Commentaire sur Isaïe 13:19

And Babylon...shall be Two calamities befell her in two years. Darius assassinated Belshazzar and ruled a year, and in the second year it was turned over like Sodom from heaven. And so we learned in Seder Olam (ch. 28). And in that year the news came concerning Darius, and after him, in the year, the news, and Babylon that was the beauty of the kingdoms...that was the leader and the head of the kingdoms and that was the glory of the pride of the Chaldees now, shall be like the overturning of Sodom.

And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms. And Babylon that HAS BEEN the glory of kingdoms; comp. הבית הזה יהיה עליון this house which will HAVE BEEN high (1 Kings 9:8).²⁰The point of comparison seems to be the different use made of the future tense in two successive parts of the same verse. In the verse of the Book of Kings referred to, יהיה is used for the past, while ישום is a proper future; (in the corresponding passage of 2 Chron. 7:21, יהיה is replaced by אשר היה). Here even the same word והיתה is used once as a past and once as a future.