At the beginning of our era, Babylon was still partly inhabited and the surrounding country was cultivated. In the second century, the walls were still standing. During the fourth century they served as an enclosure for wild animals, and Persian monarchs went there to amuse themselves hunting. By and by the location was lost sight of and forgotten. More modern writers—Dr. Alexander Keith, among others—note the utter desolation of the once famous city. From the place where once the temple of Bel and the royal palaces rose in majestic heights, to the streets, everything has been reduced to gravel hills. Some are large; others are smaller. One who sees the innumerable parallel hills and the depressions between them does not know whether they are remnants of streets or canals. Babylon is fallen. Its foundations could not have been brought lower. Its “pomp has been brought down to the grave.” It has literally become “pools of water.” For laborers have made innumerable excavations to get travel, or clay, for industrial purposes, and when the Euphrates overflows its banks, its water fills these hollows forming pools, or swamps. Such was the glory of Babylon less than a century ago. (Comp. Jer. 51:42)
Bittern. The Hebrew is “kippod,” a word that occurs only in three places in the Bible: here, Is. 34:11, and Zeph. 2:14. Opinions differ concerning the meaning of it. Gensenius derives it from “kappad,” to “shorten,” or “contract” oneself, and translates it, “leech” (Grm. “Igel”). Our accepted translation, “bittern” is a species of heron, a bird with long feathers on the breast and neck, and a strong, pointed bill, which is known to frequent the marshes and rivers of western Asia and eastern Europe.
Concerning the desolation of the place that once was Babylon, Dr. Keith says there was no trace of vegetation. The ground looked as if it had been washed again and again by the rising and falling river, until every vestige of good soil had been swept away. Yet, the higher located sections had not been reached by the overflow and were therefore dry and parched as a desert, while the lower land was a swamp.