If Thanksgiving Day fell during a different week this year, yesterday we would have heard these words from the Revelation to John, “And [the angel] called out with a mighty voice, ‘Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great!’ ”[1] In the Old Testament, these words are found in Isaiah. In 539 BC, Cyrus, founder of the first Persian Empire, conquers Babylon, then the world's largest city. Cyrus would permit Israel and Judea's exiles to return and rebuild Jerusalem with its walls and temple.[2]
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