Babylon was taken by Persian emperor Cyrus the Great within one hundred years of this prophecy. He didn’t destroy it, but maintained its importance as a capital of the new Persian Empire he gained from the defeated Babylonians. Upheaval of war caused the city to wane until it was ultimately abandoned in the first century. Located in Iraq, it is still a ruin.
God mentioned the Medes by name as the conquerors of Babylon. Media was a small and obscure kingdom at the time of this prophecy, and no one could fathom its rising to defeat Babylon. The Medes united with the Persians to gain the strength to do just that. We’ll read about the sudden fall of Babylon in the book of Daniel.
Notice how small the numbers of deportees were. God’s people had certainly dwindled from the hundreds of thousands who entered the Promised Land under Joshua’s leadership.
All of this reminds us that God will judge. He will judge His own people. He will judge at the risk of His own reputation. We must never presume to think that we can escape deserved judgment.