Revelation 18King James Version
Babylon is fallen. The merchants of the earth weep over her, for no man buyeth their merchandise any more: gold, silver, precious stones, fine linen, purple, silk, scarlet, slaves, and souls of men. In one hour so great riches is come to nought. The voice of harpers is heard no more in her at all.
An angel declares Babylon fallen, a haunt of demons and unclean spirits. A voice calls God's people to come out of her. Her plagues will come in one day: death, mourning, famine, and fire. Kings who slept with her wail from a distance at the smoke of her burning. Merchants who grew rich on her trade weep as their market vanishes: the cargo list includes gold, spices, fine linen, horses, chariots, and the souls of men. Sailors and shipmasters lament. Then heaven is told to rejoice. An angel throws a millstone into the sea: so Babylon will be thrown down and found no more. Her music, her craftsmen, her bride and groom, all silenced.
Babylon's fall is lamented by every economic actor who profited from her, and celebrated by heaven, the same event producing opposite responses depending on whose blood was in her cup.
4: "And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues." An active command, not just a prophecy: the vision is meant to create distance between God's people and the system being judged, while there is still time.
The millstone thrown into the sea is borrowed from Jeremiah 51, where the prophet was told to tie his prophecy against Babylon to a stone and throw it in the Euphrates. The gesture of finality, thus shall Babylon be thrown down, connects John's vision to a prophecy written centuries earlier about a different Babylon and implies that empires built on the same pattern meet the same end.
An unnamed angel of great glory announcing the fall; the heavenly voice calling God's people out; kings weeping from a safe distance; merchants listing their lost goods; shipmasters watching the smoke; a strong angel throwing the millstone.
The cargo list in verses 12-13 runs from luxury goods down to human beings, ending with the souls of men as the last commodity of Babylon's trade. The list captures an entire imperial economy from top to bottom. The shift in verse 20 from lamentation to rejoicing is jarring by design: heaven and earth are evaluating the same event from fundamentally different positions.
For when something powerful and profitable and deeply embedded in the world finally collapses, and you are not sure how to feel. This chapter gives both responses full space: the merchants' grief is not mocked, but it is also placed in context. What they are mourning is a system built on exploitation and violence.
1And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.
2And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.
3For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.
4And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
5For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.
6Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double.
7How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.
8Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.
9And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning,
10Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
11And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more:
12The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble,
13And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men.
14And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee, and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all.
15The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing,
16And saying, Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls!
17For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
18And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city!
19And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.
20Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her.
21And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.
22And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee;
23And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.
24And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.