Revelation 18

The fall of Babylon

¹After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illuminated by his glory.^•²He cried out with a mighty voice, saying:^•

Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great,^•and has become a dwelling place of demons,^•and a prison of every unclean spirit,^•and a prison of every unclean bird,^•and a prison of every unclean and hated beast,^•³because all the nations have drunk of the wine of the fury of her prostitution,^•and the kings of the earth prostituted themselves with her,^•and the merchants of the earth grew rich from the power of her luxury.^•

Come out of her, My people

⁴And I heard another voice from heaven, saying: Come out of her, My people, so that you do not share in her sins and so that you do not receive any of her plagues;^•⁵for her sins have piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.^•⁶Repay her as she herself repaid, and give her double according to her works; in the cup in which she mixed, mix her double.^•⁷As much as she glorified herself and lived in luxury, so much torment and mourning give her; for she says in her heart: I sit as a queen, and I am not a widow, and I will never see mourning.^•⁸Therefore in one day her plagues will come: pestilence, and mourning, and famine; and she will be burned with fire, for strong is the Lord God who judged her.^•

The lament over Babylon

⁹The kings of the earth, who prostituted themselves and lived in luxury with her, will weep and wail over her when they see the smoke of her burning,^•¹⁰standing far off because of the fear of her torment, saying: Woe, woe, the great city, Babylon, the strong city, because in one hour your judgment has come!^•

¹¹The merchants of the earth weep and mourn over her, because no one buys their cargo anymore:^•¹²cargo of gold, and of silver, and of precious stones, and of pearls, and of fine linen, and of purple, and of silk, and of scarlet; and all citron wood, and every article of ivory, and every article of most precious wood, and of bronze, and of iron, and of marble;^•¹³and cinnamon, and spice, and incense, and ointment, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and cattle, and sheep; and horses, and carriages, and slaves, and souls of men.^•¹⁴And the fruit that your soul longed for has departed from you, and all things fine and splendid are lost to you, and they will never find them again.^•

¹⁵The merchants of these things, who grew rich from her, will stand far off because of the fear of her torment, weeping and mourning,^•¹⁶saying: Woe, woe, the great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and adorned with gold, and precious stones, and pearls,^•¹⁷because in one hour such great riches have been made desolate! And every shipmaster, and everyone who sails anywhere, and sailors, and all who work the sea stood far off,^•

¹⁸and cried out as they saw the smoke of her burning, saying: Who is like the great city?^•¹⁹They threw dust on their heads, and cried out, weeping and mourning, saying: Woe, woe, the great city, in which all who had ships at sea grew rich from her opulence, because in one hour she has been made desolate!^•²⁰Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you saints, and apostles, and prophets, because God has judged your cause against her.^•

The millstone

²¹Then a strong angel took up a stone like a great millstone and cast it into the sea, saying: Thus with force Babylon, the great city, will be cast down, and will never be found again.^•²²And the voice of harpists, and of musicians, and of flute players, and of trumpeters will never be heard in you again; and no craftsman of any craft will be found in you again; and the sound of the millstone will never be heard in you again;^•²³and the light of a lamp will never shine in you again; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride will never be heard in you again; because your merchants were the great ones of the earth, because by your sorcery all the nations were deceived.^•²⁴And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all who have been slain on the earth.^•

Notes

18:1 “Another angel”: cf. 10:1; 14:6, 8. “The earth was illuminated by his glory”: cf. Ezek 43:2. ↩
18:2 “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great”: cf. 14:8; Isa 21:9; Jer 51:8 [LXX 28:8]. “A dwelling place of demons… a prison”: Gr. φυλακή, also “haunt, lair” (cf. Isa 13:21–22; 34:11–15; Jer 50:39 [LXX 27:39]; 51:37 [LXX 28:37]). “Mighty voice”: Gr. ἰσχυρᾷ φωνῇ; the Textus Receptus reads “mightily, with a loud voice”. “Beast”: Gr. θηρίον, here the wild animal (cf. 6:8). “Hated”: Gr. μεμισημένου, participle. “And a prison of every unclean and hated beast”: the Byzantine text and the Textus Receptus omit “a prison of every unclean… beast”, reading “every unclean and hated bird”. Variant: the Byzantine text has “fallen” only once. ↩
18:3 “Have drunk”: Gr. πέπωκαν (the Textus Receptus πέπωκε), following the Latin Vulgate, some manuscripts and the Textus Receptus (cf. 14:8; 17:2); the SBLGNT follows codices Sinaiticus, Alexandrinus and Ephraemi, which read πέπτωκαν, and the Byzantine text, which reads πεπτώκασιν, both “have fallen”. “Merchants”: Gr. ἔμποροι (cf. Ezek 27:12–36). “Luxury”: Gr. στρῆνος, “sensual excess, opulence”. ↩
18:4 “Come out of her, My people… share… receive”: in the Greek, all the verbs are plural (ἐξέλθατε… συγκοινωνήσητε… λάβητε). Codex Ephraemi and the Byzantine text read ἔξελθε, singular (cf. Isa 48:20; 52:11; Jer 50:8 [LXX 27:8]; 51:6 [LXX 28:6]; 51:45 (not in the LXX); 2 Cor 6:17). ↩
18:5 “Have piled up”: Gr. ἐκολλήθησαν, lit. “have stuck together, have been joined” (cf. Gen 18:20; Jer 51:9 [LXX 28:9]). “Has remembered”: cf. 16:19. ↩
18:6 “Repay her as she herself repaid”: cf. Ps 137:8 [LXX 136:8]; Jer 50:15, 29 [LXX 27:15, 29]. “Give her double”: Gr. διπλώσατε τὰ διπλᾶ, lit. “double the double” (cf. Isa 40:2; Jer 16:18); the Byzantine text and the Textus Receptus read “double to her”. “Mixed… mix”: Gr. κεράννυμι (cf. 14:10, “prepared”). Variant: the Textus Receptus reads “as she repaid you”. ↩
18:7 “Lived in luxury”: Gr. στρηνιάω (cf. 18:3, 9). “Mourning”: Gr. πένθος. “I sit as a queen, and I am not a widow”: cf. Isa 47:7–9; Zeph 2:15 [LXX 3:1]. ↩
18:8 “Pestilence”: Gr. θάνατος, lit. “death” (cf. 6:8). “In one day”: cf. Isa 47:9. “She will be burned with fire”: cf. 17:16. “Strong is the Lord God”: cf. Jer 50:34 [LXX 27:34]. ↩
18:9 “Wail”: Gr. κόπτομαι, lit. “beat the breast” (cf. 1:7, “mourn”; Ezek 26:16–17; 27:30–35). “Burning”: Gr. πύρωσις (cf. 18:18). ↩
18:10 “Woe, woe”: Gr. οὐαὶ οὐαί (cf. 18:16, 19). “In one hour”: cf. 17:12; 18:17, 19. “Judgment”: Gr. κρίσις (cf. 14:7). ↩
18:11 “Cargo”: Gr. γόμος (cf. Ezek 27:27). “Weep and mourn”: presents; the Byzantine text reads “will weep and will mourn”. ↩
18:12 “Fine linen”: Gr. βύσσινος (cf. 18:16; 19:8). “Citron wood”: Gr. ξύλον θύϊνον, an aromatic wood. “Most precious”: Gr. τιμιωτάτου. Cf. Ezek 27:12–24. ↩
18:13 “Spice”: Gr. ἄμωμον, an aromatic plant; the Byzantine text and the Textus Receptus omit it. “Ointment”: Gr. μύρον, perfumed oil. “Frankincense”: Gr. λίβανος. “Fine flour”: Gr. σεμίδαλις. “Carriages”: Gr. ῥέδαι, four-wheeled carriages. “Slaves”: Gr. σώματα, lit. “bodies”, a term used for slaves. “Souls of men”: Gr. ψυχὰς ἀνθρώπων (cf. Ezek 27:13). ↩
18:14 “The fruit that your soul longed for”: Gr. ἡ ὀπώρα σου τῆς ἐπιθυμίας τῆς ψυχῆς, lit. “your fruit of the desire of the soul”. “Fine and splendid”: Gr. λιπαρὰ καὶ λαμπρά. “Never… again”: Gr. οὐκέτι οὐ μή. “They will never find them”: the Byzantine text and the Textus Receptus read “you will never find them”. ↩
18:15 “Will stand far off”: cf. 18:10, 17. ↩
18:16 “Clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet”: cf. 17:4. ↩
18:17 “Have been made desolate”: Gr. ἠρημώθη (cf. 17:16; 18:19). “Shipmaster”: Gr. κυβερνήτης. “Everyone who sails anywhere”: Gr. ὁ ἐπὶ τόπον πλέων, lit. “the one who sails to a place”; the Textus Receptus reads “all the company in ships”. Cf. Ezek 27:26–36. ↩
18:18 “Cried out”: Gr. ἔκραξαν, aorist; the Byzantine text and the Textus Receptus read ἔκραζον, “were crying out”, also in 18:19. “Who is like”: cf. 13:4; Ezek 27:32. ↩
18:19 “They threw dust on their heads”: cf. Josh 7:6; Ezek 27:30; Lam 2:10. “Opulence”: Gr. τιμιότης. ↩
18:20 “Rejoice”: Gr. εὐφραίνου (cf. 12:12). “Saints, and apostles, and prophets”: the Textus Receptus reads “holy apostles”. “God has judged your cause against her”: Gr. ἔκρινεν… τὸ κρίμα ὑμῶν ἐξ αὐτῆς, lit. “has judged your judgment from her” (cf. 6:10; 19:2; Deut 32:43). ↩
18:21 “Strong angel”: cf. 5:2; 10:1. “Like a great millstone”: Gr. ὡς μύλινον μέγαν. “With force”: Gr. ὁρμήματι. Cf. Jer 51:63–64 [LXX 28:63–64]. ↩
18:22 “Harpists”: Gr. κιθαρῳδοί (cf. 14:2). “No craftsman of any craft”: Gr. πᾶς τεχνίτης πάσης τέχνης οὐ μή, lit. “every craftsman of every craft… not”. Cf. Isa 24:8; Jer 25:10; Ezek 26:13. ↩
18:23 “The voice of the bridegroom and of the bride”: cf. Jer 7:34; 16:9; 25:10. “The great ones of the earth”: Gr. μεγιστᾶνες (cf. 6:15). “Sorcery”: Gr. φαρμακεία (cf. 9:21; Isa 47:9, 12). “Deceived”: Gr. πλανάω (cf. 12:9; 13:14). ↩
18:24 “Blood of prophets, and of saints”: cf. 16:6; 17:6; 19:2; Matt 23:35. “Slain”: Gr. σφάζω (cf. 6:9). ↩