Isaiah 13:19

“And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, &c.] The first and most ancient kingdom, (<011010>Genesis 10:10) and now, at the time of its fall, the largest and most extensive; wherefore of the image Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream, which was a representation of several kingdoms, this was the head, the head of gold, (<270231>Daniel 2:31,38) so Babylon is called the “lady of kingdoms”, (<234705>Isaiah 47:5) the word here used for “glory” is the same with that which is rendered a “roe”, (<231314>Isaiah 13:14). Babylon was once as a pleasant roe, but now a chased one: the beauty of the Chaldees excellency; the glory of that nation; what they gloried in, being so famous for pompous buildings, number of…”

“glory of kingdoms-- (Isa 14:4; Isa 47:5; Jer 51:41). beauty of . . . excellency--Hebrew, "the glory of the pride" of the Chaldees; it was their glory and boast. as . . . Gomorrah--as utterly (Jer 49:18; Jer 50:40; Amo 4:11). Taken by Cyrus, by clearing out the canal made for emptying the superfluous waters of the Euphrates, and directing the river into this new channel, so that he was able to enter the city by the old bed in the night.”

“And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms - That is, the capital or chief ornament of many nations. Appellations of this kind, applied to Babylon, abound in the Scriptures. In Daniel 4:30, it is called ‘great Babylon;’ in Isaiah 14:4, it is called ‘the golden city;’ in Isaiah 47:5, ‘the lady of kingdoms;’ in Jeremiah 51:13, it is, spoken of as ‘abundant in treasures;’ and, in Jeremiah 51:41, as ‘the praise of the whole earth.’ All these expressions are designed to indicate its immense wealth and magnificence. It was the capital of a mighty empire, and was the chief city of the pagan world. The beauty of the Chaldees’ excellency - Hebrew, ‘The glory of the pride of the Chaldees;’ or the ornament of…”

“Glory - Which once was the most noble of all the kingdoms. Beauty - The beautiful seat of the Chaldean monarchy shall be totally and irrecoverably destroyed. Isaiah 13:20”

“13:19-22 This picture of Babylon as a perpetually haunted ruin contrasts with its magnificence at its peak (see Dan 4:29-30).”

“Babylon: Babylon, whose destruction and utter ruin are here predicted, was situated in the midst of a large plain, having a very deep and fruitful soil, on the Euphrates, about 252 miles south-east of Palmyra, and the same distance north-west of Susa and the Persian gulf, in lat. 32 degrees 30 minutes n and long. 44 degrees 20 minutes e. According to Herodotus, it formed a perfect square, each side of which was 120 stadia, and consequently its circumference 480 stadia, or sixty miles; inclosed by a wall 200 cubits high, and fifty wide, on the top of which were small watch towers of one story high, leaving a space between them, through which a chariot and four might pass and turn. On each…”

“"And Babel, the ornament of kingdoms, the proud boast of the Chaldeans, becomes like Elohim's overthrowing judgment upon Sodom and Gomorrah." The ornament of kingdoms (mamlâcoth), because it was the centre of many conquered kingdoms, which now avenged themselves upon it ( Isa 13:4); the pride (cf., Isa 28:1), because it was the primitive dwelling-place of the Chaldeans of the lowlands, that ancient cultivated people, who were related to the Chaldean tribes of the Carduchisan mountains in the north-east of Mesopotamia, though not of the same origin, and of totally different manners (see at Isa 23:13). Their present catastrophe resembled that of Sodom and Gomorrah: the two eths are…”