Question: when did the southern kingdom fall to babylon
Answer: In the 7th century its population increased greatly , prospering under Assyrian vassalage ( despite Hezekiah 's revolt against the Assyrian king Sennacherib ) , but in 605 the Assyrian Empire was defeated , and the ensuing competition between the Twenty - sixth Dynasty of Egypt and the Neo-Babylonian Empire for control of the Eastern Mediterranean led to the destruction of the kingdom in a series of campaigns between 597 and 582 , the deportation of the elite of the community , and the incorporation of Judah into a province of the Neo-Babylonian Empire .