Revelation 18

The Fall of Babylon the Great

¹After this I saw another angel with great authority coming down from heaven, and the earth was illuminated by his splendor.²³He called out in a mighty voice: It has fallen, Babylon the Great has fallen! She has become a home for demons, a haunt for every unclean spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, and a haunt for every unclean and despicable beast.⁴

⁵For all the nations have drunk the wine of her sexual immorality, which brings wrath. The kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown wealthy from her sensuality and excess.⁶

⁷Then I heard another voice from heaven: Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins or receive any of her plagues.⁸

⁹For her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes.¹⁰

¹¹Pay her back the way she also paid, and double it according to her works. In the cup in which she mixed, mix a double portion for her.¹²

¹³As much as she glorified herself and indulged her sensual and excessive ways, give her that much torment and grief. For she says in her heart, “I sit as a queen; I am not a widow, and I will never see grief.”¹⁴

¹⁵For this reason her plagues will come in just one day — death and grief and famine. She will be burned up with fire, because the Lord God who judges her is mighty.¹⁶

The World Mourns Babylon’s Fall

¹⁷The kings of the earth who have committed sexual immorality and shared her sensual and excessive ways will weep and mourn over her when they see the smoke from her burning.¹⁸¹⁹They will stand far off in fear of her torment, saying, Woe, woe, the great city, Babylon, the mighty city! For in a single hour your judgment has come.²⁰

²¹The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her, because no one buys their cargo any longer —²²²³cargo of gold, silver, jewels, and pearls; fine linen, purple, silk, and scarlet; all kinds of fragrant wood products; objects of ivory; objects of expensive wood, brass, iron, and marble;²⁴²⁵cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, and frankincense; wine, olive oil, fine flour, and grain; cattle and sheep; horses and carriages; and slaves — human lives.²⁶

²⁷The fruit you craved has left you. All your splendid and glamorous things are gone; they will never find them again.²⁸

²⁹The merchants of these things, who became rich from her, will stand far off in fear of her torment, weeping and mourning,³⁰³¹saying, Woe, woe, the great city, dressed in fine linen, purple, and scarlet, adorned with gold, jewels, and pearls;³²

³³for in a single hour such fabulous wealth was destroyed! And every shipmaster, seafarer, the sailors, and all who do business by sea, stood far off³⁴³⁵as they watched the smoke from her burning and kept crying out, “Who was like the great city?”³⁶³⁷They threw dust on their heads and kept crying out, weeping, and mourning, Woe, woe, the great city, where all those who have ships on the sea became rich from her wealth; for in a single hour she was destroyed.³⁸

³⁹Rejoice over her, heaven, and you saints, apostles, and prophets, because God has pronounced on her the judgment she passed on you!⁴⁰

The Finality of Babylon’s Fall

⁴¹Then a mighty angel picked up a stone like a large millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, In this way, Babylon the great city will be thrown down violently and never be found again.⁴²

⁴³The sound of harpists, musicians, flutists, and trumpeters will never be heard in you again; no craftsman of any trade will ever be found in you again; the sound of a mill will never be heard in you again;⁴⁴

⁴⁵the light of a lamp will never shine in you again; and the voice of a groom and bride will never be heard in you again. All this will happen because your merchants were the nobility of the earth, because all the nations were deceived by your sorcery.⁴⁶

⁴⁷In her was found the blood of prophets and saints, and of all those slaughtered on the earth.⁴⁸