The sea has come up on Babylon. She is covered with the multitude of its waves.
The sea once rose up and completely submerged the ancient city of Babylon under ocean waves.
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The cited passage
What current science says
Babylon was located in modern-day Iraq, roughly 500 km from the nearest coastline (the Persian Gulf). Its elevation is about 32 meters above sea level. For the sea to reach Babylon, water would need to travel 500 km inland and rise over all the terrain in between — a flooding event that would make Noah's flood look like a puddle. The city eventually fell to the Persians in 539 BCE and slowly declined over centuries, but it was conquered by armies, not waves. Babylon's ruins are still very much dry today.
What the text says
This comes from Jeremiah 51:42. 'The sea is come up upon Babylon: she is covered with the multitude of the waves thereof' — while likely a metaphor for invading armies, the literal text claims Babylon was engulfed by the ocean. Babylon was located 500 km inland in modern-day Iraq.
Three honest ways to read this passage
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As history
The text records how its authors understood the world with the knowledge they had. Read this way, a difference from modern science is a window into the ancient mind, not a failure.
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As accommodation
The text speaks to its first audience in their own terms, to make a point that isn't mainly about physics or biology. Read this way, the scientific detail is the vehicle, not the cargo.
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As contradiction
The text makes a claim about the physical world that modern findings dispute. Read this way, the difference is a genuine factual disagreement worth naming.
GEBible doesn't pick one of these for you. Each entry shows the passage, what it says, and what current science says — nothing more.