mouth to mouth, and his eyes shall behold his eyes;

Jeremiah 20:6 - And thou, Pashur, and all that dwell in thine house shall go into captivity: and thou shalt come to Babylon, and there thou shalt die, and shalt be buried there, thou, and all thy friends, to whom thou hast prophesied lies.

Jeremiah 38:23 - So they shall bring out all thy wives and thy children to the Chaldeans: and thou shalt not escape out of their hand, but shalt be taken by the hand of the king of Babylon: and thou shalt cause this city to be burned with fire.

Jeremiah 36:29 - And thou shalt say to Jehoiakim king of Judah, Thus saith the LORD; Thou hast burned this roll, saying, Why hast thou written therein, saying, The king of Babylon shall certainly come and destroy this land, and shall cause to cease from thence man and beast?

Ezra 5:17 - Now therefore, if [it seem] good to the king, let there be search made in the king's treasure house, which [is] there at Babylon, whether it be [so], that a decree was made of Cyrus the king to build this house of God at Jerusalem, and let the king send his pleasure to us concerning this matter.

Jeremiah 52:17 - Also the pillars of brass that [were] in the house of the LORD, and the bases, and the brasen sea that [was] in the house of the LORD, the Chaldeans brake, and carried all the brass of them to Babylon.

2 Kings 25:13 - And the pillars of brass that [were] in the house of the LORD, and the bases, and the brasen sea that [was] in the house of the LORD, did the Chaldees break in pieces, and carried the brass of them to Babylon.

Jeremiah 25:1 - The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, that [was] the first year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon;

Jeremiah 35:11 - But it came to pass, when Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came up into the land, that we said, Come, and let us go to Jerusalem for fear of the army of the Chaldeans, and for fear of the army of the Syrians: so we dwell at Jerusalem.

Ezekiel 29:18 - Son of man, Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon caused his army to serve a great service against Tyrus: every head [was] made bald, and every shoulder [was] peeled: yet had he no wages, nor his army, for Tyrus, for the service that he had served against it:

Esther 2:6 - Who had been carried away from Jerusalem with the captivity which had been carried away with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away.

Jeremiah 39:9 - Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive into Babylon the remnant of the people that remained in the city, and those that fell away, that fell to him, with the rest of the people that remained.

Jeremiah 34:2 - Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah, and tell him, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire:

Matthew 1:12 - And after they were brought to Babylon, Jechonias begat Salathiel; and Salathiel begat Zorobabel;

Jeremiah 46:2 - Against Egypt, against the army of Pharaohnecho king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates in Carchemish, which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon smote in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah.

Jeremiah 51:34 - Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon hath devoured me, he hath crushed me, he hath made me an empty vessel, he hath swallowed me up like a dragon, he hath filled his belly with my delicates, he hath cast me out.

Jeremiah 27:18 - But if they [be] prophets, and if the word of the LORD be with them, let them now make intercession to the LORD of hosts, that the vessels which are left in the house of the LORD, and [in] the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem, go not to Babylon.

Daniel 5:7 - The king cried aloud to bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers. [And] the king spake, and said to the wise [men] of Babylon, Whosoever shall read this writing, and shew me the interpretation thereof, shall be clothed with scarlet, and [have] a chain of gold about his neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.

Isaiah 14:22 - For I will rise up against them, saith the LORD of hosts, and cut off from Babylon the name, and remnant, and son, and nephew, saith the LORD.

Daniel 3:12 - There are certain Jews whom thou hast set over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; these men, O king, have not regarded thee: they serve not thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.

Jeremiah 40:5 - Now while he was not yet gone back, [he said], Go back also to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon hath made governor over the cities of Judah, and dwell with him among the people: or go wheresoever it seemeth convenient unto thee to go. So the captain of the guard gave him victuals and a reward, and let him go.

Jeremiah 51:11 - Make bright the arrows; gather the shields: the LORD hath raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes: for his device [is] against Babylon, to destroy it; because it [is] the vengeance of the LORD, the vengeance of his temple.
 

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Bible Study and Faith

"The Bible is the most priceless possession of the human race." - Henry H. Halley

"This handbook is dedicated to the proposition that every Christian should be a constant and devoted reader of the Bible, and that the primary business of the church and ministry is to lead, foster, and encourage their people in the habit."

"The vigor of our spiritual life will be in exact proportion to the place held by the Bible in our life and thoughts."

"Great has been the blessing from consecutive, diligent, daily study. I look upon it as a lost day when I have not had a good time over the word of God." - George Muller

"I prayed for faith, and thought that some day faith would come down and strike me like lightning. But faith did not seem to come. One day I read in the 10th chapter of Romans, 'Now faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.' I had closed my Bible, and prayed for faith. I now opened my Bible, and began to study, and faith has been growing ever since." - D. L. Moody

-H. H. Halley "Halley's Bible Handbook" (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1960) p. 4, 6


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Archaeological Study of the Bible

"A substantial proof for the accuracy of the Old Testament text has come from archaeology. Numerous discoveries have confirmed the historical accuracy of the biblical documents, even down to the obsolete names of foreign kings... Rather than a manifestation of complete ignorance of the facts of its day, the biblical record thus reflects a great knowledge by the writer of his day, as well as precision in textual transmission."

-Norman L. Geisler, William Nix "A General Introduction to the Bible" 5th Edition (Chicago: Moody Press 1983) p. 253


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