How the mighty have fallen

Isaiah Chapter 13

I'm not sure why there's a jump from Israel-Syria-Assyria to Babylon, but here we have a prophecy for the kingdom of Babylon. And it's not a good one.

I learned a little about Babylon in a world history class in middle school.  It was a big kingdom, very powerful, and they created a certain irrigation system called the hanging gardens, which let them make beautiful gardens in Babylon. Pretty amazing, yeah?

Well, I guess all of this got to their heads, because according to this passage, they were very prideful. (v. 19, the glory of kingdoms, the splendor and pomp of the Chaldeans).  On top of that, of course they were a nation that didn't believe in God.  Rather, they had many gods.  So God tells Isaiah that He's going to destroy them.

"The LORD of hosts is mustering a host for battle... They come from a distant land... Behold, I am stirring up the Medes against them... And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the splendor and pomp of the Chaldeans, will be like Sodom and Gomorroah when God overthrew them." (Isa 4b,5a,17a 19)

So I feel that the point of this passage is to show that even if people look really successful, if they don't believe in God, they will fail someday-maybe sooner or maybe later... That's what I understood.