The Babylonians are named in Nephite prophecy as the power that would destroy Jerusalem and carry its people into captivity. Around 600 B.C., Lehi read from a book the warning that Jerusalem would be destroyed and that many of its inhabitants would perish by the sword while many others were carried away captive into Babylon (1 Nephi 1:13). Nephi repeated the prophecy, adding that after Jerusalem was destroyed and many were taken captive into Babylon, the people would in the Lord’s own time return out of captivity and possess again their land of inheritance (1 Nephi 10:3).
Nephi also quotes Isaiah’s words against Babylon and the Chaldeans. The Lord declares that he will do his pleasure on Babylon and that his arm shall come upon the Chaldeans (1 Nephi 20:14), and calls his people to go forth from Babylon and flee from the Chaldeans (1 Nephi 20:20). Nephi applies Isaiah’s words directly to his own people, explaining that he reads Isaiah so his hearers can liken all scriptures unto themselves for their profit and learning (1 Nephi 19:23), making the call to flee Babylon a standing summons rather than mere historical reportage. Isaiah’s “burden of Babylon” foretells that the city, the glory of kingdoms and the beauty of the Chaldees’ excellency, would be overthrown as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah (2 Nephi 23:1, 19). The Lord says he will cut off from Babylon its name, remnant, son, and nephew (2 Nephi 24:22), and that a proverb would be taken up against the king of Babylon, the fallen oppressor (2 Nephi 24:4). Isaiah’s portrait of that king is one of consummate pride: he boasts “I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High,” yet is immediately “brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit” (2 Nephi 24:14–15), presenting Babylon’s king as the paradigm of self-exaltation and its inevitable fall. Nephi states that Babylon would be destroyed (2 Nephi 25:15).
Nephi records that the destruction came as prophesied soon after Lehi left Jerusalem: the people hardened their hearts and were destroyed, except those carried away captive into Babylon (2 Nephi 25:10). At the time Zedekiah, king of Judah, was carried captive into Babylon, the people of Zarahemla, also called the Mulekites, had come out from Jerusalem (Omni 1:15).