And when Babylon is condemned for not letting prisoners go home, I can’t help but think of Guantanamo Bay and child immigration detention centers in Texas. Isaiah’s bitter taunt ends with a prophecy that Babylon will soon be swept off the world stage: “I will sweep her with the broom of destruction, says the Lord Almighty.”[16] And in 539 bc Babylon fell to Persia. “Babylon is fallen, is fallen,” cry the prophets.[17] Nevertheless Babylon has a way of coming back—not the Akkadian-speaking kingdom of southern Mesopotamia, but the satanic dehumanizing spirit of empire. In the days of Jesus that
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