Babylon

Bab´uh-lahn; from Akkadian bâb îli, “the gate of the god”

The Akkadian name of a Mesopotamian city. In the Hebrew Bible, Babylon refers both to Babylonia and Babylon, the region and its capital. Here, the population of Jerusalem was taken into captivity (2Kgs 24:10-25:21). In the NT (Matt 1:12; Matt 1:17; Acts 7:43), the name of the ancient city is used to depict Rome in its hostility to the Christian movement (1Pet 5:13; Rev 14:8; Rev 16:19; Rev 17:5; Rev 18:2; Rev 18:10; Rev 18:21).