1:6 Chaldeans. The “Chaldeans” are the Babylonians. Originally the Chaldeans proper occupied only southern Babylonian, where Abraham’s initial home had been (“Ur of the Chaldees”), but they soon came to dominate the whole region once controlled by Assyria. Under Nebuchadnezzar (605–562 B.C.), they developed the world’s greatest empire at that time.

1:6 breadth of the land. After conquering Assyria, the Babylonians, in the process of extending their empire into Egypt, also marched through the land of Israel, eventually besieging and sacking Jerusalem, carrying its leaders into Babylonian exile.