Isaiah 39:5

"Then said Isaiah unto Hezekiah, Hear the word of Jehovah of hosts: Behold the days are coming, when all that is in thy house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried to Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith Jehovah."

As Rawlinson observed that, "Concerning the exact times and seasons, the prophets generally knew nothing. They were mouth-pieces to deliver the Divine will. They were not keen-witted politicians, forecasting results by the exercise of sharpsightedness and sagacity."[12]

No human wisdom could have supplied such information as this to Isaiah. Babylon, at the time of this prophecy, was a rebellious portion of the Assyrian Empire; and it would be only a few years until Esarhaddon, the son of Sennacherib, would be on the throne of Babylon. What an unlikely prophecy this must have appeared to be! Nevertheless, in about 120 years, all of this prophecy was completely fulfilled in Babylon's rape of Jerusalem and the deportation of the royal family first, and later, the whole population to Babylon.

As Jamieson pointed out this is "the very first place in the Bible where the place of Israel's punishment is announced."[13] It is particularly important, however, that this is by no means the first prophecy of Israel's being plucked off of `their land.' Moses prophesied, "Ye shall be plucked off the land; and Jehovah will scatter thee among all peoples" (Deuteronomy 28:63,64). Ahijah prophesied against Jeroboam: "Jehovah will root up Israel out of this good land which he gave to their fathers, and will scatter them beyond the River, because they have made their Asherim, provoking Jehovah to anger" (1 Kings 14:15). "Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith Jehovah, whose name is the god of hosts" (Amos 5:27). Here, at last in the prophecy of Isaiah, God finally revealed the very city into which Israel would be carried captive. Although it had been known from the beginning by the Father that Babylon would be the place of Israel's captivity, it was only in this chapter that God at last revealed it through Isaiah. Yet, it is clear enough that "Babylon" was actually intended in those other prophecies.