The phrase, “And that the passages are stopped,” refers to the lofty walls which bordered the river on each side, and were pierced by twenty-five gates. It should be remembered that Babylon was divided nearly in half by the Euphrates River. It was guarded by these lofty walls on each side of the river which ran its entire length. The number of gates corresponded to the number of streets in the city. Outside each gate was a sloped landing-place, by which one could descend to the water’s edge if one