The document provides commentary on Revelation 18 from multiple scholars. It begins by summarizing Barnes' commentary that the angel coming down from heaven has great authority and power, illuminating the earth with his glory. It then provides brief summaries of the perspectives of Clarke, Gill, Henry, Barclay, and others on various elements of Revelation 18, such as the meaning of Babylon falling and becoming unclean, and the doom of Rome.

1. REVELATIO 18 COMME TARY
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Lament Over Fallen Babylon
1 After this I saw another angel coming down
from heaven. He had great authority, and the
earth was illuminated by his splendor.
1.BARNES, “And after these things - After the vision referred to in the previous chapter.
I saw another angel come down from heaven - Different from the one that had last appeared, and
therefore coming to make a new communication to him. It is not unusual in this book that different
communications should be entrusted to different angels. Compare Rev_14:6, Rev_14:8-9, Rev_
14:15, Rev_14:17-18.
Having great power - That is, he was one of the higher rank or order of angels.
And the earth was lightened with his glory - The usual representation respecting the heavenly
beings. Compare Exo_24:16; Mat_17:2; Luk_2:9; Act_9:3. This would, of course, add greatly to
the magnificence of the scene.
2. CLARKE, “The earth was lightened with his glory - This may refer to some extraordinary
messenger of the everlasting Gospel, who, by his preaching and writings, should be the means of
diffusing the light of truth and true religion over the earth.
3. GILL, “And after these things,.... The vision of the woman on the scarlet coloured beast, and
the interpretation of both by the angel:
I saw another angel; not the Lord Jesus Christ, though the several things said of this angel agree
with him; nor one of the ministering spirits, though the characters of him will also suit with one of
them, but rather a minister of the Gospel, or a set of Gospel ministers, who will arise a little before
the downfall of Babylon, in the spiritual reign of Christ; though not the same with the angel of fire,
Rev_14:18 as some have thought, because of his illustrious appearance, and the loudness of his
voice; but the same with the angel, or third thundering voice in Rev_14:6 for not only the times of
both agree, but the selfsame words are expressed by one as by the other; and this angel is
distinct from him that showed John the preceding vision, and gave him the interpretation of it, and
from all the seven angels that had the vials, and is described as follows: and first by the place
from whence he came, John saw him
come down from heaven; denoting the suddenness of his appearance and cry; he came down at
once, and cried out immediately; the subject of his cry, the destruction of Babylon, being what will
be at an unawares; and also the commission and authority of the ministers signified by him, who
will have their warrant from heaven to say what they will deliver; so that this likewise expresses
the truth of their message, since both that and they come from heaven:
having great power; to do great work, to declare the fall of Babylon the great: or "having great
authority"; being sent from the King of kings, in his name, as his ambassador, to proclaim what
shortly will come to pass; an event of the greatest importance to the glory of God, the interest of
Christ, and the comfort of his people:
and the earth was lightened with his glory; see Eze_43:2 by which is meant the glorious Gospel of
Christ, the light of which will at this then be very great: these ministers will run to and fro the earth,
and knowledge will be increased, and the earth will be filled with it: the Arabic version reads, "with

2. the splendour of his countenance"; and the Ethiopic version, "with the splendour of his
countenance, and his glory"; see Isa_60:1.
4. HENRY, “The downfall and destruction of Babylon form an event so fully determined in the
counsels of God, and of such consequence to his interests and glory, that the visions and
predictions concerning it are repeated. 1. Here is another angel sent from heaven, attended with
great power and lustre, Rev_18:1. He had not only light in himself, to discern the truth of his own
prediction, but to inform and enlighten the world about that great event; and not only light to
discern it, but power to accomplish it.
4B. BARCLAY, "THE DOOM OF ROME
Rev. 18:1-3
After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven. He had great authority and the earth was
lit up by his glory. He cried with a loud voice saying: "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great. She has become a
dwelling-place of demons, and a stronghold of every unclean spirit, and a stronghold of every unclean and
hated bird, because the 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 have grown rich.with the wealth
of her wantonness."
In this chapter we have a form of prophetic literature common in the prophetic books of the Old Testament.
This is what is called "A Doom Song," the doom song of the city of Rome.
We quote certain Old Testament parallels. In Isa.13:19-22 we have the doom song of ancient Babylon:
And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the splendour and pride of the Chaldeans, will be like Sodom and
Gomorrah when God overthrew them. It will never be inhabited or dwelt in for all generations; no Arab will
pitch his tent there, no shepherds will make their flocks lie down there. But wild beasts will lie down there,
and its houses will be full of howling creatures; there ostriches will dwell, and there satyrs will dance.
Hyenas will cry in its towers, and jackals in the pleasant palaces; its time is close at hand and its days will
not be prolonged.
In Isa.34:11-15 we have the doom song of Edom:
But the hawk and the porcupine shall possess it, the owl and the raven shall dwell in it. He shall stretch the
line of confusion over it, and the plummet of chaos over its nobles.... Thorns shall grow over its
strongholds, nettles and thistles in its fortresses. It shall be the haunt of jackals, an abode for ostriches. And
wild beasts shall meet with hyenas, the satyr shall cry to his fellow; yea, there shall the night hag alight, and
find for herself a resting place. There shall the owl nest and lay and hatch and gather her young in her
shadow; yea, there shall the kites be gathered, each one with her mate.
Jer.50:39 and Jer.51:37 are part of doom songs of Babylon:
Therefore wild beasts shall dwell with hyenas in Babylon, and ostriches shall dwell in her; she shall be
peopled no more for ever, nor inhabited for all generations. And Babylon shall become a heap of ruins, the
haunt of jackals, a horror and a hissing without inhabitant.
In Zeph.2:13-15 we have the doom song of Nineveh:
And he will make Nineveh a desolation, a dry waste like the desert. Herds shall lie down in the midst of her,
all the beasts of the field; the vulture and the hedgehog shall lodge in her capitals; the owl shall hoot in the
window, the raven croak on the threshold; for her cedar work will be laid bare. This is the exultant city that
dwelt secure, that said to herself, "I am and there is none else." What a desolation she has become, a lair for
wild beasts! Every one who passes by her hisses and shakes his fist.

3. In spite of their grim foretelling of ruin these passages are all great poetry of passion. It may be that here we
are far from the Christian doctrine of forgiveness; but we are very close to the beating of the human heart.
In our passage the angel charged with the message of doom comes with the very light of God upon him. No
doubt John was thinking of Eze.43:1-2: "He brought me to the gate, the gate facing east; and behold the
glory of the God of Israel came from the east; and the sound of his coming was like the sound of many
waters; and the earth shone with his glory." H. B. Swete writes of this angel: "So recently he has come from
the Presence that in passing he brings a broad belt of light across the dark earth."
So certain is John of the doom of Rome, that he speaks of it as if it had already happened.
We note one other point. Surely the most dramatic part of the picture is the demons haunting the ruins. The
pagan gods banished from their reign disconsolately haunt the ruins of the temples where once their power
had been supreme.
5. JAMISON, “Rev_18:1-24. Babylon’s fall: God’s people called out of her: The kings and
merchants of the earth mourn, while the saints rejoice at her fall.
And — so Vulgate and Andreas. But A, B, Syriac, and Coptic omit “And.”
power — Greek, “authority.”
lightened — “illumined.”
with — Greek, “owing to.”
5B. NOTES, “ It is no wonder that John tended to worship angels in heaven, for they are so
much like God or Jesus in their power and light. They are awesome and any of us would be
tempeted to fall and worship them.
Rev. 18:1-8
Another angel which had great power ("authority" ASV) came down from heaven and the earth
was illuminated with his glory (indicates his greatness and the importance of his message). He
announces with a strong voice, "Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen..." As announced and
foreshadowed in earlier visions (14:8; 16:19), the final destruction of Rome has now come. It is
now become the habitation of devils ("demons" ASV; see 9:20; 16:14) and the hold (a place of
guarding, a prison for detention) of every foul ("unclean" ASV) spirit, and a cage ("hold" ASV) of
every unclean and hateful bird. Its overthrow was like that of ancient cities which became dwelling
places for all types of doleful creatures (Isa. 13:19-22; 34:11-15). Concerning "the wine of wrath of
her fornication" see 14:8; 17:2 and the comments on 14:8. The nations of the earth had followed
her lascivious ways, yielded to her seductive practices, and had engaged in her "wrath" (in
persecuting Christians). The kings of the earth had committed fornication with her (had made
idolatrous political and economic alliances to purchase pleasures, power and prestige). The
merchants (first mentioned here; their involvement is discussed in vss. 11, 15) had waxed rich
through the abundance of her delicacies ("wantonness" ASV; refers to her desire to heap up
riches and luxuries). Thus, the angel explains the "fornication" more fully. It is seen all over the
world today as men seek to gain pleasure, wealth, and power through unethical, immoral and
unscrupulous means.
The people of God were summoned to come out of her that they would have no fellowship with
her sins and would not receive of her plagues. A complete separation from her sins was
necessary to escape her plagues. Her sins had reached even unto heaven (see also Jonah 1:2)
and God had remembered her iniquities (see also 16:19). God was going to render to her double
(the phrase indicates a balancing of the scales); thus, the punishment was commensurate with
the guilt. Verse 7a adds to the thought revealed in verse 6; the judgment was to be in accord with
her sin. The word "deliciously" ("waxed wanton" ASV) again refers to her desire for pleasures,
luxuries and riches. She had great pride even as the old Babylon (Isa. 47:7-9) and as ancient Tyre
(Ezek. 28:2). Therefore (because of these things) in one day (very suddenly) shall here plagues

4. come upon her, for strong is the Lord God who judges her (the guarantee of her end rests on the
power of God). The plagues mentioned in verse 8--death, mourning, famine, fire--shows the
proper interpretation of the bowls of wrath of chapter 16. DAVID RIGGS
6. PULPIT, “And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven; after [omitting
"and"] coming down, etc. The usual form of introduction to a new vision (cf. Rev_4:1; Rev_7:1,
etc.). The "mystery" of the beast and the harlot having been declared, the angel now describes the
doom in store for them. The angel is from heaven, as carrying the news of the judgment which is
sent from heaven (cf. Rev_10:1; Rev_19:6, Rev_19:15, Rev_19:17; Rev_15:1, etc.).Having great
power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. The great "authority" refers to the judgment
which follows, which, however, is not acted out before the seer, but only described. The last
clause records the visible manifestation of the great power (cf. the description in Eze_43:2).
6B. ELLICOTT,"THE FALL OF BABYLON.—In the commencement of the last chapter the angel
(one of the vial-bearing angels) had promised to show the seer the judgment of the harlot
(Revelation 18:1); he was accordingly shown first the vision of the scarlet-clad woman seated on
the wild beast. The seer was filled with wonder, and the angel ENTERED into explanation of the
mystery of the woman, touching on her relation to the beast, and her ultimate doom, and revealing
to him who she was. But though the angel has proclaimed her overthrow in his explanatory
statement, the judgment of the harlot has not been seen in the vision; we must, in fact, regard the
portion of the last chapter, from Revelation 18:7 to the end, as a kind of parenthesis, a pause in
the drama of vision, the action of which is RESUMED in Revelation 18. Yet though the dramatic
action is taken up, we are not shown in vision her actual overthrow; but we gather it from the four
agencies which are put forward—the angel which proclaims her moral fall (Revelation 18:1-3); the
voice from the heaven which gives the vivid description of her sudden overthrow, and of the
marvellous sensation it occasioned (Revelation 18:4-20); the angel which tells the irremediable
character of her overthrow (Revelation 18:21-24); and finally, the chorus of the heavenly multitude
rejoicing over her fall (Revelation 19:1-4).
Verse 1
(1) And after these things . . .—Or, better, After these things (omit “and”) I saw another angel
coming down, having great POWER (or, authority—entrusted to him for the work against
Babylon); and the earth was illumined by (literally, out of) his glory. The light which shines from the
heavenly messenger shines like day upon the tawdry splendour of Babylon, and shows that what
was admired was but worthless and corrupt. In his brief, but rousing call, he proclaims it to be so.
7. EBC, “THE FALL OF BABYLON
BABYLON has fallen. We have now the Divine proclamation of her fate, and the lamentation of
the world over the doom to which she has been consigned: -
"After these things I saw another angel coming down out of heaven, having great authority; and
the earth was lightened with his glory. And he cried with a mighty voice, saying, Fallen, fallen is
Babylon the great, and is become a habitation of devils, and a hold of every unclean spirit, and a
hold of every unclean and hateful bird. For by the wine of the wrath of her fornication all the
nations are fallen and the kings of the earth committed fornication with her, and the merchants of
the earth waxed rich by the power of her wantonness (Rev_18:1-3)."
At Rev_17:1, we read of one of the angels that had the seven Bowls. The angel now introduced is
another, or a second. We shall find as we proceed that we have entered upon a new series of
seven parts, similar to that in chap. 14, where six angels and their actions, three on either side,
are grouped around One higher than angels, and forming the central figure of the movement.*
The series is a long one, extending from chap. 17:1 to chap. 22:5, the central figure meeting us at
Rev_19:11; and again, as before, the fact ought to be carefully noticed, for it has a bearing on the
interpretation of some of the most difficult sections of this book. Meanwhile we have to do with the
second angel, whose action extends to Rev_18:20 of the present chapter. (*Kliefoth seems to
have been the first to point this out.)
The description given of this angel is proportioned to the importance of his message. He has great
authority; the earth is lightened with his glory; the voice with which he cries is mighty. It could

5. hardly be otherwise than that, with such joyful tidings as he bears to men, the "glory of the Lord
should shine round about him, and a light from heaven above the brightness of the sun."1 The
tidings themselves follow, taken from the Old Testament accounts of the desolation that was to
come upon Babylon: "And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldeans pride,
shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it
be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall
shepherds make their flocks to lie down there. But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and
their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and ostriches shall dwell there, and satyrs shall
dance there. And wolves shall cry in their castles, and jackals in the pleasant palaces."2 In words
such as these, though combined throughout both the present and following descriptions with
expressions taken from the ruin of other famous and guilty cities of the Old Testament, we have
the source whence the powerful and pathetic words of this chapter are drawn. The most terrible
disasters of bygone times are but types of that wreck of all the grandeur of earth which we are
now invited to behold, while Babylon s sinfulness is referred to that her fate may appear to be no
more than her appropriate punishment. (1 Luk_2:9; Act_26:13; 2 Isa_13:19-22)
At this point we are met by one of those sudden transitions, common in the Apocalypse, which so
completely negative the idea of chronological arrangement. A cry is heard which seems to imply
that Babylon has not yet fallen: -
"And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come forth, My people, out of her, that ye have
no fellowship with her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached
even unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. Render unto her even as she
rendered, and double unto her the double according to her works: in the cup which she hath
mingled mingle unto her double. How much soever she glorified herself, and waxed wanton, so
much give her of torment and mourning: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no
widow, and shall in no wise see mourning. Therefore in one day shall, her plagues come, death,
and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God
which judged her (Rev_18:4-8)."
The first words of this voice from heaven deserve peculiar attention: Come forth, My people, out
of her; that is, out of Babylon, the degenerate Church. We are at once reminded of the striking
teaching of our Lord in chap. 10 of the fourth Gospel, where He compares Himself to the "door" of
the fold, not the door by which the sheep enter into, but by which they come out of, the fold.l We
are also reminded of the blind man of chap. 9 of the same Gospel, whom our Lord "found" only
after he had been "cast out" of the synagogue.2 In the midst of the blinded theocracy of Israel in
the days of Jesus there was a faithful, though small, remnant. It had been betrayed by the
religious guides of the people, who had become "thieves and robbers," whom the true sheep did
not know, and to whom they ought not to listen. Jesus came to call it out of the theocracy to
Himself. Such was the spectacle which St. John had witnessed when his Master was in the world,
and that experience is now repeated. The Church as a whole degenerates. Called to prepare men
for the Second Coming of the Lord, and to teach them to live, not for the present, but the future,
she becomes herself the victim of the present She forgets that, in the absence of the Bridegroom,
her days are days of fasting. She fails to realize the fact that until her Lord comes again her state
is one of widowhood. And, instead of mourning, she sits as a queen, at ease and satisfied, proud
of her pomp and jewellery. What is all this but a recurrence of the old events of history? The
Apostle sees the future mirrored in the past; and he can only follow in his Master’s footsteps, and
call His Christian remnant out of Babylon. (1 Joh_10:7; 2 Joh_9:35)
The words are in the highest degree important for the interpretation and understanding of the
Apocalypse. We have already found in more than one passage distinct traces of this double
Church, of the true Church within the false, of the few living ones within the Body which had a
name to live, but was dead. Here the distinction meets us in all its sharpness, and fresh light is
cast upon passages that may have formerly seemed dark. "Many are called," "many" constituting
the outward Church; but "few are chosen," "few" constituting the real Church, the Church which
consists of the poor, and meek, and lowly. The two parts may keep together for a time, but the
union cannot last; and the day comes when, as Christ called His sheep out of the Jewish, so He
will again call His sheep out of the Christian "fold," that they may hear His voice, and follow Him.
Having summoned the true disciples of Jesus out of Babylon, the voice from heaven again
proclaims in a double form, as sins and as iniquities, the guilt of the doomed city, and invites the
ministers of judgment, according to the lex talionis, to render unto her double. The command may
also be founded upon the law of the theocracy by which thieves and violent aggressors of the poor

6. were required to make a double repayment to those whom they had injured,1 or it may rest upon
the remembrance of such threatenings as those by the prophet Jeremiah, "I will recompense their
iniquity and their sin double."2 (1 Exo_22:4; Exo_22:7; Exo_22:9; 2 Jer_16:18)
Judgment is next supposed to have been executed upon Babylon; and the Seer proceeds to
describe in language of unexampled eloquence the lamentation of the world over the city’s fall: -
And the kings of the earth, who committed fornication and lived wantonly with her, shall weep and
wail over her, when they look upon the smoke of her burning, standing afar off for the fear of her
torment, saying, Woe, woe, the great city Babylon, the strong city! for in one hour is thy judgment
come. And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their
merchandise anymore: merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stone, and pearls, and fine
linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and every vessel of ivory, and every
vessel made of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble, and cinnamon, and
spice, and incense, and ointment, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat,
and cattle, and sheep, and merchandise of horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men.
And the fruits which thy soul lusted after are gone from thee, and all things that were dainty and
sumptuous are perished from thee, and men shall find them no more at all. The merchants of
these thing’s, who were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping
and mourning, saying, Woe, woe, the great city, she that was arrayed in fine linen, and purple,
and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stone, and pearl! for in one hour so great riches
is made desolate. And every shipmaster, and every one that saileth anywhither, and mariners,
and as many as gain their living by sea, stood afar off, and cried out as they looked upon the
smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like the great city? And they cast dust on their heads,
and cried, weeping and mourning, saying, Woe, woe, the great city, wherein were made rich all
that had their ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.
Rejoice with her, thou heaven, and ye saints, and ye apostles, and ye prophets; for God hath
judged your judgment on her (Rev_18:9-20)."
Three classes of persons are introduced to us: Kings, Merchants, and Sailors. All are of the earth;
and each class, in its own strain, swells the voice of lamentation. The words are largely taken from
the Old Testament, and more particularly from the description of the overthrow of Tyre in Ezekiel
(chaps. 26 and 27). There is even a peculiar propriety in this latter reference, for Tyre was known
by the prophets as another Babylon. In describing the "Burden of Tyre," Isaiah uses in one part of
his description the words, "The city of confusion" (the meaning of the word Babylon) "is broken
down."* (* Isa_24:10)
It is unnecessary to enter into any examination clause by clause of the passage before us. We
shall better catch its spirit and be made sensible of its effect by attending to a few general
observations upon the description as a whole.
1. Not without interest may we mark that the classes selected to mourn over the burning of the city
are three in number. We have thus another illustration of the manner in which that number
penetrates the structure of all the writings of St. John.
2. Emphasis is laid upon the fact that the city is burned. Her destruction by fire has indeed been
more than once alluded to. Of the beast and the ten horns it had been said that "they shall burn
her utterly with fire;"1 and, again, it had been proclaimed by the voice from heaven that "she shall
be utterly burned with fire."2 We shall not venture to say with any measure of positiveness that the
type of this "burning" is taken from the burning of Jerusalem by the Romans. It may have been
taken from the burning of other cities by victorious enemies. But this much at least is obvious:
that, in conjunction with the fact that Babylon is a harlot, destruction by fire leads us directly to the
thought of the spiritual, and not simply the civil, or political, or commercial, character of the city.
According to the law of Moses, burning appears to have been the punishment of fornication only
in the case of a priest s daughter: "And the daughter of any priest, if she profane herself by playing
the harlot, she shall be burnt with fire."3 (1 Rev_17:16; 2 Rev_18:8; 3 Lev_21:9)
3. Whether there is any other allusion to spiritual traffic in the lamentations before us it is not easy
to say. Of one at least which may be quoted in this connection the interpretation is uncertain.
When the merchants of the earth weep and mourn over the loss of that merchandise which they
now miss, they extend it, not only to articles of commerce bought and sold in an ordinary market,
but to souls of men. It may be that, as often suggested, slavery alone is thought of. Yet it is highly
improbable that such is the case. Rather may it be supposed to refer to that spiritual life which is
destroyed by too much occupation .with, and too engrossing interest in, the world. "The
characteristic of this fornication is the selling themselves for gold, as the Greek word signifies.

7. Therefore with such wonderful force and emphasis of accumulation is every species of this
merchandise mentioned, running up all into one head: the souls of men. Like that in the prophet:
‘Their land is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures; their land also is full
of horses, neither is there any end of their chariots; their land also is full of idols’ And it must be
observed that all these things which are so minutely particularized as expressive of the meshes of
that net by which men’s souls are taken have also their place in the new Jerusalem, where every
jewel is specified by name, and the gold of its streets, and the fine linen, and the incense, and the
wine, and the oil, its white horses also. In both alike must they stand for spiritual merchandise of
good and evil, the false riches and the true."* (*Isaac Williams, The Apocalypse, with Notes, etc.,
p. 360)
The conclusion to be drawn is that Babylon is a spiritual city. That, as such, she is Jerusalem is
further confirmed by the fact that, at the close of the chapter, it is said, And in her was found the
blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that have been slain upon the earth. Similar words met
us in Rev_17:6; and here, as there, they unmistakably remind us of the words already quoted in
which our Lord describes the great city of the Jews.* (* Mat_28:35)
4. From all that has been said, it must be obvious that nothing is here spoken of Babylon
inapplicable to Jerusalem when we think of this latter city in the light in which the Seer specially
regards it. Jerusalem was indeed neither a commercial nor a maritime city, but Rome also was no
city on the sea. A large part, therefore, of the details of St. John’s description is not less destitute
of force when applied, if applied literally, to the latter than to the former. On the other hand, these
details are more applicable to Jerusalem than to Rome, if we remember that Jerusalem supplies,
in a way impossible to Rome, the groundwork for a delineation of those religious forces which are
far more wide-spreading in their reach, and far more crushing in their power, than the legions of
the imperial metropolis.
Babylon then is fallen, and that with a sudden and swift destruction, a destruction indeed so
sudden and so swift that each of the three companies that lament takes particular notice of the
fact that in one hour did her judgment come.* (* Rev_18:10; Rev_18:17; Rev_18:19)
More, however, so important is the subject, has to be said; and we are introduced to the action of
the third angel of the first group: -
"And a strong angel took up a stone, as it were a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying,
Thus with a mighty fall shall Babylon, the great city, be cast down, and shall be found no more at
all. And the voice of harpers, and minstrels, and flute-players, and trumpeters, shall be heard no
more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft, shall be found any more at all in thee;
and the voice of a millstone shall be heard 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 with thy sorcery were all the nations
deceived. And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that have been
slain upon the earth (Rev_18:21-24)."
Yet once again, it would seem, must we think of Babylon as to be destroyed rather than as
destroyed already. So great is her guiltiness that the Seer again and again approaches it, and
dwells, though from different points of view, upon the thought of her disastrous fate. In the present
case it is less the method than the effect of her destruction that is before his eye, and nothing can
be more touching than the light in which he presents it. At one moment we behold the city in her
brightness, her gaiety, her rich and varied life. We hear the voice of her harpers, and minstrels,
and flute-players, and trumpeters, all that can delight the ear accompanying all that can please the
eye. Her craftsmen of every craft are busy at their work; and each shop in the great city resounds
with the noise of the hammer, or the shuttle, or the other instruments of prosperous industry. The
cheering sound of the millstone tells that there is food in her humbler dwellings. Her merchants,
too, are the princes of the earth; innumerable lamps glitter in their halls and gardens; and the
voice of the bride groom and the bride is the pledge of her well-being and joy. The next moment
the proud city is cast like a millstone into the sea; and all is silence, desolation, and ruin. The
resources of language appear as if they had been exhausted to supply the description of so great
a fall.
We have now reached the close of the longest and most important section of the Apocalypse,
beginning, as has been already pointed out, with chap. 6. It is the fourth in that series of seven of
which the book is composed; and the main purpose of St. John in writing finds expression in it. As
the writer of the fourth Gospel describes in the fourth section of that book, extending from chap. 5
to chap. 12, the conflict between the Son of God and "the Jews," so he describes in the
corresponding section of the Apocalypse the conflict between the glorified Son of man as He lives

8. and reigns in His Church and the evil of the world. Throughout the conflict we are not once
permitted to forget that, although Christ and the true members of His Body may be the objects of
attack, and may even have to retire for security from the field, God is on their side, and will never
suffer His faithfulness to fail or forget His promises. In a threefold series of judgments the guilty
world and the guilty Church are visited with the terrors of His wrath. These three series of
judgments, too, go on in an ascending line. The climactic character of their contents has already
been pointed out, and nothing more need be said of it. But it may be worthwhile to notice that the
element of climax appears not less in the nature of the instruments employed. Comparing the
Trumpets with the Seals, the simple fact that they are Trumpets indicates a higher, more exciting,
more terrible unfolding of wrath. The Trumpet is peculiarly the warlike instrument, summoning the
hosts to battle: "Thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war;" "That
day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of
darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of the trumpet and alarm
against the fenced cities."* That the Bowls, again, are still more potent than the Trumpets,
appears from the language in which they are described, from their mode of introduction, and from
the vessels made use of for the plagues. They are "the last " plagues; in them is "finished" the
wrath of God; they are called for by a "great voice out of the sanctuary;" and they proceed. not
from a secular instrument, however warlike, but from a sacred vessel, not from one which must
be sounded for a length of time before it produces its effect, but from one which, inverted in a
moment, pours out with a sudden gush its terrors upon men. Similar though they thus are, the
three series of judgments lose what might otherwise be their sameness; and the mind is invited to
rest upon that most instructive lesson of the providence of God, that in proportion to privilege
misused is the severity with which sin is punished. Throughout all these judgments the righteous
are kept safe. (* Jer_4:19; Zep_1:15-16)
It will thus be observed that there is no strict chronological succession in the visions of this book.
There is succession of a certain kind, succession in intensity of punishment. But we cannot assign
one series of judgments to one period in the history of the Church or limit another to another. All
the three series may continually fulfill themselves wherever persons are found of the character
and disposition to which they severally apply.
But while these three series constitute the chief substance of the fourth, or leading, section of the
seven into which the Apocalypse is divided, they do not exhaust the subject. The last series, in
particular - that of the Bowls has proceeded upon a supposition the most startling and pathetic by
which the history of the Church is marked, - that "they are not all Israel which are of Israel," that
tares have mingled With the wheat, and that the spirit of Babylon has found its way into the heart
of the city of God. A phenomenon so unexpected and so melancholy stands in need of particular
examination, and that examination is given in the description of the character and fate of Babylon.
The remarks already made upon this point need not be repeated. It may be enough to remind the
reader that in no part of his whole book is the Seer more deeply moved, and that in none does he
rise to strains of more powerful and touching eloquence. Yet what is chiefly required of us is to
open our minds to the full impression of the fact that Babylon does fall, deep in ruin as in guilt, and
that with her fail the conflict ends.
8. WILLIAM BURKITT, “The destruction of spiritual Babylon hath in this prophecy been several
times predicted and already foretold: now here an angel from heaven is employed to declare it
shall certainly be performed.
This angel is variously here described, 1. By the place from whence he came, namely, from
heaven; signifying, that the destruction of Babylon was there surely decreed, and should most
certainly be accomplished.
2. By the authority and power with which he came, in the name of, and by commission from, the
great God, and having great power. A mighty angel is employed in this great and mighty work, to
destroy Babylon, the mighty throne of antichrist.
3. By the effect of his appearance, the earth was lightened with his glory; denoting, that Babylon's
destruction should be open and manifest, and matter of joy and glorious rejoicing both to heaven
and earth.

9. Learn hence, That as the destruction of Babylon is the work and office of an angel, under God, so
is it unto the angels matter of joy and triumph; especially to such of them as are employed as
officers therein. I saw an angel come down from heaven, having great power, and the earth was
lightened with his glory.
Observe, 2. The place against which the mighty angel doth denounce the vengeance of God, and
that with an ingemination, or repetition of the threatening: Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen;
where, by Babylon, all, both papists and protestants, do understand the city of Rome, though in
different respects.
This is called mystical Babylon, in allusion to ancient Babylon, because of their resemblance,
1. In sin; namely, in pride and sedf-exaltation, in cruelty and oppression, in sorcery and witchcraft.
Isa_51:7.
2. In punishment: the destruction of old Babylon was a sudden destruction, Isa_17:9 and a
perpetual destruction. See Isa_13:20 compared with Rev_11:10 and Rev_18:8.
It is called Babylon the great, 1. Because of the greatness of its strength and glory; it was the
strongest and most fortified place in the world. Cyrus besieged it thirteen years before he took it,
and then by cutting channels, and drawing dry the river Erphrates.
2. In regard of her great power and dominion: literal Babylon said, and Are not my princes
altogether kings? and mystical Babylon ruleth over all the kings of the earth.
Farther, it is here said, that Babylon the great is fallen, nay, it is ingeminated and repeated, is
fallen, is fallen; implying,
1. The certainty of her ruin; it is a speech of faith, speaking of things to come as already past;
God's punishments when threatened are as certain as if already inflicted.
2. It denotes the suddenness of her destruction, She is fallen, that is subito ruitura, she shall soon
fall; as when Christ said of his suffering work, It is finished, he meant that it was very near
finishing.
3. It denotes her utter ruin and destruction, is fallen, is fallen, never to rise more: the church shall
never more be tormented by her, or troubled with her.
4. It denotes the joy and rejoicing which will be found in Sion, at Babylon's downfall and
destruction: she is fallen, she is fallen; it is not only a speech of faith and trust, but of joy and
triumph.
Learn hence, 1. That Rome or mystical Babylon, shall certainly fall, shall utterly fall, shall
irrecoverably fall.
2. That the downfall of Babylon will be matter of great joy and triumph to the inhabitants of Sion,
because she has been to the church of Christ an old and inveterate enemy, a cruel and bloody
enemy, and shall be the last enemy. When Babylon is fallen, then shall all persecutions cease,
Satan shall be bound, and the kingdoms of the world shall become the kingdoms of the Lord and
his Christ. Let all that have an interest in God, be instant in prayer with him to hasten its time, that
it may be in the history as it is here in the prophecy, that Babylon is fallen.
Observe lastly, what an heap of multiplied expressions the Holy Ghost is pleased to make use of,
to set forth the utter ruin and final desolation of Babylon,--She is become the habitation of devils,
the hold of every foul spirit, a cage of every unclean and hateful bird; that is, as devils and evil
spirits are supposed to haunt desolate places, and birds which make hideous and dismal noises,
do dwell in ruinous and ruined places: in like manner these expressions denote how entirely and

10. absolutely God will bring about the destruction of Babylon, insomuch that the place which hath
known her, shall know her no more, and her habitation shall be an eternal desolation, so that none
that pass by shall say, This is Babylon.
9. KRETZMANN, “The Fall and Destruction of Anti-Christ's Kingdom.
The angel's announcement:
v. 1. And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven having great power; and
the earth was lightened with his glory.
v. 2. And 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.
v. 3. For 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.
This entire paragraph reminds one of chap. 14:6-7, where an angel was pictured as lying in mid-
heaven: After these things I saw another angel descending out of heaven having great power, and
the earth was lit up by his glory. The reference is undoubtedly to Luther and his co-workers in the
great work of the Reformation. The Gospel which they once more proclaimed was not their own,
but was the message of God from heaven, and therefore was full of power. Nor was this
movement one that was done in secret, but the preaching and the writing of these men of God
was done before the whole world, and gave true spiritual light to all men that accepted the pure
doctrine of salvation.
The specific message of the angel on this occasion is recorded by the prophet: And He cried with
a mighty voice, saying, Fallen, fallen is Babylon the Great, and has become the habitation of
demons and a hold of every unclean spirit and a hold of every unclean and loathsome bird; for of
the wine of the wrath of her fornication all nations have drunk, and the kings of the earth have
committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown rich through the power
of her luxury. That was the effect of the preaching of the pure Gospel upon the kingdom of Anti-
Christ, especially on the Pope and his hierarchy. Spiritually the empire of the Pope has been cast
down; his show of spirituality has been taken from him, his magic is no longer as effective as
formerly. To all believers that do hot willfully close their eyes the true nature of the Roman Church
as such has been revealed. Since the Church of the Pope has officially rejected the preaching of
the pure Gospel and declared her unwavering devotion to the fundamental errors that crept into
the Church in the Middle Ages, since that time the Church of the Pope as such has hardened her
heart, has become obdurate against all true reform. It has become the habitation of devils, of
unclean spirits, and of loathsome birds, as the prophets describe the condition of all anti-Christian
bodies, Isa_13:21-22; Isa_34:14;Jer_50:39; Jer_51:8-38. And that is a just punishment of God
upon the kingdom of Anti-Christ, for the deliberate guilt of this Church as such is such as cannot
be adequately expressed. She has done more to spread the anti-Christian doctrine of works than
any other organization in the world, trying especially to obtain influence with the great and
powerful in the world, to lead them into the ways of idolatry and to make them her willing servants.
And so far as the merchants of the earth are concerned, including many of her own high officials,
the luxury and pomp of this Church have brought them untold wealth. The very name of God,
which the Church of the Pope piously used, was and is made a bait for the unwary, and the wrath
of the zealous God is aroused to the utmost pitch.
10. COLLEGE PRESS, “vs. 1 "And after these things."
After the descriptions given us in the seventeenth chapter to re-

11. veal to us the identity of that great city of Spiritual Babylon, or
papal Rome which rules over the kings of earth, we now come to
the consideration of her downfall.
"I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great
power, and the earth was lightened with his glory." (Rev. 18:1)
296
WONDER BOOK OF THE BIBLE 18:1,2
The introduction of such a mighty angel at this juncture em-
phasizes the importance of the subject matter of this vision before
us. This is another angel than one of the seven angels which had
the seven vials who talked with John in the seventeenth chapter.
To this present angel was given great power or authority because
of the world-shattering events introduced in this chapter. The earth
was lightened with his glory, because he came with a revelation
of great enlightment concerning the final destruction of that great
city Babylon which had darkened the earth doctrinally, spiritually,
politically and economically.
vs 2 "And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon
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."
Here this angel repeats a former angelic pronouncement recorded
in (Rev. 14:8), "Babylon is fallen is fallen." By referring back
to that setting we find that this first pronouncement falls into the
time of the seventh vial, because in the pouring out of his seventh
plague "great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give
unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath." (Rev.
16:19)
The repetition of this announcement of Babylon's fall calls
our attention to the importance of this climactic event of history's
consummation. Again the emphasis becomes apparent in the double
declaration "is fallen is fallen."
When Joseph explained to Pharoah why his dream was "dou-
bled," he said: "And for that the dream was doubled unto Pharoah
twice; it is because the thing is established, and God will shortly
bring it to pass." (Genesis 41:32)
For the same evident reason the word "fallen" is repeated twice,
even doubled unto us twice, — one double in 14:8 and the second
double in 18:2.
The importance of all this is readily seen when we realize that all
the activities of men, all their religious or business enterprises,
297

12. 18:1,2 WONDER BOOK OF THE BIBLE
eventuate in that condition of a godless civilization as typified by
the literal Babylon of antiquity and the spiritual Babylon symbol-
zed under that name in Revelation.
The confusion that obtains in religion, education, economics,
finance, industry, government, politics and morality — all is traced
back to that great city that rules over the Kings of the earth the
"Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and abomina-
tions of the earth." This Babylon we have proved by the testimony
of Scripture and History alike to be the religio-political heirarchal
system known to the world as the papacy and the apostate church.
With a false church dominating the world, it follows, as nat-
urally as daylight comes after dark, that men would have false
conceptions of right and wrong in the moral, spiritual, intellectual,
financial, economic and political realms of activity.
Our present state of civilization is the harvest. Rome sowed the
wind and the closing period of this age is reaping the whirlwind.
The angel describes this present age of which the world is so
blindly proud, as a habitation of devils, a hold for every foul spirit,
a cage for every unclean and hateful bird.
Of course to the spiritually deluded and the worldling this all
sounds absurd. They point to the grandeur of the Roman church,
her multitudes of earnest devotees, her pronouncements on peace,
her denunciation of intellectual evils, etc. This generation boasts
of its material accomplishments in the way of scientific research
and inventive genius, but they do not see all this through God's
eyes.
Surely, the world, in its evaluation of things, needs to hark back
to the declaration God made to Samuel who was trying to select a
king to be annointed. Samuel was one of the noblest men of history,
yet even this fine man illustrates how far wrong a good man can
be in property evaluation. Hear God's council to him:
"And the Lord said to Samuel; Look not on his countenance,
or on the height of his stature: because I have refused him:
for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the
outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart."
(I Samuel 16:7)
298
WONDER BOOK OF THE BIBLE 18:1-4
This twice repeated expression "is fallen is fallen" describes a
twin falling action. Babylon, as a system of false teaching and wor-
ship in an apostate church, and, Babylon as a system of commercial-
ism resulting from a scriptural departure in doctrine and practice,
falls,

13. Twin falls are thus portrayed. Both Mother and child, both
spiritual and carnal, both cause and effect are included in this re-
peated expression, "is fallen is fallen."
And the reason by both fall together is given in the very next
verse:
11. BI, “The overthrow of wickedness
I. A glorious angel proclaims this (cf. Rev_18:1 as to this angel). Then such overthrow must be—
1. Righteous.
2. Blessed.
3. Divine. Had it been possible for men to effect this, it would have been done long since.
II. God’s people receive command.
1. To separate themselves from sin. From which we learn—
(1) That God’s people may have to dwell in the midst of sin.
(2) That though where wickedness is, they are not to be partakers of it.
(3) That they shall one day be effectually separated from it.
2. To avenge themselves upon it. Resentment and wrath are passions given us by God. Our peril
and propensity is lest we turn them in a wrong direction.
III. The friends of wickedness lament.
1. Wickedness has friends. Those who find delight in it, who “live deliciously” in it (Rev_18:9).
Those who make profit out of it. The merchants, etc. (Rev_18:11). And—
2. Their lament is loud and long. They weep, mourn, wail; say, “Alas, alas” cast dust on their
heads, etc. (Rev_18:11; Rev_18:15-16; Rev_18:19).
3. But the lament is utterly selfish. They mourn not because of the wickedness: that does not
trouble them. Nor even for Babylon’s sufferings. But because the hope of their gain is gone (Rev_
18:19).
4. And they do not go to her help (Rev_18:15). They stand afar off for the fear of her torment.
Look well at these friends, for such are they that sin and sinners call friends.
IV. All heaven, angels and saints, rejoice. When we read over the subject of their joy, we find
that—
1. It is not because in this Babylon there was nothing innocent or good. There was much. Verses
22, 23 tell of what was lawful and right in any community. In the worst of men there is good. None
are utterly bad. But—
2. That the main characteristic of her life was evil. And therefore her destruction was a matter of
joy. She deceived all nations. She slew God’s saints. Thus—
3. Justice was done. And—
4. It was completely done. See the symbol of the angel with the millstone (Rev_18:21). Nothing
like this has ever been accomplished yet, but this prophecy is a sure promise that it will be. “Who
shall live when the Lord doeth this”? Amongst whom shall we be found? Let us now “some out of
her, that we be not,” etc. (Rev_18:4). (S. Conway, B. A.)
Babylon
I. The description of Babylon.
1. Its corrupt character. As before the prophets were “false” and the spirits were “unclean,” and
stood opposed to God; so now harlotry, fornication, drunkenness, blasphemy, abominations,
luxury, persecuting, violence, sorcery, submission to the beast, warring against the Lamb, are the
terms employed to describe or indicate the excessive foulness and corruption of the faithless city.
This is “the woman” having in her hand “a golden cup full of abominations, even the unclean
things of her fornication.” This the “Babylon the great,” which is become “a habitation of devils, a
hold of every unclean spirit and a hold of every unclean and hateful bird.”
2. Virulent antagonism to the good, even to the loftiest ideals of goodness. “War against the
Lamb”; “blasphemed the God of heaven”; “gather together unto the war of the great day of God”;
“poured out the blood of saints and prophets”; in such terms is the antipathy to all righteousness
declared.

14. 3. Occasion of all evil, seen in the corruption of life, the deceitfulness of iniquity, the loss of the
blessings of righteousness, degradation in sin, to which the “peoples, and multitudes, and nations,
and tongues” are reduced “where the harlot sitteth”; and the judgments and consequent sufferings
in which they are involved.
4. The widespread, universal character of the desolation caused. In every aspect this vision is
“great and marvellous.” It is “Babylon the great.” The harlot “sitteth upon many waters,” which
waters are “peoples and multitudes, and nations and tongues.” “And the woman is the great city
which reigneth over the kings of the earth”; “by the wine of the wrath of her fornication all the
nations are fallen.” “What city is like the great city,” with whose “sorcery were all nations
deceived”? “In her was found the blood of all that have been slain upon the earth.” This is the
universal kingdom of evil, whose “sins reached unto heaven.” This great kingdom shall come to
an end. Such is the ever-recurring promise of this book.
II. Its destruction is complete. The “harlot” is made “desolate and naked”; hated by all over whom
she sat as a queen; they shall “eat her flesh, and burn her utterly with fire.” “Woe, woe!” is
pronounced against the great city, Babylon; “for in one hour is thy judgment come.” “Fallen, fallen
is Babylon the great.” “In one day shall her plagues come, death, and mourning, and famine; and
she shall be utterly burned with fire; for strong is the Lord God which judgeth her.” “The Lamb
shall overcome,” and thus shall they also overcome that are with Him. “And a strong angel took up
a stone as it were a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with a mighty fall shall
Babylon, the great city, be east down, and shall be found no more at all.” Then shall the kings of
the earth that committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth who were made rich
by her, and every shipmaster and mariner, and all that were made rich by her, weep and mourn
and lament; while to heaven a sweet song of joy and thankfulness shall rise from them who with
the Lamb have overcome—who are called, and chosen, and faithful. (R. Green.)
The fall of corrupt society
The fall of corrupt society is—
I. Divinely proclaimed. As there is a law of disintegration in the material universe, that so
separates the hugest mountains that they ultimately disappear, so there is in the moral a law of
retribution, which will ultimately break into pieces the world of corrupt society.
II. Manifestly deserved. As in the ruins of old cities, the cormorant, the screech-owl, the vulture,
and other hideous creatures are found, so in this moral Babylon are found the most horrible and
detestable of all existences. The utter extermination, or rather extinction, of such objects is
urgently required.
III. A reason for quitting it.
1. The possibility of good men living in this moral Babylon. The depravities of our contemporaries
and neighbours are no justification for our defects.
2. Good men, unless they quit this corrupt society, will be involved in its guilt and fate.
IV. A development of retribution. The ruin comes, not as a casual event, nor as a positive
infliction, but as the result of the eternal law of retribution: a law silent in its operation, resistless in
its force, and inevitable in its issues (Gal_6:7).
V. An overwhelming catastrophe. When full judgment comes upon a corrupt community the
horrors involved not only transcend description, but even imagination. What is lost? Friendship
gives way to fiendish battlings; peace gives way to furious storms; hope gives way to black
despair and terrible apprehensions: liberty gives way to a crushing thraldom, to which every
faculty of the soul is bound in chains of darkness. All the lights of the soul are quenched, and the
whole heavens are mantled in a starless midnight. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
The habitation of devils.
The habitation of demons
I. Every Babel-like city or system, is doomed to destruction, and will fall into an abyss of fearful
degradation. This is the lesson of all history from the beginning of the world. We see it in the
overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, of the Assyrian and Babylonian kingdoms, and of the Greek
and Roman Empires. Wherever we find a nation that is supremely devoted to the things of sense,
we have Babel-like adolaters, who are destined to a certain fall and degradation. Such is the
appointed end of every political or religious system that ignores God and His truth, and seek after

15. material power and prosperity as the chief objects of life. Let a nation lose her faith in God—let
her drive truth, virtue, love, and righteousness from her heart and life, and what will she become?
Can she become anything else than a habitation of devils? Can she become anything else but the
seat and prey of demon-like passions?
II. Observe how diabolical the passions of men may become. “The most terrible physical calamity
that can be imagined,” says one, “has no terror to compare with that of fiends let loose from hell
and taking possession of human hearts and hands. A ship sinking in a tempest with its hundreds
of helpless passengers; a Lisbon overwhelmed by sudden earthquake; a Pompeii buried alive
beneath the lava and ashes of Vesuvius are very terrible to hear of, and to think of, but they are
nothing to what Paris has lately seen. Her streets have been flooded with the worst passions of
which human nature, satanically inspired, is capable. Men, women, and even children, born in the
same streets, neighbours all their life long, who have traded and danced and sung together,
pursuing each other to death with the ferocity of tigers, and inflicting all manner of dishonour and
indignity on the mangled remains of the dead—and all this in the most polished and beautiful city
in the world—what can it all mean, except it be an eruption of demons from the bottomless pit?”
III. We see what society has to expect from the apostles of infidelity and atheism. When men have
destroyed the idea of a God in their own minds, is it not natural to think that they will enter on a
career of destruction in reference to other and smaller things? If they hesitate not to destroy the
idea of a God—the fountain of right and wrong—will they shrink from destroying human life or
property? If the idea of a God be not a sacred idea to such persons, do you think that the idea of
the value of human life or property will be a sacred idea to them? No. Society has everything to
lose and nothing to gain from such apostles of atheism and infidelity. Not from them, but from
other and higher sources, would we look for the salvation of men.
IV. All men are in danger of falling into a Babel-like spirit and life. For all are only too prone to put
faith in the things of sense, and to forget the things that are unseen and eternal. The Babylonian
spirit is not dead. Every man to some extent is a little Babel. We have faith in the powers of
nature. We have faith in the sun, in the moon, in the star, in the coal, and in the seed that we cast
into the ground. Do we believe also in God? Have we a real and lasting faith in Him? Have we
such a faith in love, truth, virtue, and righteousness, as in the things that we see with the eye of
our body and touch with our hands? (Wm. M’Kay.)
Come out of her.—
The influence of the apostate Babylon
When the great apostate power named Babylon comes, as hero sot forth, to utter destruction, it is
seen how wide and how deep its malign influence had been. The whole fabric of the world’s
commerce is shattered by its fall; for all human industries and traffic and all the markets of the
world had come to be diverted from the service of God, and directed and controlled by the corrupt
principles and unhallowed delights of the vast apostasy. Even though the identity of this mystic
Babylon be left unfixed, the warning reaches us with no lack of distinctness and urgency. We
need not wait until we can precisely define and allocate the form and system of wrong which is
here denounced before we determine to hold ourselves clear of all wrong, by doing that only which
is right, by acknowledging and serving God alone in all particulars and interests of our daily fife, at
home and in the world. (G. S. Rowe.)
In the cup which she hath filled fill to her double.—
The rule of retribution
I. This rule commends itself to our sense of justice. That those of the wicked who in this world live
in affluence, and have more than heart can wish, possess abundant opportunities for intellectual
and moral improvement, and means of doing good, should in future retribution fare alike with
those who have none of these blessings or advantages, would be an outrage on our sense of
right. Justice requires a balancing of human affairs, a kind of compensation for existing
discrepancies, and this mankind will have in the great retributive future.
II. This rule answers to biblical teaching. Throughout the whole Scripture record it is taught that
sinners, after they have passed through their probationary period, will be dealt with according to
the mercies they have abused, the opportunities they have neglected, and the advantages they
have wasted. “He that knoweth his Master’s will and doeth it not,” etc. “It will be more tolerable for

16. Sodom and Gomorrah,” etc. “Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime didst receive,” etc.
III. This rule agrees with universal experience. Conscious contrast between a propitious past and
a distressing present is and must ever be an element in mental suffering. (Homilist.)
She hath glorified herself.—
The degenerate Church
Called to prepare men for the second coming of the Lord, and to teach them to live, not for the
present, but the future, she becomes herself the victim of the present. She forgets that, in the
absence of the Bridegroom, her days are days of fasting. She fails to realise the fact that until her
Lord comes again her state is one of widowhood. And, instead of mourning, she sits as a queen,
at ease and satisfied, proud of her pomp and jewellery. (W. Milligan, D D.)
Therefore shall her plagues come.—
National ruin
Our scientific friends find yellow bricks still impressed with the name of Nebuchadnezzar, and they
go back to the sarcophagus of a monarchy buried more than two thousand years ago. But is it
possible that that is all that remains of Babylon? a city once five times larger than London and
twelve times larger than New York? Wall three hundred and seventy-three feet high and ninety-
three feet thick. Twenty-five burnished gates on each side, with streets running clear through to
corresponding gates on the other side. Six hundred and twenty-five squares. More pomp and
wealth and splendour and sins than could be found in any five modern cities combined. A city of
palaces and temples. Great capital of the ages! But one night, while honest citizens were asleep,
but all the saloons of saturnalia were in full blast, and at the king’s castle they had filled the
tankards for the tenth time, and reeling and guffawing and hiccoughing around the state table
were the rulers of the land. General Cyrus ordered his besieging army to take shovels and
spades, and they diverted the river from its usual channel into another direction, so that the
forsaken bed of the river became the path on which the besieging party entered. When the
morning dawned the conquerors were inside the city walls. Babylon had fallen. But do nations die?
Oh, yes, there is great mortality among monarchies and republics. They are like individuals in the
fact that they are born, they have a middle life, they have a decease, they have a cradle and a
grave. Some of them are assassinated, some destroyed by their own hand.
1. One evil threatening the destruction of American institutions is the solidifying of the sections
against each other. This country cannot exist unless it exists as one body—the national capital,
the heart, sending out through all the arteries of communication warmth and life to the very
extremities.
2. Another evil threatening the destruction of our American institutions is the low state of public
morals. What killed Babylon of my text? What killed Phoenicia? What killed Rome? Their own
depravity; and the fraud and the drunkenness, and the immorality which have destroyed other
nations will destroy ours, unless a merciful God prevent. (T. De Witt Talmage.)
2 With a mighty voice he shouted:
“‘Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great!’[a]
She has become a dwelling for demons
and a haunt for every impure spirit,
a haunt for every unclean bird,
a haunt for every unclean and detestable

17. animal.
1.BARNES, “And he cried mightily - Literally, “he cried with a strong great voice.” See Rev_10:3.
Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen - See the notes on Rev_14:8. The proclamation here is
substantially the same as in that place, and no doubt the same thing is referred to.
And is become the habitation of devils - Of demons - in allusion to the common opinion that the
demons inhabited abandoned cities, old ruins, and deserts. See the notes on Mat_12:43-45. The
language here is taken from the description of Babylon in Isa_13:20-22; and for a full illustration of
the meaning, see the notes on that passage.
And the hold of every foul spirit - f??a??` phulake‾. A watch-post, station, haunt of such spirits -
That is, they, as it were, kept guard there; were stationed there; haunted the place.
And a cage of every unclean and hateful bird - That is, they would resort there, and abide there as
in a cage. The word translated “cage” is the same which is rendered “hold” - f??a??` phulake‾. In
Isa_13:21, it is said, “and owls shall dwell there”; and in Isa_14:23, it is said that it would be a
“possession for the bittern.” The idea is that of utter desolation; and the meaning here is, that
spiritual Babylon - papal Rome Rev_14:8 - will be reduced to a state of utter desolation
resembling that of the real Babylon. It is not necessary to suppose this of the city of Rome itself -
for that is not the object of the representation. It is the papacy, represented under the image of the
city, and having its seat there. That is to be destroyed as utterly as was Babylon of old; that will
become as odious, and loathsome, and detestable as the literal Babylon, the abode of monsters
is.
2. CLARKE, “Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen - This is a quotation from Isa_21:9 : And he said,
Babylon is fallen, is fallen; and all the graven images of her gods he hath broken unto the ground.
This is applied by some to Rome pagan; by others to Rome papal; and by others to Jerusalem.
Is become - the hold of every foul spirit - See the parallel passages in the margin. The figures
here point out the most complete destruction. A city utterly sacked and ruined, never to be rebuilt.
2B. ELLICOTT, "{(2) And he cried . . .—We must omit “mightily,” and render, And he cried in a
mighty voice, saying, Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, and is become an habitation of demons,
and a prison of every unclean SPIRIT, and a prison of every unclean and hated bird. Those who
walk in darkness, and whose eyes the god of this world hath blinded through their lusts, look only
on the material side, upon prosperous times, large revenues, rapidly developing resources. The
great city of the world looks fair and glorious in their eyes, and even the godly are dazzled by her
beauty; but when the light of heaven shines, her fall is seen to be inevitable, for she is seen to be
hateful; her palaces are seen to be prisons, her highest wisdom little more than low cunning, her
most exalted intelligence base-born, her sweetest songs discordant cries; the evil spirit,
WELCOMED BACK, has come in seven-fold power; for the dry places afford no rest to those who
still love sin and the pleasures of sin. The description in this verse is drawn largely from Isaiah
13:21-22; it is a PICTURE OF desolation and degradation, but it has its moral counterpart.
3. GILL, “And he cried mightily with a strong voice,.... Which shows not only the vehemence and
affection of the ministers of the word, who will publish what follows, but the greatness and
importance of it; and this loud voice may be, as for the sake of the whole church in general, that
all may bear, so for the sake of those of the Lord's people in particular, that will be in Babylon at
this time; and it may have regard to that deep sleep and spirit of slumber that Babylon itself will be
in, which, notwithstanding this loud cry, will remain insensible of its ruin till it comes upon her, as
was the case of old Babylon, Jer_51:39,
saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen: the whole world is not designed by Babylon, for it is
distinguished from all nations in the following verse; nor Babylon in Chaldea, which was fallen long
before John saw this vision, but Rome Papal; See Gill on Rev_14:8 so the woman is called in
Rev_17:5 who sits on seven mountains, and is that great city, the city of Rome, that reigns over
the kings of the earth, Rev_18:9 this is said to be fallen, because, in a very little time after this
declaration, it will fall; for as yet it was not destroyed, since after this the Lord's people are called

18. upon to come out of her, and are bid to reward her double; and it is declared, that her plagues,
should come in one day, and she should be burnt with fire; and an angel after this throws a
millstone into the sea, saying, that so should Babylon be thrown down, Rev_18:4 and it is
repeated to denote the certainty and utter destruction of her: and which is more fully expressed by
what follows,
and is become the habitation of devils; as old Babylon was of satyrs, Isa_13:21 demons, which
appeared in a hairy form, like goats, and the word is rendered devils in Lev_17:7 and the
inhabitants of Rome now are no other; the pope and his cardinals, the priests, Jesuits, monks,
and friars, are the spirits of devils, and their doctrines the doctrines of devils; see Rev_16:14
and the hold of every foul spirit: devils are frequently called unclean spirits, and these appear in
desert and desolate places, Mat_12:43 where they are either of choice, or rather are obliged to it;
and so the word translated "hold" signifies a prison, or place of confinement; and such as are
comparable to unclean spirits now haunt and abound in Rome, and its territories; see Rev_16:13
and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird; such, as vultures, kites, owls, &c. which generally
reside in desolate and uninhabited places; the Alexandrian copy, the Syriac and Ethiopic versions,
add, "and the hold", or "seat of every unclean and hateful beast"; and so the desolation of old
Babylon is described by wild beasts and doleful creatures dwelling in it, Isa_13:21. Some consider
all this as a reason of the destruction of Babylon or Rome, because it now is the residence of
persons comparable to devils, foul spirits, hateful birds, and beasts of prey; but this account rather
describes its state and case in which it will be after its ruin, being never more to be inhabited by
men, in allusion to old Babylon, Isa_13:19.
4. HENRY, “This angel publishes the fall of Babylon, as a thing already come to pass; and this he
does with a mighty strong voice, that all might hear the cry, and might see how well this angel was
pleased to be the messenger of such tidings. Here seems to be an allusion to the prediction of the
fall of pagan Babylon (Isa_21:9), where the word is repeated as it is here: has fallen, has fallen.
Some have thought a double fall is hereby intended, first her apostasy, and then her ruin; and they
think the words immediately following favour their opinion; She has become the habitation of
devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and the cage of every unclean and hateful bird, Rev_18:2.
But this is also borrowed from Isa_21:9, and seems to describe not so much her sin of
entertaining idols (which are truly called devils) as her punishment, it being a common notion that
unclean spirits, as well as ominous and hateful birds, used to haunt a city or house that lay in its
ruins.
5. JAMISON, “mightily ... strong — not supported by manuscripts. But A, B, Vulgate, Syriac, and
Coptic read, “with (literally, ‘in’) a mighty voice.”
is fallen, is fallen — so A, Vulgate, Syriac, and Andreas. But B and Coptic omit the second “is
fallen” (Isa_21:9; Jer_51:8). This phrase is here prophetical of her fall, still future, as Rev_18:4
proves.
devils — Greek, “demons.”
the hold — a keep or prison.
5B. NOTES, “ Some say Babylon represents the world in its pursuit of wealth and pleasure.
Commercialism and industrialism rule the world and are not evil in themselves, but become
leaders of evil because they put materialism above God and push Him out of the picture. The
almighty dollar becomes the primary idol. The banks are the temples and bankers the high
priests. The love of money is the root of all that is good in this system. The Bablonian captivity of
the church is when Christians are so caught up in this world system that their devotion to God is a
mere sideline that is not allowed to interfere with with mammon.
Babylon is mentioned more than any other city in the Bible except for Jerusalem. Criswell says
it is mentioned 260 times. It was the city which at one time conquered the Jerusalem of God and
took the people captive. It destroyed the temple of God.
1. Introduction: is this the same Babylon as is described in chapter 17?
a. Good scholars see the issue differently. Some point to two manifestations of Babylon (one

19. religious and one commercial); others see the two as one, both being judged at the same time
b. There are definite similarities between Babylon as described in Revelation 17 and Revelation
18; both are under the rule of Antichrist, ruling queens; both are filled with blasphemy; both hate
the saints, and shed their blood; both are associates with kings in fornication; both are under
judgment and destroyed
c. However, there are also some significant differences:
17: Religious Babylon 18: Commercial Babylon
1. Mystery Babylon 1. Great Babylon; Babylon the Great
2. Symbol: a harlot woman 2. Symbol: a great city
3. Identified with Rome (inland) 3. Identified with a port city
4. Woman, whore, and mother 4. Habitation, great city, market place
5. Guilty: religious abominations 5. Guilty: greed, self-indulgence
6. Destroyed by a political power 6. Destroyed by a sudden act of God
who had previously supported her
d. In my view, it is best to see them as intertwined, yet somewhat distinct; with one being attacked
at the mid-point of the seven year period of tribulation (religious Babylon), and the other at the end
of that period (commercial Babylon)
e. This passage is very much in the style of Old Testament prophecies of doom regarding wicked
cities (Babylon: Isaiah 13; 14; 21 and Jeremiah 50; 51; Tyre: Ezekiel 26-28)
i. "John has caught the spirit of the prophetic doom songs" (Morris)
2. Is this Babylon a literal or symbolic city?
a. Some have thought it to be a future rebuilt Babylon on the Euphrates river in the Middle East
(now desolate desert in modern day Iraq)
i. Sudam Hussein has been outspoken in his desire to resurrect the ruined city of Babylon in all of
its glory; he may in fact do this, and it is conceivable that a rebuilt Babylon could be a world
economic center, especially with the wealth of Mideast oil. But so far, Hussein has not made good
on his dream to rebuild Babylon
b. But most likely, commercial Babylon is like religious Babylon, symbolic: "When the Lord was
here on earth He spoke of the great hatred that 'the world' had for Him and His own (John
15:18,19). What is this world but a combination of religion, government and commerce? In other
words, Babylon in all its parts stands for that which Christ called 'the world.'" (Barnhouse)
i. "In portraying the destruction of a (symbolic) city, he describes God's judgment on the great
satanic system of evil than has corrupted the earth's history." (Johnson)
6. PULPIT, “And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying; and he cried with a strong voice,
saying. This "strong voice" is characteristic of the heavenly utterances (cf. Rev_7:2; Rev_14:7,
etc.). Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen. The event, though future, is described as past, being
predetermined in the counsels of God. The words here are a reproduction of Isa_21:9. And is
become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and
hateful bird; a habitation a hold of every unclean spirit, and a hold of every unclean and hated
bird. "Devils" (Greek, da? ?´??a ), inferior evil spirits. The three phrases express the same idea,
viz. the loathsome and hateful state to which Babylon is reduced. The language is derived from
the prophets (cf. Isa_13:21, Isa_13:22; Isa_34:11-15; Jer_1:1-19 :39; Jer_51:37). A hold (Greek,
f??a??´ , "a strong place"); the natural and fitting stronghold of the devils, rather than a place to
which they are involuntarily confined.
3 For all the nations have drunk
the maddening wine of her adulteries.
The kings of the earth committed adultery with
her,

20. and the merchants of the earth grew rich from
her excessive luxuries.”
1.BARNES, “For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication - See the notes
on Rev_14:8. This is given as a reason why this utter ruin had come upon her. She had beguiled
and corrupted the nations of the earth, leading them into estrangement from God, and into
pollution and sin. See the notes on Rev_9:20-21.
And the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her - Spiritual adultery; that is, she has
been the means of seducing them from God and leading them into sinful practices.
And the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies - The
word rendered “abundance” here, means commonly “power.” It might here denote influence,
though it may also mean number, quantity, wealth. Compare Rev_3:8, where the same word is
used. The word rendered “delicacies” - st??????? stre‾nous - occurs nowhere else in the New
Testament. It properly means rudeness, insolence, pride; and hence “revel, riot, luxury.” It may be
rendered here properly as “luxury,” or “proud voluptuousness”; and the reference is to such
luxuries as are found commonly in a great, a frivolous, and a splendid city. These, of course, give
rise to much traffic, and furnish employment to many merchants and sailors, who thus procure a
livelihood, or become wealthy as the result of such traffic. Babylon - or papal Rome - is here
represented under the image of such a luxurious city; and of course, when she falls, they who
have thus been dependent on her, and who have been enriched by her, have occasion for
mourning and lamentation. It is not necessary to expect to find a literal fulfillment of this, for it is
emblematic and symbolical. The image of a great, rich, splendid, proud and luxurious city having
been employed to denote that anti-Christian power, all that is said in this chapter follows, of
course, on its fall. The general idea is, that she was doomed to utter desolation, and that all who
were connected with her, far and near, would be involved in her ruin.
2. CLARKE, “The wine of the wrath - The punishment due to her transgressions, because they
have partaken with her in her sins. See the note on Rev_14:8.
3. GILL, “For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication,.... That is, all the
nations of the Roman empire, the European nations, otherwise the Pagan and Mahometan
nations have not; but these have, being made to drink by her, and made drunk therewith, that is,
with her idolatries; See Gill on Rev_14:8.
And the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her; joined with her in her idolatrous
worship and practices, and encouraged the same, and obliged their subjects to them in their
dominions; See Gill on Rev_17:2.
And the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies; or
"luxury"; which is not to be understood in a literal sense; though it is true that many merchants, in
all ages, have enriched themselves by sending their commodities to Rome, where, through the
vast consumption and luxuriousness of the place, they have bore a good price; but this is to be
interpreted of spiritual merchants; these are such who do not merchandise by sea, but are land
merchants, the merchants of the earth, and are said to be the great men of the earth, Rev_18:23
such as are equal to princes, lords, and nobles; such are the cardinals, archbishops, and bishops;
though the inferior clergy of the Romish church, who are under these, may be included: to which
may be added, that one part of their wares is said to be the souls of men, Rev_18:13 which plainly
shows what sort of merchants these are; they are such who make merchandise of men, and
pretend to sell them heaven, and the salvation of their souls; these are they that deal in pardons
and indulgences, which they sell to ignorant people, and for a sum of money say Mass to fetch
souls out of purgatory: all things have been saleable at Rome, crucifixes, priests, altars, temples,
prayers, heaven, Christ, yea, God himself, as the poet Mantuan expresses it; and because of
these idolatries, and wicked practices, Rome will be at last destroyed.

21. 4. HENRY, “The reason of this ruin is declared (Rev_18:3); for, though God is not obliged to give
any account of his matters, yet he is pleased to do so, especially in those dispensations of
providence that are most awful and tremendous. The wickedness of Babylon had been very great;
for she had not only forsaken the true God herself, and set up idols, but had with great art and
industry drawn all sorts of men into the spiritual adultery, and by her wealth and luxury had
retained them in her interest.
5. JAMISON, “drunk — Rev_14:8, from which perhaps “the wine” may have been interpolated.
They have drunk of her fornication, the consequence of which will be wrath to themselves. But A,
B, and C read, “(owing to the wrath of her fornication all nations) have fallen.” Vulgate and most
versions read as English Version, which may be the right reading though not supported by the
oldest manuscripts. Babylon, the whore, is destroyed before the beast slays the two witnesses
(Rev_11:7), and then the beast himself is destroyed.
the wine — so B, Syriac, and Coptic. But A, C, and Vulgate omit.
abundance — literally, “power.”
delicacies — Greek, “luxury.” See on 1Ti_5:11, where the Greek verb “wax wanton” is akin to the
noun here. Translate, “wanton luxury.” The reference is not to earthly merchandise, but to spiritual
wares, indulgences, idolatries, superstitions, worldly compromises, wherewith the harlot, that is,
the apostate Church, has made merchandise of men. This applies especially to Rome; but the
Greek, and even in a less degree Protestant churches, are not guiltless. However, the principle of
evangelical Protestantism is pure, but the principle of Rome and the Greek church is not so.
5B. NOTES, “Announcement of the glorious angel
a. Illuminated with his glory: "So recently has he come from the Presence (of God) that in passing
he flings a broad belt of light across the dark earth." (Swete)
b. He announces that Babylon is fallen, fallen; the phrase is "repeated like a solemn dirge of the
damned" (Robertson)
c. The city has become a habitation of demons; this is "A prophetic picture of absolute desolation
where the proud achievements of man become the demonic haunts of unclean and horrible
creatures" (Mounce)
d. Abundance of her luxury - Babylon's sin is not only idolatry (referred to with the term
fornication), but also pride, greed and excessive wealth
4. (4-5) A call to God's people to separate from Babylon
a. It is inconceivable that a child of God could be a part of religious Babylon (though elements may
creep in); but commercial Babylon, with its materialistic lure, is a constant threat
b. The warning is focused towards saints who are in the position Lot was in while living in Sodom
(Genesis 19); these are God's people in a place they shouldn't be, a place ripe for destruction
c. The call to depart from Babylon and the worldliness that it represents is a theme repeated
frequently in the Scriptures
i. Depart! Depart! Go out from there, touch no unclean thing; go out from her, be clean, you who
bear the vessels of the Lord. (Isaiah 52:11)
ii. Flee from the midst of Babylon, and everyone save his life! (Jeremiah 50:8)
iii. My people, go out of the midst of her! And let everyone deliver himself from the fierce anger of
the Lord (Jeremiah 51:45)
iv. Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness
with lawlessness? (2 Corinthians 6:14)
v. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.
(Ephesians 5:11)
d. Their sins have reached to heaven; they have piled up like a tower; the tower of Babel
e. God will remember her iniquities; but for believers, He says I will remember their sins no more
(Hebrews 8:12)
6. PULPIT, “For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. "The wine" is
omitted in A, C, but it is inserted in à , B, and retained in the Revised Version. "The wrath" is
omitted (cf. the expression in Rev_14:8 and Rev_17:2).And the kings of the earth have committed
fornication with her. (On the figure employed, as well as the identical language, see Rev_17:2.)
And the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. The
"abundance" (Greek, d?´?a ?? , which Vitringa renders by copia, referring to Job_31:25; Eze_
28:4, LXX.). "Delicacies." (Greek, st?????? , occurs in the New Testament only here, and as a
verb in Rev_18:7, Rev_18:9, and (compounded) in 1Ti_5:11. It signifies overweening pride and

22. insolence and wantonness, arising from superfluity of wealth and gifts. Cf. the warning to the
Church of Laodicea (Rev_3:17).
7. WILLIAM BURKITT, “The Spirit of God is placed here to assign the reason and cause of
Babylon's fatal ruin and final desolation; namely,
1. Because all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornications.
All nations, that is, very many; the generality of the Roman empire have been allured to, and
intoxicated by, her idolatries, which have brought all this wrath upon her and them.
Where note, 1. How idolatry is compared to wine, because very pleasing to corrupt nature, and
also very enticing and ensnaring, overtaking, like wine, a person unawares; and it is called wine of
wrath, because it exciteth and provoketh God's wrath against a person or people guilty of it.
2. Because the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, that is, joined with her in
her idolatrous worship.
Where note, The policy of Babylon in drawing kings and princes to the bed of her fornications, well
knowing how fast their example would be followed by inferiors. The example of superiors in doing
evil is strangely powerful; Jeroboam made Israel to sin, not by commanding them to worship the
golden calves, but commending that idolatrous worship to them in his own person.
3. Because the merchants of the earth were waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.
By the merchants, understand all such as trade in Babylon's wares, her pleasing and costly wares
of pardons, as masses and indulgences, by which so many were enriched. All things are vendible
at Rome, any sin may be forgiven for silver, and a license for any thing that is unlawful for money.
These are the reasons here assigned for Babylon's ruin. The nations were made drunk by her,
kings committed fornication with her, and the merchants enriched through the abundance of her
delicacies.
8. COLLEGE PRESS, “vs. 3 "For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of
her fornication and the kings of the earth have committed fornica-
tion with her and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich
through the abundance of her delicacies."
Then John hears a call for God's people to come out of this
Babylonish nightmare: vs. 4 "And I heard another voice from
heaven, saying, Come out of her my people, that ye be not par-
takers of her sins, and that ye receive not her plagues."
This call to come out of this spiritual Babylon, producer of all
the evils of our present civilization, is not the first time such a call
has been heard. The call to flee from either physical or spiritual
Babylon has been issued seven times in all the scriptures. The call
occurs five times in the Old Testament. They are: (Isaiah 48:20;
52:4-11) (Jeremiah 50:8,9; 51:6,8) (Zechariah 2:6, 7)
In the New Testament there are two calls. Although in the first
of the two the name "Babylon" is not actually mentioned, but is
implied by the confusion caused by the mixing of believers and
unbelievers. The two instances are: (2 Cor. 6:17, 18) (Rev.
18:4)
The seven-fold, or fullest possible measure of calling, for the peo-
ple of God to flee this great Babylon is impressive indeed.
However, we should recall that whereas God brought His people

23. out of Egypt in a body, with a strong hand and with an outstretched
arm, in the case of this call to flee Babylon is an individual one,
Warning to Escape Babylon’s Judgment
4 Then I heard another voice from heaven say:
“‘Come out of her, my people,’[b]
so that you will not share in her sins,
so that you will not receive any of her plagues;
1.BARNES, “And I heard another voice from heaven - He does not say whether this was the voice
of an angel, but the idea seems rather to be that it is the voice of God.
Come out of her, my people - The reasons for this, as immediately stated, are two:
(a) That they might not participate in her sins; and,
(b) That they might not be involved in the ruin that would come upon her.
The language seems to be derived from such passages in the Old Testament as the following:
“Go ye forth of Babylon, flee ye from the Chaldeans, with a voice of singing,” Isa_48:20. “Flee out
of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul; be not cut off in her iniquity,” Jer_51:6.
“My people, go ye out of the midst of her, and deliver ye every man his soul from the fierce anger
of the Lord,” Jer_51:45. Compare Jer_50:8.
That ye be not partakers of her sins - For the meaning of this expression, see the notes on 1Ti_
5:22. It is implied here that by remaining in Babylon they would lend their sanction to its sins by
their presence, and would, in all probability, become contaminated by the influence around them.
This is an universal truth in regard to iniquity, and hence it is the duty of those who would be pure
to come out from the world, and to separate themselves from all the associations of evil.
And that ye receive not of her plagues - Of the punishment that was to come upon her - as they
must certainly do if they remained in her. The judgment of God that was to come upon the guilty
city would make no discrimination among those who were found there; and if they would escape
these woes they must make their escape from her. As applicable to papal Rome, in view of her
impending ruin, this means:
(a) That there might be found in her some who were the true people of God;
(b) That it was their duty to separate wholly from her - a command that will not only justify the
Reformation, but which would have made a longer continuance in communion with the papacy,
when her wickedness was fully seen, an act of guilt before God;
(c) That they who remain in such a communion cannot but be regarded as partaking of her
sin; and,
(d) That if they remain, they must expect to be involved in the calamities that will come upon
her. There never was any duty plainer than that of withdrawing from papal Rome; there never has
been any act attended with more happy consequences than that by which the Protestant world
separated itself forever from the sins and the plagues of the papacy.
2. CLARKE, “Come out of her, my people - These words appear to be taken from Isa_48:20; Jer_
1:8; Jer_51:6, Jer_51:45. The poet Mantuanus expresses this thought well: -
Vivere qui sancte cupitis, discelite; Romae
Omnia quum liceant, non licet esse bonum.
“Ye who desire to live a godly life, depart; for, although all things are lawful at Rome, yet to be
godly is unlawful.
3. GILL, “And I heard another voice from heaven,.... Either of another, or of the same angel, or

24. rather of God, or Christ himself, since the persons addressed are called his people:
saying, come out of her, my people; meaning either his elect ones, till now uncalled, being such
whom God had chosen for his people, and were so by virtue of the covenant of grace, were given
to Christ as his people, and were redeemed by him, though, till this call, in an unconverted state;
or else such who had been secretly called by the grace of God, but had not made a public
profession of the Gospel, nor bore an open testimony against the Romish idolatry; for as the Lord
had a righteous Lot in Sodom, and saints where Satan's seat was, Rome Pagan, so he will have a
people in Rome Papal, at the time when its destruction draws near; and these wilt be called out,
not only in a spiritual sense, to quit the communion of the church, to forsake its idolatries, and not
touch the unclean thing, separate themselves from her, and bear a testimony against her
doctrines and worship, but in a literal sense, locally; they shall be bid to come out of her, as Lot
was ordered to go out of Sodom before its burning, and the people of the Jews out of Babylon
before the taking of it, Jer_50:8 to which reference is here had: and as the Christians were called
out of Jerusalem before the destruction of it: this shows the particular knowledge the Lord has of
his people, be they where they will, and the gracious care he takes of them, that they perish not
with others; and that it is his will they should be a separate people from the rest of the world; and
this call of his sufficiently justifies the Protestants in their separation from the church of Rome, and
every separation from any apostate church;
that ye be not partakers of her sins: by conniving at them, or committing the same; and all such
are partakers of them, and have fellowship with these unfruitful works of darkness, that are in the
communion of that church; and those that dwell at Rome are in great danger of being so, and
cannot well avoid it: yea, even those that only go to see it, and stay but for a time in it, and that not
only through the strength and influence of example, but through the force of power and authority:
and that ye receive not of her plagues; or punishments; the seven last plagues, which belong to
her, the vials of which will be poured out upon one or other of the antichristian states, and the fifth
particularly will fall upon Rome, the seat of the beast, and is what is here referred to.
3B. ELLICOTT, "(4) Voice from heaven . . .—Read, Voice out of heaven, saying, Come forth out
of her, my people, that ye partake not in her sins, and that of her plagues ye receive not. The
voice is not said to be that of another angel. It is not necessary to say whose voice it is; that it is a
voice of divine love giving warning is enough. The coming forth is not to be understood of a bodily
exodus from Rome. It is rather the warning which is so needful in every corrupt state of society, to
have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness; to practise that separation from the spirit
of the world which is essential lest we should be entangled in the meshes of its sinful habits. This
duty of separation may sometimes lead to a literal exodus, and even under the pressure of
overwhelming necessity to secession from a world-corrupted church; but the jeopardy lies in
ATTACHMENT to the world-spirit (1 John 2:15). The parallel warnings in Jeremiah 51:6; Jeremiah
51:45, and Zechariah 2:6-7, should be read; but the story of Lot in Sodom best illustrates the spirit
of the passage (Genesis 19), for it is participation in sin which is to be primarily guarded against.
4. HENRY, “Fair warning is given to all that expect mercy from God, that they should not only
come out of her, but be assisting in her destruction, Rev_18:4, Rev_18:5. Here observe, (1.) God
may have a people even in Babylon, some who belong to the election of grace. (2.) God's people
shall be called out of Babylon, and called effectually. (3.) Those that are resolved to partake with
wicked men in their sins must receive of their plagues. (4.) When the sins of a people reach up to
heaven, the wrath of God will reach down to the earth.
5. JAMISON, “Come out of her, my people — quoted from Jer_50:8; Jer_51:6, Jer_51:45. Even in
the Romish Church God has a people: but they are in great danger; their only safety is in coming
out of her at once. So also in every apostate or world-conforming church there are some of God’s
invisible and true Church, who, if they would be safe, must come out. Especially at the eve of
God’s judgment on apostate Christendom: as Lot was warned to come out of Sodom just before
its destruction, and Israel to come from about the tents of Dathan and Abiram. So the first
Christians came out of Jerusalem when the apostate Jewish Church was judged. “State and
Church are precious gifts of God. But the State being desecrated to a different end from what God
designed it, namely. to govern for, and as under, God, becomes beast-like; the Church

25. apostatizing becomes the harlot. The true woman is the kernel: beast and harlot are the shell:
whenever the kernel is mature, the shell is thrown away” [Auberlen]. “The harlot is not Rome
alone (though she is pre-eminently so), but every Church that has not Christ’s mind and spirit.
False Christendom, divided into very many sects, is truly Babylon, that is, confusion. However, in
all Christendom the true Jesus-congregation, the woman clothed with the sun, lives and is hidden.
Corrupt, lifeless Christendom is the harlot, whose great aim is the pleasure of the flesh, and which
is governed by the spirit of nature and the world” [Hahn in Auberlen]. The first justification of the
woman is in her being called out of Babylon the harlot, as the culminating stage of the latter’s sin,
when judgment is about to fall: for apostate Christendom, Babylon, is not to be converted, but to
be destroyed. Secondly, she has to pass through an ordeal of persecution from the beast, which
purifies and prepares her for the transfiguration glory at Christ’s coming (Rev_20:4; Luk_21:28).
be not partakers — Greek, “have no fellowship with her sins.”
that ye receive not of her plagues — as Lot’s wife, by lingering too near the polluted and doomed
city.
5B. JAMES NISBET, “THE CALL TO SEPARATION
‘Come out of her, My people.’
Rev_18:4
‘Babylon the great’ (Rev_18:2) typifies for us in this twentieth century the ungodly world. In this
world you and I are living and must live. Are we of it? Do we belong to it? Once we were of the
world, worldly. Have we come out of the world? Have we cast out of our hearts the worldly spirit?
Remember, ‘the friendship of the world is enmity with God,’ and if we are to serve God we must
resolve to come out of the world. The text is the call to separation. ‘Be ye separate’ is the
command, and it is a call to the Church as a corporate body as well as to the individual believer.
I. The call to the Church.—From the very earliest days the spirit of the world has invaded the
Church, and there have been times in her history when the spirit of worldliness has so dominated
her life that it has seemed there was no difference—the Church and the world seemed to be one.
How is it to-day? ‘Come out of her, My people,’ and the Church is never so strong spiritually as
when the line of demarcation between the Church and the world is most clearly marked.
II. The call to the individual.—But it is to each one of us that the call comes with the greatest force.
If we would be Christ’s people we must have no part with the world. And yet the world and all that
the world stands for is very attractive to us, and too many of us yield to the desire to enjoy the
world’s pleasures—and sometimes, alas! the world’s sin—while at the same time professing to
serve Christ. But this will not do. There must be complete separation.
5C. NOTE, Here is a calling out, for God is always concerned that His people not be included in
the judgment that He pours out on the wicked. There is always a way of escape if we give heed to
God's warnings.
6. PULPIT, “And I heard another voice from heaven, saying. Probably the voice of another angel
in succession to the one mentioned in Rev_18:1. Another angel takes up the theme, because the
message is now directly addressed to Christians.Come out of her, my people, that ye be not
partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. The angel says, "my people,"
because he is representing God. These words, resembling Isa_48:20; Isa_52:1-15 :l; Jer_1:8; and
especially Jer_51:6 (cf. also Jer_51:8), 45, recall also the warning of our Lord in Mat_24:16 (cf.
also Gen_19:22, "I cannot do anything till thou be come thither"). Since the harlot, who is identical
with Babylon, is representative of the faithless part of the Church of God, these words form a
direct warning to Christians. The departure which is commanded is not necessarily a literal, visible
one; but the command implies a dissociation from, and condemnation of, the works of Babylon.
Lot's wife literally departed from Sodom, but was overtaken with punishment, because her heart
was not dissevered from the wickedness of the city.
6B. BARCLAY, "COME YE OUT!

26. Rev. 18:4-5
I heard another voice from heaven saying: "Come out, my people, from her, lest you become partners in her
sins, and lest you share in her plagues, because her sins are piled as high as heaven, and God has
remembered her unrighteous deeds."
The Christians are bidden come out of Rome before the day of destruction comes, lest, sharing in her sins,
they also share in her doom. H. B. Swete says that this call to come out rings through Hebrew history. God
is always calling upon his people to cut their connection with sin and to stand with him and for him.
It was the call which came to Abraham: "Now the Lord said to Abraham, Go from your country, and your
kindred, and your father's house, to the land that I will show you" (Gen.12:1). It was the call that came to
Lot, before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah: "Up, get out of this place, for the Lord is about to
destroy the city" (Gen.19:12-14). It was the call that came to Moses in the days of the wickedness of Korah,
Dathan and Abiram: "Get away from about the dwelling of Korah, Dathan and Abiram.... Depart, I pray
you, from the tents of these wicked men" (Num.16:23-26). "Go forth from Babylon," said Isaiah, "flee from
Chaldea" (Isa.48:20). "Flee from the midst of Babylon," said Jeremiah, "and go out of the land of the
Chaldeans" (Jer.50:8). "Flee from the midst of Babylon, let every man save his life" (Jer.51:6). "Go out of
the midst of her people. Let every man save his life from the fierce anger of the Lord" (Jer.51:45). It is a cry
which finds its echo in the New Testament. Paul writes to the Corinthians: "Do not be mismated with
unbelievers. For what partnership have righteousness and iniquity? Or what fellowship has light with
darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial?" (2Cor.6:14-15). "Do not participate in another man's sins;
keep yourself pure" (1Tim.5:22).
Swete well points out that this cry and challenge do not involve a coming out at a definite moment. They
imply a certain "aloofness of spirit maintained in the very heart of the world's traffic." They describe the
essential apartness of the Christian from the world. The commonest word for the Christian in the New
Testament is the Greek hagios (GSN0040), whose basic meaning is different. The Christian is not
conformed to the world but transformed from the world (Rom.12:2). It is not a question of retiring from the
world; it is a question of living differently within the world.
7. WILLIAM BURKITT, “Observe here, An admonition given, and a double reason assigned for
that admonition.
1. The admonition itself; Come out of her my people, that is, come out of mystical Babylon, have
no communion with that idolatrous church; abstain from all communicating with her in her sins, as
ever you would approve yourselves to be my faithful people.
Here note, it is not so much a local departure, as a moral separation, that is here intended; not so
much from Babylon's local bounds, as from her abominable errors, superstitions, and idolatries.
Learn hence, 1. That God has, and ever had, a people, even in Babylon.
Learn, 2. That it is a special duty which God requires of his people, to depart from mystical
Babylon, especially when her downfall is approaching.
3. That such a departure from Babylon is no schismatical separation; it is not a departure from the
true church, but the true church's separation from an idolatrous communion; and that by the
express and positive command of God himself, Come out of her my people an allusion to the
charge given with respect to Babylon of old, We would have healed Babylon, but she would not be
healed; forsake her. Jer_51:6; Jer_51:9.
Observe, 2. A double reason assigned for this admonition.

27. 1. Because we are in danger of being partakers of her sins, namely, by incurring the guilt of her
sins, and by contracting the spot and filth of her sins.
2. There is a danger also of being made partakers of her plagues: there is no safety in being near
those who are under the curse of God; participation in sin will certainly cause a participation in
judgment.
How dreadful is this text to such as continue in, or apostatize unto, Babylon's idolatry and
communion!
8. KRETZMANN, “The warning voice from heaven:
v. 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.
v. 5. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.
v. 6. Reward 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.
v. 7. How 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.
v. 8. Therefore 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.
This passage is strongly reminiscent of the so-called psalms of vengeance, where the wrath of
God is poured out upon His enemies in fearful measure. The voice of the Lord follows the voice of
the angel: And I heard another voice out of heaven saying, Come out from her, My people, lest ye
become guilty of her sins, and lest ye receive of her plagues; for her sins are heaped up unto
heaven, and the Lord has called to remembrance her misdeeds. Reward her as she rewarded
you, and make the retribution double, twofold, according to her works; in the cup which she has
mixed mix to her double. This is a terrifying arraignment, the proper understanding of which ought
to open the eyes of many people. Rome has added sin upon sin, in a heap which now reaches to
heaven; she has become guilty of so many deeds of unrighteousness that it is impossible for the
Lord to ignore the situation. His warning call, therefore, goes out to all such as may be outwardly
affiliated with this Church, but do not realize the depth of depravity which their organization
represents, that they should leave her organization; for to remain in their connection with her will
expose them to the same punishment as will strike her, since their association with her will make
them guilty of her sins. God will judge and punish her with a fearful double punishment; and woe
to all that are found in her company! The Lord wants no false sympathy with the Church of Anti-
Christ, such as many are inclined to give in our days; He wants the testimony against the great
harlot to double in force, in order that men everywhere may realize what the cup of abominations
in her hand really is, namely, the sum total of all the idolatrous practices that have ever been
invented against the holiness of the Lord.
This is brought out also in the next verses: As she glorified herself and lived a wanton life, to that
extent give to her torment and Borrow; for in her heart she says, I sit a queen and am no widow
and know no sorrow. For this reason her plagues shall come in one day, death and sorrow and
famine, and she will be burned with fire; for strong is the Lord God that judges her. Here it
appears that the punishment, although carried out, to some extent, by men as God's instruments,
is all divine, and includes no personal revenge on the part of men. There is not a suspicion of
repentance in the great harlot; she still vaunts herself, she continues her luxurious, wanton life,
her show of pomp and power is as great as ever. Her boast is even today that she is the queen of
the world, and that she, the Church of Rome, is the only saving Church. Her very existence is a
blasphemy of Jesus Christ, for she is the Church of Anti-Christ. But the day and hour of her final
judgment is even now fixed in the counsel of the Lord; on one day, the day of God's vengeance,
all the plagues will strike her, death, sorrow, famine, and fire; the mighty power of the Lord will be

28. revealed in His judgment.
9. COLLEGE PRESS, “18:4-6 WONDER BOOK OF THE BIBLE
Again his people were forced to 'flee out of Egypt, but here only
those who have a mind to come out may do so.
It will not be a mass evacuation, but rather an individual and
voluntary leave of this world-wide institution of confusion and
apostacy.
vs. 5 Regardless of man's human judgment her sins are enormous,
for we read: "For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God
hath remembered her iniquities."
While the promise to the obedient believer is "Their sins and
their iniquities I will remember no more" (Hebrew 8:12), the sins
of Babylon are remembered and unforgiven by God, because we
read:
vs. 6 "Reward 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."
Contemptous flaunting and defiance of the word of God is the
essence of the sin of Babylon. If Revelation did not here declare it
so plainly we would know it applied to our age in which we live.
Rome's disregard for the Scriptures and the authority of Christ's
word has caused the world to hate what they know as the church.
They have falsely and mistakenly judged the church of Christ by
what they have beheld in the Catholic church. The result has been
that men have turned away from God's word, the church and
drifted into utter indifference, agnosticism, skepticism, free-thinking
and out right infidelity. We live, as a result of Babylons heaven
reaching sins, in this age of humanism.
God's principle of judgment is that every individual, as well as
every institution, is to be rewarded according to his or its work.
What is sown must be harvested. This Thyatira church as "given
space to repent of her fornication and she repented not." (Rev.
2:21)
He further adds, "Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them
that commit adultery with her into great tribulation except they
repent of their deeds." (Rev. 2:22)
5 for her sins are piled up to heaven,
and God has remembered her crimes.

29. 1.BARNES, “For her sins have reached unto heaven - So in Jer_51:9, speaking of Babylon, it is
said, “For her judgment reacheth unto heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies.” The meaning is
not that the sins of this mystical Babylon were like a mass or pile so high as to reach to heaven,
but that it had become so prominent as to attract the attention of God. Compare Gen_4:10, “The
voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground.” See also Gen_18:20.
And God hath remembered her iniquities - He had seemed to forget them, or not to notice them,
but now he acted as if they had come to his recollection. See the notes on Rev_16:19.
2. CLARKE, “Her sins have reached unto heaven - They are become so great and enormous that
the long-suffering of God must give place to his justice.
3. GILL, “For her sins have reached unto heaven,.... Or "have followed unto heaven"; one after
another, in one age after another, until they have been as it were heaped up together, and have
reached the heavens; the phrase denotes the multitude of them, God's knowledge and notice of
them, and the cry of them to him; see Gen_18:20 the Alexandrian copy and Complutensian
edition read, "have cleaved", or "glued", and so the Syriac and Arabic versions seem to have read;
her sins were as it were soldered together, and stuck fast to her, and being joined and linked
together, made a long chain, and reached to heaven, and cleaved to that, and cried for
vengeance:
and God hath remembered her iniquities; and is about to punish her for them; for as forgiveness
of sin is signified by a non-remembrance of it, so punishment of sin by a remembrance of it, and
of the persons that commit it; see Rev_16:19.
4. HENRY, “Here observe, (1.) God may have a people even in Babylon, some who belong to the
election of grace. (2.) God's people shall be called out of Babylon, and called effectually. (3.)
Those that are resolved to partake with wicked men in their sins must receive of their plagues. (4.)
When the sins of a people reach up to heaven, the wrath of God will reach down to the earth.
5. JAMISON, “her sins — as a great heap.
reached — Greek, “reached so far as to come into close contact with, and to cleave unto.”
6. PULPIT, “For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.
That is, the accumulation of sin is so great as to reach up to the heaven. Exactly the description of
the judgment of Babylon given in Jer_51:9, "Forsake her, and let us go every one into his own
country; for her judgment reacheth unto heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies." The last part
of the verse is a repetition of Rev_16:19.
7. WILLIAM BURKITT, “Observe here, 1. The reason assigned why Almighty God inflicted such
severe punishments upon Babylon, because her sins, that is, the cry and clamour of her sins, had
reached up to heaven, the measure of her sins was filled up,and God had remembered her
iniquities, that is, manifested his rememberance of them, by inflicting on her so great, so just, a
punishment for them, viz. for her idolatry and persecution.
Learn hence, That although sins be transient actions, yet they have a permanent pleading before
the Lord's tribunal, to bring down judgments upon incorrigible sinners.
And, 2. That although the justice of God may be thought to be asleep, and he may seem to be
forgetful of sin and sinners, yet he will take his own time to manifest that he remembers them, by
inflicting the heaviest of his judgments upon obdurate sinners: Her sins reached unto heaven, and
God hath remembered her iniquities.
Observe, 2. The injunction and command given by God unto his people, to every one of them in
their place and station, to contribute regularly all they can towards Babylon's downfall and

30. destruction, Reward her as she rewarded you, yea, double; this is required, not from a private
spirit of revenge, which Christianity expressly forbids, but as a public work, in an authoritative way
and manner, out of an ardent zeal for the glory of God, and from a just indignation against her
tyranny and idolatry; and the command to double unto her double, implies that a double
punishment is due unto her, yea, a just one, according to her works.
Behold here! what bloody persecutors may at length expect, namely, to receive at the Lord's hand
double for all their sins. Babylon's punishment shall be double, respecting what she has acted, but
not double in respect of what she has deserved; if possible, let her have as much blood again to
drink as ever she spilt, for one drop of the blood of Sion is more worth than an ocean of the blood
of Babylon: give her therefore double, for though it be more in quantity, it is nothing so much in
value.
Observe, 3. How suitable and unanswerable Babylon's punishment inflicted will be to her sin
committed; her sins were pride and insolence, luxury and voluptuousness.
Note, 1. Her pride; she said in her heart, I sit as a queen.
Mark, she did not barely say, I am a queen, but I sit as a queen; as if she had said, "I am not only
in a high place, but in a sure place: I have a warm and a firm seat, I am well settled, I have a great
command, yea, an uncontrollable command, I am no widow; no desolate widow, no disconsolate
widow, for I have many children to comfort me, many sons and daughters to support me; I shall
see no sorrow, I neither feel nor fear any." Behold how worldly men fancy to themselves an
everlastingness in worldly things; they fancy themselves sitting as upon down pillows for ease and
softness, and as upon rocks of adamant for sureness and unmovableness, I sit as a queen, and
shall see no sorrow.
Note, 2. Her luxury and voluptuousness, she lived deliciously, in pompous palaces, pleasantly
situated, plentifully furnished, and her judgment bears a strict proportion to her sin, How much she
hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her; the justice of
God will exact all the arrears of abused mercy. Sinners that now fare deliciously every day, shall
pass from their good things here, to the flames which live by the breath of God's revenging wrath.
Ah! doleful exchange! one hour's feeling of that fire will be more tormenting than an age's
enjoyment of this world's delight can be pleasing.
Observe, 4. The equity, the celerity, and multiplicity of Babylon's punishments; their equity is
intimated in the illative particle therefore, that is, because of her former sins her plagues shall
come; the celerity and swiftness of her punishment is intimated, they shall come upon her in one
day, as did Sodom's plagues, suddenly and unexpectedly; and the multiplicity and variety of her
plagues is particularly here expressed; death, for putting the saints to death;mourning, for her
former rejoicing; famine, for famishing God's people; and burning, for having burnt so many of the
bodies of the holy martyrs to a coal. Righteous art thou, O Lord, and just are thy judgments.
Observe lastly, The reason here assigned for the unavoidableness of all these plagues coming
upon Babylon-- for strong is the Lord who judgeth her. True, Babylon has all natural power and all
civil strength on her side; but the strong God is against her, it is his controversy with her, and he is
able to effect what he pleaseth, how incredible soever the thing may seem to us: sooner may the
ark and Dagon be reconciled, and cease to be adverse, than God can be at peace with Babylon;
Strong is the Lord who judgeth her.
6 Give back to her as she has given;

31. pay her back double for what she has done.
Pour her a double portion from her own cup.
1.BARNES, “Reward her even as she rewarded you - It is not said to whom this command is
addressed, but it would seem to be to those who had been persecuted and wronged. Applied to
mystical Babylon - papal Rome - it would seem to be a call on the nations that had been so long
under her sway, and among whom, from time to time, so much blood had been shed by her, to
arise now in their might, and to inflict deserved vengeance. See the notes on Rev_17:16-17.
And double unto her double according to her works - That is, bring upon her double the amount of
calamity which she has brought upon others; take ample vengeance upon her. Compare for
similar language, Isa_40:2, “She hath received of the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.” “For
your shame ye shall have double,” Isa_61:7.
In the cup which she hath filled - To bring wrath on others. See the notes at Rev_14:8.
Fill to her double - Let her drink abundantly of the wine of the wrath of God - double what she has
dealt out to others. That is, either let the quantity administered to her be doubled, or let the
ingredients in the cup be doubled in intensity.
2. CLARKE, “Reward her even as she rewarded you - These words are a prophetic declaration of
what shall take place: God will deal with her as she dealt with others.
3. GILL, “Reward her even as she rewarded you,.... This is spoken to the people of God, who are
before called out of Babylon; and the chief of them are the seven angels with the seven last
plagues of the wrath of God, and the same with the ten kings that will burn the whore with fire;
these are called upon to take vengeance, by way of retaliation, for what she had done to them, in
allusion to what is said of old Babylon, Jer_1:15 and must be understood not of what she will have
done to them personally, but to their predecessors in the faith of Christ in former ages; that as she
had hated them, and made war with them, so now they should hate her, and make war with her;
and as she had stripped them naked of their clothes, and spoiled them of their worldly goods and
substance, so now they should strip her naked of her harlot's attire, of her gold, silver, and
precious stones, and make her and her territories desolate; and as she has burnt many of the
precious saints in the flames, as here in England, and elsewhere, so now they shall utterly burn
her with fire; and as she has shed the blood of the righteous, and drank it, and been drunk with it,
they shall give her blood to drink; and as she hath killed multitudes with the sword, so now shall
they kill her and her children; see Rev_13:12 nor is this contrary to the doctrine of Christ and his
apostles, and the spirit of Christianity, which will not admit of revenge, Mat_5:38 Rom_12:17 since
this will not be private, but public revenge, inflicted by Christian princes and magistrates, who are
ministers of God, and revengers to execute wrath on them that do evil:
and double unto her double according to her works: the meaning is not to inflict upon her a
punishment doubly greater than her sins, for this would be contrary to the justice of God; nor does
ever God punish men in this life more, but less, than their iniquities deserve; nor can any temporal
punishment be doubly greater than sin, which deserves eternal death; and with this she will be
punished hereafter, and therefore will not have her full punishment now, and much less a greater
than her sins required; to which may be added, that this will be according to her works, her wicked
works, and therefore will not exceed the demerit of her sins: but the sense is, that if it was
possible to be done, they should use her with double severity to that she had used them with;
seeing her sins deserved a severer treatment than even they had had from her; the phrase
signifies an abundant and utter destruction, a punishment which was suitable and sufficient; see
Isa_40:2 and it suggests that they should not spare her, nor pity her, but use her with the greatest
severity imaginable, it being not possible to exceed her due deserts, or what her works required:

32. in the cup which he hath filled, fill to her double: not in the cup of her abominations, her errors,
idolatries, and wickedness; but in the cup of afflictions and trouble, which she wrung out to the
people of God, in that give her double portion: the sense is the same as before.
4. HENRY, “Though private revenge is forbidden, yet God will have his people act under him,
when called to it, in pulling down his and their inveterate and implacable enemies, Rev_18:6.
4B. ELLICOTT, "(6) Reward her even as she rewarded . . .—The same voice which bids the
people of God come forth, summons the agents of vengeance. Revelation 17:16 tells whence
these may arise. Read, Give back to her, as she herself also gave back (the word “you” should be
omitted; it is not the saints, or those who have suffered from her, that are called to REPAY her),
and double (the) double according to her works; in the cup in which she mingled, mingle for her
double. Many Old Testament parallels will suggest themselves (Jeremiah 51:18; Psalms 79:12;
Psalms 137:8; and Isaiah 40:2). The “double” must not be taken to mean double her sins; her sins
are themselves called double, and her judgment is according to her sins. She is double-stained in
wickedness, and “the law of retribution fiercely works “in her. The cup of her luxuriousness
becomes the cup of vengeance. (Comp. Revelation 14:8; Revelation 17:4; and Revelation 18:3.)
The flowery path “has led to the broad gate and the great fire.”
5. JAMISON, “Addressed to the executioners of God’s wrath.
Reward — Greek, “repay.”
she rewarded — English Version reading adds “you” with none of the oldest manuscripts. But A,
B, C, Vulgate, Syriac, and Coptic omit it. She had not rewarded or repaid the world power for
some injury which the world power had inflicted on her; but she had given the world power that
which was its due, namely, spiritual delusions, because it did not like to retain God in its
knowledge; the unfaithful Church’s principle was, “Populus vult decipi, et decipiatur.” “The people
like to be deceived, and let them be deceived.”
double — of sorrow. Contrast with this the double of joy which Jerusalem shall receive for her past
suffering (Isa_61:7; Zec_9:12); even as she has received double punishment for her sins (Isa_
40:2).
unto her — So Syriac, Coptic, and Andreas. A, B, and C omit it.
in the cup — (Rev_18:3; Rev_14:8; Rev_17:4).
filled — literally “mixed.”
fill to her double — of the Lord’s cup of wrath.
5B BARCLAY, "THE DOOM OF PRIDE
Rev. 18:6-8
Repay her in the coin with which she paid others; and repay her double for her deeds. Mix her a double
draught in the cup in which she mixed her draughts. In proportion to her boasting and her wantonness give
her torture and grief, for she says in her heart: "I sit a queen: I am not a widow; grief is something that I will
never see." Because of this her plagues will come upon her in one day--pestilence and grief and famine and
she will be burned with fire, because the Lord God who judges her is strong.
This passage speaks in terms of punishment. But the instruction to exact vengeance on Rome is not an
instruction to men; it is an instruction to the angel, the divine instrument of justice. Vengeance belongs to
God, and to God alone. We have here two truths which we must remember.
(i) There is in life a law by which a man sows that which he reaps. Even in the Sermon on the Mount we
find an expression of that law: "The measure you give will be the measure you get" (Matt.7:2). The double
punishment and the double reward come from the fact that frequently in Jewish law anyone responsible for
loss or damage had to repay it twice over (Exo.22:4,7,9). "O daughter of Babylon, you devastator!" says the
Psalmist, "happy shall he be who requites you with what you have done to us" (Ps.137:8). "Requite her
according to her deeds," says Jeremiah of Babylon, "Do to her according to all that she has done; for she
has proudly defied the Lord, the Holy One of Israel" (Jer.50:29). There is no getting away from the fact that

33. punishment follows sin, especially if that sin has involved the cruel treatment of fellowmen.
(ii) We meet here the stern truth that all pride will one day be humiliated. Rome's supreme sin has been
pride. It is in Old Testament terms that John speaks. He reproduces the ancient judgment on Babylon:
You said, "I shall be mistress for ever," so that you did not lay these things to heart or remember their end.
Now therefore hear this, you lover of pleasures, who sit securely, who say in your heart, "I am, and there is
no one besides me; I shall not sit as a widow or know the loss of children": These two things shall come to
you in a moment, in one day; the loss of children and widowhood shall come upon you in full measure, in
spite of your many sorceries and the great power of your enchantments.
Nothing rouses such condemnation as pride, Isaiah speaks grimly: "Because the daughters of Zion are
haughty, and walk with outstretched necks, glancing wantonly with their eyes, mincing along as they go,
tinkling with their feet the Lord will smite with a scab the heads of the daughters of Zion" (Isa.3:16-17).
Tyre is condemned because she has said: "I am perfect in beauty" (Eze.27:3).
There is a sin which the Greek called hubris (GSN5196), which is that arrogance, that comes to feel that it
has no need of God. The punishment for that sin is ultimate humiliation.
6. PULPIT, “Reward 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. "You" is omitted in all the best
manuscripts. The second "unto her," though supported by P, Syriac, Coptic, is omitted in à , A, B,
C, etc.: Render to her as she also rendered, and double the doubled things according to her
works, etc. The description of God's judgment is still founded on the denunciations against
Babylon in Jeremiah (see Jer_1:5 -29; Jer_51:24; Jer_16:18; cf. also Isa_61:7; Zec_9:12; and the
legal retribution ordered in Exo_22:4-7). The cup which she hath filled is that containing "the wine
of her fornication (cf. verse 3); she is now to receive a double measure of the cup of God's wrath
(cf. verse 3).
7, COLLEGE PRESS, “WONDER BOOK OF THE BIBLE 18:6,7
But an added measure of punishment is revealed here, Babylon,
or Rome shall be rewarded double,
Not only was she and still is unrepentant, but she is the most
arrogant institution in all the world, Hear the angel describe her
haughty attitude: "How much hath she glorified herself, and lived
deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her."
vs. 7 "This recalls the case of the rich man and Lazarus: "There
was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen,
and fared sumptuously every day," but at the end, in hell a far dif-
ferent scene is presented: "But Abraham said, Son, remember that
thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus
evil things; but now he is comforted and thou art tormented. (Luke
16:19, 25)
Likewise, she who lived deliciously shall be meted out torment
and sorrow.
But her boasting continues: "for she saith in her heart, I sit a
queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow."
What a strange statement of the angel concerning Babylon — the
papal church! The holy word of God, says Christ is the bridegroom

34. and the repentant baptized believers are his bride. But inform a
member of this apostate church of his condition and he will imme-
idately declare, "the Roman Catholic church is the only and true
church." It is the voice of the apostacy crying "I sit as a queen,
and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow."
And as for this ungodly and unregenerate civilization she has
produced, if you tell them of the impending danger of living in sin
until Christ comes, they if not in substance, at least in their ac-
tions will reply, "Where is the promise of His coming? for since the
fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the begin-
ning of the creation (2 Pet. 3:4). But Christ said of these last days,
"As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days
of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married
wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah
301
18:6-11 WONDER BOOK OF THE BIBLE
entered the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.
Even so shall it be when the Son of man is revealed." (Luke.
17:26, 27,30)
So shall the plagues of Babylon come suddenly:
vs. 7 "Therefore 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 who judgeth her."
Man's disbelief that God will punish, notwithstanding, God will
destroy her suddenly.
Like the saints under the fifth seal the true saints of this day,
cry out, "How long, Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge
and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?"
I know all who have perused the contents of this book are crying
out, How long? When will Babylon fall? In answer will say that
such time has never been revealed. There is the highest authority
for such a reply, even Christ himself:
"But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels
of heaven, but my Father." (Matt. 24:36)
Christ continued after this declaration "But as the days of Noah
were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be." (Matt.
24:37)
So even the angel who here announced the suddenness of Baby-
lon's destruction knew not the hour, so could not tell us when the
destruction shall be."
vs. 9-11 And the kings of the earth, who have committed forni-
cation and lived deliriously with her, shall bewail her, and lament

35. for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning. Standing
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.
And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her;
for no man buyeth their merchandise any more:"
7 Give her as much torment and grief
as the glory and luxury she gave herself.
In her heart she boasts,
‘I sit enthroned as queen.
I am not a widow;[c]
I will never mourn.’
1.BARNES, “How much she hath glorified herself - Been proud, boastful, arrogant. This was true
of ancient Babylon, that she was proud and haughty; and it has been no less true of mystical
Babylon - papal Rome.
And lived deliciously - By as much as she has lived in luxury and dissoluteness, so let her suffer
now. The word used here and rendered “lived deliciously” - e?st????´ase? estre‾niasen - is
derived from the noun - st?????? stre‾nos - which is used in Rev_18:3, and rendered
“delicacies.” See the notes on that verse. It means properly, “to live strenuously, rudely,” as in
English, “to live hard”; and then to revel, to live in luxury, riot, dissoluteness. No one can doubt the
propriety of this as descriptive of ancient Babylon, and as little can its propriety be doubted as
applied to papal Rome.
So much torment and sorrow give her - Let her punishment correspond with her sins. This is
expressing substantially the same idea which occurs in the previous verse.
For she saith in her heart - This is the estimate which she forms of herself.
I sit a queen - Indicative of pride, and of an asserted claim to rule.
And am no widow - Am not in the condition of a widow - a state of depression, sorrow, and
mourning. All this indicates security and self-confidence, a description in every way applicable to
papal Rome.
And shall see no sorrow - This is indicative of a state where there was nothing feared,
notwithstanding all the indications which existed of approaching calamity. In this state we may
expect to find papal Rome, even when its last judgments are about to come upon it; in this state it
has usually been; in this state it is now, notwithstanding all the indications that are abroad in the
world that its power is waning, and that the period of its fall approaches.
2. CLARKE, “How much she hath glorified herself - By every act of transgression and sinful
pampering of the body she has been preparing for herself a suitable and proportionate
punishment.
3. GILL, “How much she hath glorified herself,.... And acted the proud and haughty part in exalting
herself above all emperors, kings, and princes, above all kingdoms and states, and also above all
churches, assuming arrogant titles, and even blasphemous names; see Rev_13:1

36. and lived deliciously: in a very luxuriant manner, as the popes, cardinals, archbishops, bishops,
priests, monks, and friars have done; some being clothed in purple and scarlet, and in gold and
silver, and all living upon the fat of the land, and in rioting and drunkenness, in chambering and
wantonness:
so much torment and sorrow give her: by pulling down her pride, which goes before a fall, than
which nothing could more torment and afflict her; by stripping her of her fine clothes and rich
apparel; and by taking away her fat benefices from her, which will cut her to the heart; and by
burning her with fire, which will be very excruciating:
for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen; a lady of kingdoms, as in Isa_47:5 to which the reference
is; having a temporal power and authority over the kings of the earth, and a spiritual jurisdiction
over all churches, apostate ones, being the mother of harlots; and her "sitting" as such, as it well
agrees with the whore on many waters, and the woman on the scarlet coloured beast and seven
mountains, who are all the same, and is very suitable to antichrist, who pretends to sit in Peter's
chair, and does sit in the temple of God, as if he was God; so it is expressive of her empire and
government over nations and churches, and of the continuance of it, as she imagines, see Isa_
46:7 and so the Ethiopic version renders it, "I shall reign always": to which she adds,
and am no widow; nor never shall be, as she flatters herself, see Isa_47:8. Were she the true
spouse of Christ, as she boasts herself, she indeed would be no widow, for Christ is an
everlasting and never dying husband; but she is the whore of the kings of the earth, and though
she fancies she shall be no widow, that is, bereft of people and power, see Lam_1:1 because she
now sits on many waters, people, multitudes, and nations and tongues; yet ere long, like old
Babylon, she will have no men in her, but will be inhabited by devils, foul spirits, and hateful birds:
and shall see no sorrow; through loss of children, power, and authority; see Isa_47:8 but in this
also she will be mistaken; her children will be killed with death, as is threatened to Jezebel, Rev_
2:23 and her plagues shall come upon her at once: now these words may be considered either as
spoken by her when in the height of her power and glory, as she was about three or four hundred
years ago; or just before her destruction, which seems to be the case, and looks as if she would
regain her power, and be in her former state before her utter ruin; See Gill on Rev_11:2.
4. HENRY, “God will proportion the punishment of sinners to the measure of their wickedness,
pride, and security, Rev_18:7. (7.) When destruction comes on a people suddenly, the surprise is
a great aggravation of their misery, Rev_18:8.
5. JAMISON, “How much — that is in proportion as.
lived deliciously — luxuriously: see on Rev_18:3, where the Greek is akin.
sorrow — Greek, “mourning,” as for a dead husband.
I sit — so Vulgate. But A, B, and C prefix “that.”
I ... am no widow — for the world power is my husband and my supporter.
shall see no sorrow — Greek, “mourning.” “I am seated (this long time) ... I am no widow ... I shall
see no sorrow,” marks her complete unconcerned security as to the past, present, and future
[Bengel]. I shall never have to mourn as one bereft of her husband. As Babylon was queen of the
East, so Rome has been queen of the West, and is called on Imperial coins “the eternal city.” So
Papal Rome is called by Ammian Marcellin [15.7]. “Babylon is a former Rome, and Rome a latter
Babylon. Rome is a daughter of Babylon, and by her, as by her mother, God has been pleased to
subdue the world under one sway” [Augustine]. As the Jew’s restoration did not take place till
Babylon’s fall, so R. Kimchi on Obadiah, writes, “When Rome (Edom) shall be devastated, there
shall be redemption to Israel.” Romish idolatries have been the great stumbling-blocks to the
Jews’ acceptance of Christianity.
6. PULPIT, “How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and
sorrow give her. (For "lived deliciously," see on "delicacies," Rev_18:3.) The words are a re-echo

37. and expansion of those in Rev_18:6 (cf. Luk_16:25).For she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and
am no widow, and shall see no sorrow; because she saith, etc.; and contact with the succeeding
verse. The prophetical writers still supply the imagery (cf. Isa_47:8, "I shall not sit as a widow;"
see also Lam_1:1).
8 Therefore in one day her plagues will overtake
her:
death, mourning and famine.
She will be consumed by fire,
for mighty is the Lord God who judges her.
1.BARNES, “Therefore - In consequence of her pride, arrogance, and luxury, and of the
calamities that she has brought upon others.
Shall her plagues come in one day - They shall come in a time when she is living in ease and
security; and they shall come at the same time - so that all these terrible judgments shall seem to
be poured upon her at once.
Death - This expression, and those which follow, are designed to denote the same thing under
different images. The general meaning is, that there would be utter and final destruction. It would
be as if death should come and cut off the inhabitants.
And mourning - As there would be where many were cut off by death.
And famine - As if famine raged within the walls of a besieged city, or spread over a land,
And she shall be utterly burned with fire - As completely destroyed as if she were entirely burned
up. The certain and complete destruction of that formidable anti-Christian power is predicted
under a great variety of emphatic images. See Rev_14:10-11; Rev_16:17-21; Rev_17:9, Rev_
17:16. Perhaps in this so frequent reference to a final destruction of that formidable anti-Christian
power by fire, there may be more intended than merely a figurative representation of its final ruin.
There is some degree of probability, at least, that Rome itself will be literally destroyed in this
manner, and that it is in this way that God intends to put an end to the papal power, by destroying
what has been so long the seat and the center of this authority. The extended prevalence of this
belief, and the grounds for it, may be seen from the following remarks:
(1) It was an early opinion among the Jewish rabbies that Rome would be thus destroyed.
Vitringa, on the Apocalypse, cites some opinions of this kind; the Jewish expectation being
founded, as he says, on the passage in Isa_34:9, as Edom was supposed to mean Rome. “This
chapter,” says Kimchi, “points out the future destruction of Rome, here called Bozra, for Bozra
was a great city of the Edomites.” This is, indeed, worthless as a proof or an interpretation of
Scripture, for it is a wholly unfounded interpretation; it is of value only as showing that somehow
the Jews entertained this opinion.
(2) The same expectation was entertained among the early Christians. Thus Mr. Gibbon (vol. i. p.
263, ch. xv.), referring to the expectations of the glorious reign of the Messiah on the earth
(compare the notes on Rev_14:8), says, speaking of Rome as the mystic Babylon, and of its
anticipated destruction: “A regular series was prepared (in the minds of Christians) of all the moral
and physical evils which can afflict a flourishing nation; intestine discord, and the invasion of the
fiercest barbarians from the unknown regions of the north; pestilence and famine, comets and
eclipses, earthquakes and inundations. All these were only so many preparatory and alarming
signs of the great catastrophe of Rome, when the country of the Scipios and Caesars should be
consumed by a flame from heaven, and the city of the seven hills, with her palaces, her temples,

38. and her triumphal arches, should be buried in a vast lake of fire and brimstone.” So even Gregory
the Great, one of the most illustrious of the Roman pontiffs, himself says, acknowledging his belief
in the truth of the tradition: Roma a Gentilibus non exterminabitur; sed tempestatibus, coruscis
turbinibus, ac terrae motu, in se marcescet (Dial. Isa_2:15).
(3) Whatever may be thought of these opinions and expectations, there is “some” foundation for
the opinion in the nature of the case:
(a) The region is adapted to this. “It is not Aetna, the Lipari volcanic islands, Vesuvius, that alone
offer visible indications of the physical adaptedness of Italy for such a catastrophe. The great
Apennine mountain-chain is mainly volcanic in its character, and the country of Rome more
especially is as strikingly so almost as that of Sodom itself.” Thus the mineralogist Ferber, in his
“Tour in Italy,” says: “The road from Rome to Ostia is all volcanic ashes until within two miles of
Ostia.” “From Rome to Tivoli I went on fields and hills of volcanic ashes or tufa.” “A volcanic hill in
an amphitheatrical form includes a part of the plain over Albano, and a flat country of volcanic
ashes and hills to Rome. The ground about Rome is generally of that nature,” pp. 189, 191, 200,
234.
(b) Mr. Gibbon, with his usual accuracy, as if commenting on the Apocalypse, has referred to the
physical adaptedness of the soil of Rome for such an overthrow. Speaking of the anticipation of
the end of the world among the early Christians, he says: “In the opinion of a general
conflagration, the faith of the Christian very happily coincided with the tradition of the East, the
philosophy of the Stoics, and the analogy of nature; ‘and even the country, which, from religious
motives, had been chosen for the origin and principal scene of the conflagration, was the best
adapted for that purpose by natural and physical causes;’ by its deep caverns, beds of sulphur,
and numerous volcanoes, of which those of Aetna, of Vesuvius, and of Lipari, exhibit a very
imperfect representation,” vol. i. p. 263, ch. xv. As to the general state of Italy, in reference to
volcanoes, the reader may consult, with advantage, Lyell’s Geology, book ii. ch. 9–12. See also
Murray’s Encyclopaedia of Geography, book ii. ch. 2. Of the country around Rome it is said in that
work, among other things: “The country around Rome, and also the hills on which it is built, is
composed of tertiary marls, clays, and sandstones, and intermixed with a preponderating quantity
of granular and lithoidal volcanic tufas. The many lakes around Rome are formed by craters of
ancient volcanoes.” “On the road to Rome is the Lake of Vico, formerly the Lacus Cimini, which
has all the appearance of a crater.”
The following extract from a recent traveler will still further confirm this representation: “I behold
everywhere - in Rome, near Rome, and through the whole region from Rome to Naples - most
astounding proof, not merely of the possibility, but the probability, that the whole region of central
Italy will one day be destroyed by such a catastrophe (by earthquakes or volcanoes). The soil of
Rome is tufa, with a volcanic subterranean action going on. At Naples the boiling sulphur is to be
seen bubbling near the surface of the earth. When I drew a stick along the ground, the sulphurous
smoke followed the indentation; and it would never surprise me to hear of the utter destruction of
the southern peninsula of Italy. The entire country and district is volcanic. It is saturated with beds
of sulphur and the substrata of destruction. It seems as certainly prepared for the flames, as the
wood and coal on the hearth are prepared for the taper which shall kindle the fire to consume
them. The divine hand alone seems to me to hold the element of fire in check by a miracle as
great as what protected the cities of the plain, until the righteous Lot had made his escape to the
mountains” (Townsend’s Tour in Italy in 1850).
For strong is the Lord God who judgeth her - That is, God has ample power to bring all these
calamities upon her.
2. CLARKE, “Therefore shall her plagues come - Death, by the sword of her adversaries;
mourning on account of the slaughter; and famine, the fruits of the field being destroyed by the
hostile bands.
Utterly burned with fire - Of what city is this spoken? Rome pagan has never been thus treated;
Alaric and Totilas burnt only some parts with fire. Rome papal has not been thus treated; but this
is true of Jerusalem, and yet Jerusalem is not generally thought to be intended.
3. GILL, “Therefore shall her plagues come in one day,.... The seven last plagues, which will be in
a very little time executed upon her, very speedily and very quickly, one after another, if not all

39. together; and particularly the fifth vial may be respected, as well as the plagues that follow; see
Isa_47:9
death; not the second death, which will not be till after the decisive battle at Armageddon, when
the beast will be taken, and cast alive into the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is
the second death; but either the pestilence, which is called so, Rev_6:8 or rather death by the
sword, war, which will be brought upon her, and in which she and her children will be slain with the
sword:
mourning; for the loss of her children, the destruction of the city of Rome itself, the seat of the
beast, and for the darkness of his kingdom, the inhabitants of which shall be in such pain, as to
gnaw their tongues for it:
famine; which generally attends war, at least sieges; and it looks as if Rome would be besieged
awhile before it is destroyed, which will produce a grievous famine in it; this is opposed to her
living deliciously, as well as the two former are to her notion of sitting a queen for ever, and
knowing no sorrow:
and she shall be utterly burnt with fire; the burning of Rome has been attempted several times, by
different persons, and has been burnt in part, but not wholly; see Gill on Rev_17:16 but now it will
be entirely destroyed by fire; either by fire from heaven, as Sodom and Gomorrah were; or by fire
breaking out of the earth, it being very manifest that there are volcanos, burning mountains, and
subterraneous fires in those parts, which seem to be so many preparations in nature for the
burning of that city; or rather by the ten kings, who will set fire to it; and it may be by all these
ways. The Jews have a notion, that, at the coming of the Messiah, Rome will be burnt (a), as
Sodom has been; you will find, say they (b), that of Sodom and of that kingdom (Rome, of which
they are speaking, and which they afterwards call the fourth kingdom), it is decreed concerning
them both, that they "should be burnt with fire"; of Sodom, Gen_19:24 and of the fourth kingdom
(Rome), Isa_34:9.
for strong is the Lord God that judgeth her; the Alexandrian copy reads, "that has judged": and so
the Syriac and Arabic versions; that is, has purposed and determined her destruction, and
therefore it is unavoidable; he that has resolved upon it, and foretold it, and has condemned her to
it, is the Lord God Almighty; and he is able to execute the sentence determined and pronounced,
and it is impossible she should escape: it may be understood of Christ the mighty God, the Judge
of quick and dead; see Jer_50:34.
4. HENRY, “When destruction comes on a people suddenly, the surprise is a great aggravation of
their misery, Rev_18:8.
4B. ELLICOTT, "(8) Therefore shall her plagues come . . .—Read, For this cause in one day shall
come her plagues, death and mourning . . . and with fire shall she be burnt, for strong is the Lord
God who judged her. God, the mighty God, has passed sentence. She thought herself strong; she
FORGOT the strength of the Almighty. Her plagues are four-fold, as though from every quarter
her trouble came: “death for her scorn of the prospect of widowhood; mourning, for her inordinate
revelling; famine, for her abundance;” and fire, the punishment of her fornication (Leviticus 20:14;
Leviticus 21:9). (Comp. the series of contrasts in Isaiah 3:24-26.)
THE LAMENT OF THE KINGS (Revelation 18:9-10).—(Their words of lament are given in
Revelation 18:10.)
5. JAMISON, “death — on herself, though she thought herself secure even from the death of her
husband.
mourning — instead of her feasting.
famine — instead of her luxurious delicacies (Rev_18:3, Rev_18:7).
fire — (See on Rev_17:16). Literal fire may burn the literal city of Rome, which is situated in the
midst of volcanic agencies. As the ground was cursed for Adam’s sin, and the earth under Noah

40. was sunk beneath the flood, and Sodom was burnt with fire, so may Rome be. But as the harlot is
mystical (the whole faithless Church), the burning may be mainly mystical, symbolizing utter
destruction and removal. Bengel is probably right in thinking Rome will once more rise to power.
The carnal, faithless, and worldly elements in all churches, Roman, Greek, and Protestant, tend
towards one common center, and prepare the way for the last form of the beast, namely,
Antichrist. The Pharisees were in the main sound in creed, yet judgment fell on them as on the
unsound Sadducees and half-heathenish Samaritans. So faithless and adulterous, carnal, worldly
Protestant churches, will not escape for their soundness of creed.
the Lord — so B, C, Syriac, and Andreas. But A and Vulgate omit. “Strong” is the meaning of
God’s Hebrew name, “EL.”
judgeth — But A, B, and C read the past tense (Greek, “krinas”), “who hath judged her”: the
prophetical past for the future: the charge in Rev_18:4 to God’s people to come out of her implies
that the judgment was not yet actually executed.
6. PULPIT, “Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine. This
is the retribution for her boasting in Rev_18:7 (cf. Isa_47:9, "These two things shall come to thee
in a moment in one day," etc.). Alford says, "death, for her scorn of the prospect of widowhood;
mourning, for her inordinate revelling; famine, for her abundance" (cf. Rev_18:3). The description
is not to be taken literally, but is typical of a sudden and overwhelming reverse, viz. that which will
occur at the last judgment day (cf. the words of our Lord in Mat_24:37-42). Some writers see here
an allusion to the second, third, and fourth seals (see Rev_6:1-17.). And she shall he utterly
burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her. Who judged her; ???´?a? is found in
à , A, B, C, P, and others. This is the fulfilment of the predicted punishment of the harlot (Rev_
17:16). The last clause replies, as it were, to the boast in Rev_18:7, "I sit as a queen," etc.
Threefold Woe Over Babylon’s Fall
9 “When the kings of the earth who committed
adultery with her and shared her luxury see the
smoke of her burning, they will weep and mourn
over her.
1.BARNES, “And the kings of the earth - This verse commences the description of the
lamentation over the fall of the mystical Babylon (see the Analysis of the chapter).
Who have committed fornication - That is, who have been seduced by her from the true God, and
have been led into practical idolatry. See the notes on Rev_14:8. The kings of the earth seem to
be represented as among the chief mourners, because they had derived important aid from the
power which was now to be reduced to ruin. As a matter of fact, the kings of Europe have owed
much of their influence and power to the support which has been derived from the papacy, and
when that power shall fall, there will fall much that has contributed to sustain oppressive and
arbitrary governments, and that has prevented the extension of popular liberty. In fact, Europe
might have been long since free, if it had not been for the support which despotic governments
have derived from the papacy.
And lived deliciously with her - In the same kind of luxury and dissoluteness of manners. See
Rev_18:3, Rev_18:7. The courts of Europe, under the papacy, have had the same general
character for dissoluteness and licentiousness as Rome itself. The same views of religion
produce the same effects everywhere.
Shall bewail her, and lament for her - Because their ally is destroyed, and the source of their
power is taken away. The fall of the papacy will be the signal for a general overturning of the

41. thrones of Europe.
When they shall see the smoke of her burning - When they shall see her on fire, and her smoke
ascending toward heaven. See the notes on Rev_14:11.
2. CLARKE, “The kings of the earth - Those who copied her superstitions and adopted her
idolatries.
3. GILL, “And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication,.... Idolatry, Rev_17:2
and lived deliciously with her; Rev_18:3 joining with her in her sensual, as well as in her idolatrous
practices:
shall bewail her, and lament for her: shall mourn inwardly, and by various gestures outwardly
express their sorrow at her desolation; see Eze_27:30 these will not be the ten kings who will burn
the whore with fire, and then repent of what they have done, and weep over her, as Titus did at
the destruction of Jerusalem, as some Popish writers have fancied, for they will hate the whore,
and eat her flesh; but earthly and idolatrous kings, who will be in the communion of the church of
Rome:
when they shall see the smoke of her burning: as Abraham saw the smoke of Sodom and
Gomorrah go up like the smoke of a furnace; by which they will perceive that her judgment is
come, and her ruin begun.
4. HENRY, “Here we have,
I. A doleful lamentation made by Babylon's friends for her fall; and here observe,
1. Who are the mourners, namely, those who had been bewitched by her fornication, those who
had been sharers in her sensual pleasures, and those who had been gainers by her wealth and
trade - the kings and the merchants of the earth: the kings of the earth, whom she had flattered
into idolatry by allowing them to be arbitrary and tyrannical over their subjects, while they were
obsequious to her; and the merchants, that is, those who trafficked with her for indulgences,
pardons, dispensations, and preferments; these will mourn, because by this craft they got their
wealth.
4B. ELLICOTT, "(9) And the kings of the earth. . . .—Read, And there shall weep and mourn over
her the kings of the earth, who with her committed fornication and luxuriated, when they see the
smoke of her burning, standing afar off because of the FEAR of her torment, saying, Woe, woe,
the great city, Babylon the strong city; because in one hour is come thy judgment. Kings,
merchants (Revelation 18:11-17), shippers (Revelation 18:17-19) join in lamenting the overthrow
of the great city; all stand afar off, as though fearing to be involved in her ruin; all cry, “Woe” (or,
Alas!) at the beginning of their lament; and at the CLOSE the words, “in one hour,” telling the
suddenness of the great city’s overthrow, recur (Revelation 18:10; Revelation 18:17; Revelation
18:19) with the monotony of a passing BELL heard at intervals amid the strains of sad music. The
parallel passages in Ezekiel 26:15-16; Ezekiel 27:35, should be compared. The grief described is
the result of fear mingled with selfishness; the mourners remember with a regret, only tempered
with terror, the voluptuous life, the quick-growing profits, and the varied commercial advantages
which they have lost in her overthrow.
THE LAMENT OF THE MERCHANTS (Revelation 18:11-17).—The lament proper, that is, the
actual words put in the mouths of the merchants, is contained in Revelation 18:16-17. The
immediately PRECEDINGverses describe the various kinds of merchandise which were dealt in.
4B. BARCLAY, "THE LAMENT OF THE KINGS
Rev. 18:9-10
The kings of the earth, who committed fornication with her and who shared in her wantonness, will weep

42. and lament over her, when they will see the smoke of her burning, while they stand afar off because of the
fear of her torture, while they say: "Alas! Alas! for the city that seemed so strong, for Babylon the strong
city! for in one hour your judgment is come."
In the rest of this chapter we have the dirges for Rome; the dirge sung by the kings (Rev. 18:9-10), the dirge
sung by the merchants (Rev. 18:11-16), the dirge sung by the shipmasters and the sailors (Rev. 18:17-19).
Again and again we hear of the greatness, the wealth and the wanton luxury of Rome.
We may well ask whether John's indictment is justified or whether he is merely a fanatic shouting doom
without any real justification. If we wish to find an account of the luxury and the wantonness of Rome we
will find it in such books as Roman Society from Nero to Marcus Aurelius, by Samuel Dill, Roman Life and
Manners, by Ludwig Friedlander, and especially in the Satires of Juvenal, the Lives of the Caesars by
Suetonius, and the works of Tacitus, themselves Romans and themselves appalled by the things about which
they wrote. These books show that nothing John could say of Rome could be an exaggeration.
There is a saying in the Talmud that ten measures of wealth came down into the world and that Rome
received nine and all the rest of the world only one. One famous scholar said that in modern times we are
babes in the matter of enjoyment compared with the ancient world; and another remarked that our most
extravagant luxury is poverty compared with the prodigal magnificence of ancient Rome.
In that ancient world there was a kind of desperate competition in ostentation. It was said of Caligula that
"he strove, most of all to realize what men deemed impossible," and it was said that "the desire of the
incredible" was the great characteristic of Nero. Dill says: "The senator who paid too low a rent, or rode
along the Appian or Flaminian Way with too scanty a train, became a marked man and immediately lost
caste."
In this first century the world was pouring its riches into the lap of Rome. As Dill has it: "The long peace,
the safety of the seas, and the freedom of trade, had made Rome the entrepot for the peculiar products and
delicacies of every land from the British Channel to the Ganges." Pliny talks of a meal in which in one dish
India was laid under contribution, in another Egypt, Cyrene, Crete and so forth. Juvenal speaks of the seas
peopled with great keels and of greed luring ships on expeditions to every land. Aristides has a purple
passage on the way in which things flowed into Rome. "Merchandise is brought from every land and sea,
everything that every season begets, and every country produces, the products of rivers and lakes, the arts of
the Greeks and the barbarians, so that, if anyone were to wish to see all these things, he would either have to
visit the whole inhabited world to see them--or to visit Rome; so many great ships arrive from all over the
world at every hour, at every season, that Rome is like some common factory of the world, for you may see
such great cargoes from the Indies, or, if you wish, from the blessed Arabias, that you might well conjecture
that the trees there have been stripped naked; clothing from Babylon, ornaments from the barbarian lands,
everything flows to Rome; merchandise, cargoes, the products of the land, the emptying of the mines, the
product of every art that is and has been, everything that is begotten and everything that grows. If there is
anything you cannot see at Rome, then it is a thing which does not exist and which never existed."
The money possessed and the money spent was colossal. One of Nero's freedman could regard a man with a
fortune of 652,000 British pounds as a pauper. Apicius squandered a fortune of 1,000,000 British pounds in
refined debauchery, and committed suicide when he had only 1OO,000 British pounds left because he could
not live on such a pittance. In one day Caligula squandered the revenues of three provinces amounting to
100,000 British pounds and in a single year scattered broadcast in prodigal profusion 20,000,000 British
pounds. Nero declared that the only use of money was to squander it, and in a very few years he squandered
18,000,000 British pounds. At one banquet of his the Egyptian roses alone cost 35,000 British pounds.
Let the Roman historian Suetonius describe his emperors, and remember that this is not a Christian preacher
but a pagan historian. Of Caligula he writes: "In reckless extravagance he outdid the prodigals of all times
in ingenuity, inventing a new sort of baths and unnatural varieties of food and feasts; for he would bathe in
hot or cold perfumed oils, drink pearls of great price dissolved in vinegar, and set before his guests loaves
and meats of gold." He even built galleys whose sterns were studded with pearls. Of Nero Suetonius tells us

43. that he compelled people to set before him banquets costing 20,000 British pounds. "He never wore the
same garment twice. He played at dice for 2,000 British pounds per point. He fished with a golden net
drawn by cords woven of purple and scarlet threads. It is said that he never made a journey with less than a
thousand carriages, with his mules shod with silver."
Drinking pearls dissolved in vinegar was a common ostentation. Cleopatra is said to have dissolved and
drunk a pearl worth 80,000 British pounds. Valerius Maximus at a feast set a pearl to drink before every
guest, and he himself, Horace tells, swallowed the pearl from Metalla's ear-ring dissolved in wine that he
might be able to say that he had swallowed a million sesterces at a gulp.
It was an age of extraordinary gluttony. Dishes of peacocks' brains and nightingales' tongues were set before
the guests at banquets. Vitellius, who was emperor for less than a year, succeeded in spending 7,000,000
British pounds mainly on food. Suetonius tells of his favourite dish: "In this he mingled the livers of pike,
the brains of pheasants and peacocks, the tongues of flamingoes, and the milk of lampreys, brought by his
captains and triremes from the whole empire from Parthia to the Spanish strait." Petronius describes the
scenes at Trimalchio's banquet: "One course represented the twelve signs of the zodiac.... Another dish was
a large boar, with baskets of sweetmeats hanging from its tusks. A huge bearded hunter pierced its side with
a hunting knife, and forthwith from the wound there issued a flight of thrushes which were dexterously
captured in nets as they flew about the room. Towards the end of the meal the guests were startled by
strange sounds in the ceiling and a quaking of the whole apartment. As they raised their eyes the ceiling
suddenly opened, and a great circular tray descended, with a figure of Priapus, bearing all sorts of fruit and
bon-bons."
In the time when John was writing a kind of insanity of wanton extravagance, to which it is very difficult to
find any parallel in history, had invaded Rome.
5. JAMISON, “lived deliciously — Greek, “luxuriated.” The faithless Church, instead of reproving,
connived at the self-indulgent luxury of the great men of this world, and sanctioned it by her own
practice. Contrast the world’s rejoicing over the dead bodies of the two witnesses (Rev_11:10)
who had tormented it by their faithfulness, with its lamentations over the harlot who had made the
way to heaven smooth, and had been found a useful tool in keeping subjects in abject tyranny.
Men’s carnal mind relishes a religion like that of the apostate Church, which gives an opiate to
conscience, while leaving the sinner license to indulge his lusts.
bewail her — A, B, C, Syriac, Coptic, and Cyprian omit “her.”
5B. NOTE, “ Here are grown men shedding tears for their lover, the source of their wealth and
pleasure. It is the death of their god. It is economic catastrophe.
Rev. 18:9-19
Nineveh, represented as a harlot, received its glory through conquest (Nahum 3:1-7). Tyre, a
harlot, relied on its trade and commercial aspects (Isa. 23; Ezek. 26-28). Babylon, a mistress, was
a city of pleasure and conquest (Isa. 13 and 14). However, the great city of Rome represented all
of these evils, for she was made up of all. Rome represents all that is lustful, seductive and
enticing. Verses 9-19 give a picture of how the destruction of the great city affected those on
earth. Three groups stand by to bewail and lament her fall: kings (vss. 9-10), merchants (vss. 11-
17a), and mariners (vss. 17b-19).
The kings of the earth (identified as the kings of the provinces, 17:2, 12-18; 18:3) who had
enjoyed pleasures, luxuries and riches through whoring with the great harlot, bewail and lament
her fall. Helplessly they stand afar off (because they fear her torment) and bewail the sudden
destruction of the city. Like many of the world with selfish sorrow and tears, these kings are
mourning because of their own loss.
The merchants also weep and mourn because their opportunity to make riches is taken away.
Verse 12 and 13 list 28 things of luxury in which they traded. "Thyine wood" according to Smith's

44. Bible Dictionary was wood from a small cone bearing tree related to the pine, valued for its
beauty. The "souls of men" probably refers to "persons of men" as in Ezek. 27:13-14; e.g.,
mercenaries, horsemen, or special hired servants for particular services. In verse 14 all those
things of extreme luxury would be found no more at all when God brought His plagues upon her.
The merchants (as all rich men do) were weeping and wailing because their riches were quickly
taken away. The things in verse 16 with which the great city was clothed are the same in which
the harlot was arrayed (17:4); thus, again confirming the identity of the two. All three groups say,
"Alas, alas," (meaning "Woe, woe"; an expression of bitter grief) bewailing the destruction of "that
great city" (vss. 10, 16, 19).
The mariners (those having to do with the sea; Rome had a great fleet of ships, some very large,
Acts 27:37) also bewail her fall. They cast dust on their heads (a sign of great mourning, Joshua
7:6; 1 Sam. 4:12; Job 2:12) and weep and wail--again, because their riches are quickly lost. Like
the others, their grief was through selfishness. They were grieving over their own loss and not
because of the destruction of Rome. Trade and commerce in and of itself is not evil, but good
when used for the welfare of humanity. However, when used for selfish luxury and the gratifying of
fleshly lusts, it becomes wicked and embodies sins of all kinds. DAVID RIGGS
6. PULPIT, “And 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; and the
kings of the earth, who committed fornication and revelled with her, shall weep and wait over her,
when they see, etc. It is noteworthy that this sentence is in the future tense; that in Rev_18:11 in
the present; that in Rev_18:17, Rev_18:18 in the past. (On "committed fornication," seeRev_18:3;
Rev_14:4,Rev_14:8; Rev_16:14; Rev_17:2. On "lived deliciously," see Rev_17:3, Rev_17:7.)
"Lament'' is the same word used in Rev_1:7, "All kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him."
Cf. the description of the fall of Tyre (Eze_26:16). (On "smoke," see on Rev_9:2.)
7. WILLIAM BURKITT, “The Spirit of God having in the former part of the chapter set forth the
certainty and severity of those judgments which should come upon mystical Babylon, he next
declares what wailings and bitter lamentations her downfall would occasion to her votaries and
admirers, to her friends and followers; more particularly he acquaints us with three sorts of
persons that shall bewail Babylon's destruction, kings, merchants, and seamen; the former we
have here before us in these two verses: The kings of the earth, who have adhered to the whore,
committed spiritual fornication with her, and delighted themselves in her carnal and pompous idol-
worship, when they see the smoke of her burning, and understand the certainty of her destruction,
they shall stand afar off, like persons astonished, and like persons afraid, amazed at the
dreadfulness of the judgment, and afraid to come near, they be involved in it; and the words of
their lamentation are here set down, Alas, alas! that great city Babylon; in one hour is her
judgment come! As if they had said, "Notwithstanding all Babylon's grandeur, which we so
admired and magnified, and which she herself put so much trust and confidence in, to our
astonishment we behold, in one hour, her judgment come upon her; a great and mighty city
destroyed, a gay and splendid church, politically founded, powerfully strengthened, on a sudden
broken in pieces, and brought to desolation: Alas, alas! that great city Babylon!
Learn hence, That when God begins to enter into judgment with his church's enemies, the
strongest arm of flesh cannot avail, but kings with their armies will flee and be discomfited, the
stoutest hearts will be afraid and terrified, not daring to approach the presence of an angry God:
the kings of the earth shall stand afar off for fear of her torment.
8. KRETZMANN, “The description of the desolation:
v. 9. And 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,
v. 10. standing 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.
v. 11. And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their
merchandise any more;

45. v. 12. the 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,
v. 13. and cinnamon, and odors, 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.
v. 14. And 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.
So the judgment of the Lord, which was spoken of in chap. 17:16-17, has already gone forth, as is
here pictured with intense dramatic power: And there will cry and wail over her the kings of the
earth that have committed fornication with her and lived a wanton life, when they see the smoke of
her burning, standing at a distance for fear of her torment, saying, Woe and alas, the great city,
Babylon the mighty city! For in one hour thy doom has come. So the same rulers and kings that
have been the instruments of God in bringing about the punishment of Anti-Christ's kingdom were
also the companions of the great harlot in her sins. They themselves have kindled the fire of
Rome's destruction, but when they see the smoke of her burning, they are terrified and prefer to
remain at a safe distance, since their conscience tells them of their guilt. Time and again the
lament of the mighty of the earth has arisen in the last four hundred years when the power of Anti-
Christ had received a severe setback. The great and mighty city that has bidden defiance to all
enemies has been conquered, her real power being broken forever. The doom of one mightier
than she has fallen upon her, and she will never regain her original prestige.
But the doom of the papal power strikes another class of men still worse: And the merchants of
the earth weep and mourn over her, because their merchandise no one buys any more, the
merchandise of gold and silver and precious stones and pearls; and fine linen and purple and silk
and scarlet goods, and all kinds of citron wood and all manner of ivory vessels and all manner of
vessels of most costly wood and of brass and of iron and of marble, and cinnamon and balsam
and spices and myrrh and frankincense, and wine and oil and the finest flour and wheat, and
cattle and sheep, and some horses and wagons and slaves, and the souls of men; and the fruit of
thy soul's desire has gone away from thee, and all the luxurious and splendid things have been
lost from thee, and men shall find them no more. There is a deliberate irony in the long
enumeration of things which have delighted the heart of the great Roman harlot, which she has
made the object of her desires, which her merchants, her vassals, the men that trafficked in these
things to their own enrichment, now bewail as lost forever. For the possession of many of these
things is in itself not wrong; it has become a sin only in the case of the Church of Anti-Christ on
account of the sinful uses to which these things have been put. The pomp, the lavish display of
glory which Rome affects wherever she gains a foothold, requires such costly and luxurious
things; whenever, therefore, this power is taken from her, it means a loss to the scheming
members of the hierarchy and other sycophants that grow rich and live in luxury under the
fostering care of their spiritual mother, the Church of Rome. But the climax is reached in the traffic
in souls which is carried on in that Church, in taking away the simple doctrine of faith in Christ's
salvation and supplanting it with man-made doctrines, especially that of salvation by works, and in
the delusion which places thousands of young men and women into monasteries and nunneries
every year, all in the vain hope that they will thereby merit heaven and its glory.
9. BI, “The fall of the corrupt in human life
Wrong, including all that is morally evil ill human thought, feeling, and action is constantly falling.
Though it has a very slow death, it will by the eternal law of moral disintegration be one day
brought down.
I. The lamentation of the bad.
1. The ruling class. True kinghood is the majesty of intellect and goodness.
2. The mercantile class. When the grand altruistic truth of Christian socialism becomes realised
by the masses—“Let no man seek his own, but every man another’s wealth”—then the every-

46. man-for-himself principle will fall, and with its fall what will become of the enormous possessions
which they have obtained merely by working for themselves?
II. The jubilation of the good.
1. Because the fall is just. Evil has no right to exist.
2. Because the fall is beneficent. It is the uprooting of those thorns and thistles and noxious weeds
that have turned the paradise of our being into a howling wilderness.
3. Because the fall is complete. Destroyed once, it is destroyed for ever. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
The commercial Babylon
1. We should first of all learn that the hold of God on all that we have and are is absolute. We are
but tenants-at-will. The proud and conceited talk as if the world were ours—“My river is my own,
and I have made it for myself”—is an abomination to the Lord. God has never waived His rights in
entrusting to us His loans. Let merchants, stockbrokers, bankers, bondholders, traders learn this
lesson. At any moment God may bring all our possessions to nought; and He will do that at His
own time, not waiting for ours.
2. It may well yield us matter for lamentation that the use of so much earthly capital is a perverted
one. Many of God’s gifts are put in alliance with overreaching, corruption, and fraud. But when
things of wealth and beauty become the instruments of apostacy it is sad indeed.
3. Let us learn to look at whatever is beautiful and costly and artistic as precious in the truest
sense only as it is allied to or in harmony with righteousness. Beauty and wealth are only of
genuine value when employed in accordance with God’s will and Word.
4. Let us take care that, so far as we are concerned, we have no share in this heart-apostacy of
Babylon the great, even in the commercial world. The voice cries now, “Come out of her, my
people” (Isa_48:20; Isa_52:11; Jer_1:8; Jer_51:6; Jer_51:45; 2Co_6:14-17). If we would not share
her plagues we must not share her sins. There are those who are in Babylon the great, the slaves
of godless gain or godless pleasure. There are those who belong to the new and eternal city, the
New Jerusalem, who engrave on the bells of the horses, “Holiness to the Lord,” and whose daily
toil is being sanctified for Him. It may cost something to renounce all fellowship with Babylon. But
it is worth infinitely more than it costs. Yea, to be right is so transcendently great, that the question
of cost should scarce be deemed worth a thought. Better die with Christ than reign with Caesar.
(S. Conway, B. A.)
10 Terrified at her torment, they will stand far off
and cry:
“‘Woe! Woe to you, great city,
you mighty city of Babylon!
In one hour your doom has come!’
1.BARNES, “Standing afar off for the fear of her torment - Not daring to approach, to attempt to
rescue and save her. They who had so long contributed to the support of the papal power, and
who had, in turn, been upheld by that, would not now even attempt to rescue her, but would stand
by and see her destroyed, unable to render relief.
Alas, alas, that great city Babylon - The language of lamentation that so great and so mighty a city
should fall.
For in one hour is thy judgment come - See the notes on Rev_18:8. The general sentiment here
is, that, in the final ruin of papal Rome, the kings and governments that had sustained her, and
had been sustained by her, would see the source of their power taken away, but that they would

47. not, or could not attempt her rescue. There have been not a few indications already that this will
ultimately occur, and that the papal power will be left to fall, without any attempt, on the part of
those governments which have been so long in alliance with it, to sustain or restore it.
2. CLARKE, “Standing afar off - Beholding her desolations with wonder and astonishment, utterly
unable to afford her any kind of assistance.
3. GILL, “Standing afar off for the fear of her torment,.... Lest they themselves should share in it,
who have partook of her sins; either they will not be in a capacity to help her, or they will be
dispirited, and will be in awe and dread of God's righteous judgments:
saying, alas! alas! that great city Babylon! that mighty city! it will aggravate their sorrow, when they
reflect upon the former grandeur, magnificence, power, and authority, of the city and see of
Rome, so often called in this book the great city; and so it is by other writers; the Jews call it so:
they say (c), when the Messiah comes,
"the kings of the world shall be gathered to ???? ????, "the great city" of Rome; and the holy
blessed God will cast upon them fire and hail, and great hail stones, (with which compare Rev_
16:21), and they shall perish from the world, except those kings that do not come there.''
It is common with the Jewish writers to call the Roman empire Edom; and Magdiel, one of the
dukes of Edom, Gen_36:43 who has his name from "greatness", is interpreted by one of their
commentators (d) of Rome; the reason of which, another of them says (e), is because Rome is
become great above all kingdoms: the mount of Esau in Oba_1:21 is interpreted ?? ???? ???,
"that great city" of Esau, which is Rome (f), and the same epithet it has in the Talmud (g); and
Porphyry calls it t?? e?a??? p????, "that great city", without making mention of its name, as
here; so among the Latins (h), "Magnoe spes altera" Romae:
for in one hour is thy judgment come: the Ethiopic version reads, "the hour of her judgment"; the
time of her punishment fixed by God; but the sense is, that her vengeance was suddenly come
upon her; this is the judgment of the great whore, which the angel proposed to show to John,
Rev_17:1.
4. HENRY, “
5. JAMISON, “God’s judgments inspire fear even in the worldly, but it is of short duration, for the
kings and great men soon attach themselves to the beast in its last and worst shape, as open
Antichrist, claiming all that the harlot had claimed in blasphemous pretensions and more, and so
making up to them for the loss of the harlot.
mighty — Rome in Greek means strength; though that derivation is doubtful.
6. PULPIT, “Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying. Unconsciously acting upon the
command in Rev_18:4, "Come out of her ... that ye receive not of her plagues." Alas, alas that
great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come; Woe, woe, the great city.
In one hour (cf. Rev_18:8). Some writers understand the "one hour" to refer to the space of time
during which the kings rule (see Rev_17:12); but a comparison with Rev_18:8 leads to the
conclusion that the meaning is "suddenly;" the contrast in a short time between the two positions
of Babylon enhancing the fearfulness of the visitation.
11 “The merchants of the earth will weep and
mourn over her because no one buys their cargoes

48. anymore—
1.BARNES, “And the merchants of the earth - Who have been accustomed to traffic with her, and
who have been enriched by the traffic. The image is that of a rich and splendid city. Of course,
such a city depends much on its merchandise; and when it declines and falls, many who had been
accustomed to deal with it, as merchants or traffickers, are affected by it, and have occasion to
lament its fall.
Shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise anymore - The
merchandise which they were accustomed to take to the city, and by the sale of which they lived.
The enumeration of the articles of merchandise which follows, seems to have been inserted for
the purpose of filling out the representation of what is usually found in such a city, and to show the
desolation which would occur when this traffic was suspended.
2. CLARKE, “The merchants of the earth - These are represented as mourning over her, because
their traffic with her was at an end.
Bishop Bale, who applies all these things to the Church of Rome, thus paraphrases the principal
passages: -
The mighty kinges and potentates of the earth, not havinge afore their eyes the love and feare of
God, have committed with this whore moste vile filthynesse; abusinge themselves by many
straunge or uncommaunded worshippings, and bynding themselves by othe to observe hyr lawes
and customs. At the examples, doctrines, counsels, and perswasions of hyr holy whoremongers,
have they broken the covenaunts of peace; battailed, oppressed, spoyled, ravished, tyrannously
murthered innocents; yea, for vain foolish causes, and more vaine titles, as though there were
neither heaven nor hel, God nor accounts to be made.
“And her mitred marchantes, hyr shorne souldiers, hir massemongers, hyr soulesellers, and hir
martbrokers, waxed very riche, through the sale of hir oyles, creme, salt, water, bread, orders,
hallowings, houselinges, ashes, palme, waxe, frankensence, beades, crosses, candlesticks,
copes, belles, organes, images, reliques, and other pedlary wares.
“They have gotten in unto them pallaces and princely houses, fat pastors and parkes, meadowes
and warrens, rivers and pondes, villages and towns, cities and whole provinces, with the divill and
all els; besides other men’s wives, daughters, mayde servantes, and children, whom they have
abhominably corrupted. What profites they have drawen unto them also by the sale of great
bishopricks, prelacies, promocions, benefices, tot quoties, pardons, pilgrymages, confessions,
and purgatory; besides the yearely rents of cathedrall churches, abbayes, colleges, covents, for
sutes and suche other. - Specially shal they be sore discontented with the matter, which have with
hir committed the whordom of the spyrite, by many externe worshipings of drye waffer cakes,
oyles, roods, relyques, ladyes, images, sculles, bones, chippes, olde ragges, showes, (shoes),
bootes, spurres, hattes, breches, whodes, night capes, and such like.
“And they that have lived wantonly with hir, (Rev_18:9), in following hir idle observacions, in
mattenses, houres, and masses; in sensinges, halowings, and font halowing; in going processions
with canapye, crosse, and pyx; with banneres, stremers, and torche light; with such other gaudes
to folish for children.
“Alas, alas, that great cyty (Rev_18:10) that beautiful Babilon, that blessed holy mother the
Church, which somtime had so many popes pardons, so many bishoppes blessinges, so many
holye stations, so many cleane remissions a pena et culpa, so many good ghostly fathers, so
many religious orders, so much holy water for spirites, and Saint John’s gospel, with the five
woundes and the length of our Lord for drowning, is nowe decayed for ever!
‘Alas, alas, who shall pray for us now? Who shall singe dirges and trentoles? Who shal spoile us
of our sinnes? Who shal give us ashes and palmes? Who shal blesse us with a spade, and singe
us out of purgatory when we are deade? If we lacke these things we are like to want heaven.
These are the desperate complaints of the wicked.”
2B. ELLICOTT, "(11-13) And the merchants of the earth . . .—Better, The merchants of the earth

49. weep and mourn (not “shall weep;” the vividness of the description is intensified by the use of the
present tense) over her; because their cargo no one buyeth any longer—the cargo of gold, &c.
THE LIST of the cargoes and merchandise is not without arrangement. The various goods are
placed in groups. The treasures come first—gold, silver, precious stones, and pearls. The soft
goods used for raiment are placed next—fine linen, purple, silk and scarlet; in the description of
Dives, clothed in purple and fine linen (Byssus, the same word as here), we have a suggestive
resemblance. Materials used in giving splendour to the furnishing of houses come next. Thyine
wood, and every article (vessel, as in the English version, is hardly wide enough in meaning) of
ivory, costly wood, brass, iron, and marble. The thyine wood was derived probably from a kind of
citron-tree of African growth; the wood was sweet-scented, and was a favourite wood for doors,
panels, and ceilings; its rich brown hue was often relieved by inlaid ivory. To articles used in
furniture aromatics succeed. Cinnamon, amomum (this is omitted in the English version, but
authority is in favour of its insertion), odours, ointments, and frankincense. Cinnamon, on its use,
comp. Exodus 30:2-3; it was one of the perfumes EMPLOYED to enhance the delight of the
voluptuary (Proverbs 7:17). It is doubtful whether it is the same as our modern cinnamon.
Amomum, a kind of sweet-scented shrub, yielding an ointment much used for the hair. Odours,
employed in incense. Next come articles of food—wine, oil, fine meal, wheat, cattle, and sheep.
Then come the equipages—horses and chariots. The chariot (rheda) was a vehicle much used in
Rome by the wealthy classes. Lastly, the traffic in human beings CLOSES the list. Slaves (literally,
bodies, and souls of men. There is perhaps an allusion specially to those slaves who were
attached to the chariots or litters used by the rich. The traffic in slaves (“persons of men”) is
mentioned as part of the commerce of Tyre (Ezekiel 27:13). The number of slaves in Rome was
enormous. “Souls of men.” The climax of wicked worldliness is reached in this last; it gives the
finishing touch to the picture of society wholly engrossed in pleasure and indolence and
selfishness, which lays every market under tribute to add to its luxuriousness, and sacrifices not
only the happiness, but the lives and liberties of their fellow-creatures, to their own enjoyment. It
has been said that the general description here does not suit Rome, as Rome never was, and
never could be, a commercial centre; but the picture is designed to show the corrupt luxury and
voluptuousness of society in great Babylon, not necessarily the accumulated merchandize of a
great commercial city. The various wares are “for her use and consumption,” not for her to sell. All
the avenues from every distant spot of the earth found their focus in Rome; her existence, her
political supremacy, and her luxuriousness of living, created and sustained all the commercial
activity here described; with her fall, the hope of their gains passed from the merchants of the
earth. Compare the language of Gibbon:—“The most remote countries of THE ANCIENT
WORLDwere ransacked to supply the pomp and delicacy of Rome. The forests of Scythia
afforded some valuable furs; amber was brought from the shores of the Baltic and the Danube;
and the barbarians were astonished at the price which they received for so useless a commodity.
There was a considerable demand for Babylonian carpets and other manufactures of the East;
but the most important and unpopular branch of foreign trade was carried on with Arabia and
India. Every year, about the time of the summer solstice, a fleet of an hundred and twenty vessels
sailed from Myos-hormos, a port of Egypt on the Red Sea. The coast of Malabar or the island of
Ceylon was the usual term of their navigation, and it was in those markets that the merchants
from the more remote countries of Asia expected their arrival. The return of the fleet was fixed to
the months of December or January; and as soon as their rich cargo had been transported on the
backs of camels, from the Red Sea to the Nile, and had descended that river as far as Alexandria,
it was poured without delay into the capital of the Empire. The objects of Oriental traffic were
splendid and trifling: silk, a pound of which was esteemed in value not inferior to a pound of gold;
precious stones also, among which the pearl claimed the first rank after the diamond, and a
variety of aromatics that were consumed in religious worship and the pomp of funerals. The
labour and risk of the voyage was rewarded with almost incredible profits; but the profits were
made upon Roman subjects, and a few individuals were enriched at the expense of the public”
(Gibbon’s Decline and Fall, vol. i., Rev. ii.).
3. GILL, “And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over over her,.... Who these are;
see Gill on Rev_18:3 and, what their lamentation, Rev_18:16 the reason of their weeping and
mourning follows: for no man buyeth their merchandise any more; what their merchandise is, is
expressed in the two next verses; and this shows that it is not to be understood merely in a literal

50. sense; for such commodities in general as are there mentioned, if they do not sell at one place,
they will at another; and the decline of trade in one city does not put a stop to business all the
world over; and often so it is, that the ruin of commerce in one place is the rise of it in another;
and all the things hereafter spoken of, excepting the last article, are what will be merchandised in
one place or another to the end of the world; unless the sense should be, that no man at Rome,
and the parts adjacent, will buy of this merchandise any more; but though they should not, this
could not be cause of such lamentation as is afterwards expressed, since their goods might be
sold elsewhere; but it looks as if this must be understood of such kind of wares as will be disused
and despised all the world over, and they will meet with no customers any where to deal with them
in them.
3B. BARCLAY, "THE LAMENT OF THE MERCHANTS (1)
Rev. 18:11-16
And the merchants of the earth will weep and lament over her, for no one buys their cargo any more, the
cargo of gold and of silver and of precious stones and of pearls, of fine linen and of purple and of silk and
of scarlet, all kinds of thyine wood, all kinds of articles of ivory, all kinds of articles of costly wood, and of
bronze and of iron and of marble, and cinnamon and perfume and incense, and myrrh, and frankincense and
wine and oil, and fine flour, and wheat and cattle and sheep, horses and chariots and slaves, the souls of
men.
The ripe fruit your soul desired has gone from you, and all your delicacies and your splendours have
perished, never again to be found. The merchants who dealt in these wares, who grew wealthy from their
trade with her, shall stand afar off because of the fear of her torture, weeping and grieving. "Alas! Alas!"
they shall say, "for the great city, for the city which was clothed in fine linen and purple and scarlet, the city
which was decked with gold and with precious stones and with pearls, for in one hour so much wealth is
desolated!"
The lament of the kings and the merchants should be read along with the lament over Tyre in Eze.26-27 for
they have many features in common.
The lament of the merchants is purely selfish. All their sorrow is that the market from which they drew so
much wealth is gone. It is significant that both the kings and the merchants stand afar off and watch. They
stretch out no hand to help Rome in her last agony; they were never bound to her in love; their only bond
was the luxury she desired and the trade it brought to them.
We will learn still more of the luxury of Rome, if we look in detail at some of the items in the cargoes which
came to Rome.
At the time during which John was writing there was in Rome a passion for silver dishes. Silver came
mainly from Carthagena in Spain, where 40,000 men toiled in the silver mines. Dishes, bowls, jugs,
fruitbaskets, statuettes, whole dinner services, were made of solid silver. Lucius Crassus had wrought silver
dishes which had cost 50 British pounds for each pound of silver in them. Even a fighting general like
Pompeius Paullinus carried with him on his campaigns wrought silver dishes which weighed 12,000
pounds, the greater part of which fell into the hands of the Germans, spoils of war. Pliny tells us that women
would bathe only in silver baths, soldiers had swords with silver hilts and scabbards with silver chains, even
poor women had silver anklets and the very slaves had silver mirrors. At the Saturnalia, the festival which
fell at the same time as the Christian Christmas, and at which gifts were given, often the gifts were little
silver spoons and the like, and the wealthier the giver the more ostentatious was the gift. Rome was a city of
silver.
It was an age which passionately loved precious stones and pearls. It was largely through the conquests of
Alexander the Great that precious stones came to the west. Pliny said that the fascination of a gem was that
the majestic might of nature presented itself in a limited space.

51. The order of preference in stones set diamonds first, emeralds--mainly from Scythia--second, beryls and
opals, which were used for women's ornaments, third, and the sardonyx, which was used for seal-rings,
fourth.
One of the strangest of ancient beliefs was that precious stones had medicinal qualities. The amethyst was
said to be a cure for drunkenness; it is wine-red in colour and the word amethyst was derived--so it was
said--from a which means not and methuskein (GSN3182) which means to make drunk. The jasper, or
bloodstone, was held to be a cure for haemorrhage. The green jasper was said to bring fertility. The
diamond was held to neutralise poison and to cure delirium, and amber worn on the neck was a cure for
fever and for other troubles.
Of all stones the Romans loved pearls more than any other. As we have seen, they were drunk dissolved in
wine. A certain Struma Nonius had a ring with an opal in it as big as a filbert worth 21,250 British pounds,
but that pales into insignificance compared with the pearl which Julius Caesar gave Servilia and which cost
65,250 pounds. Pliny tells of seeing Lollia Paulina, one of Caligula's wives, at a betrothal feast, wearing an
ornament of emeralds and pearls, covering head, hair, ears, neck and fingers, which was worth 425,000
British pounds.
THE LAMENT OF THE MERCHANTS (2)
Rev. 18:11-16 (continued)
Fine linen came mainly from Egypt. It was the clothing of priests and kings. It was very expensive; a priest's
robe, for instance, would cost between 40 and 50 British pounds.
Purple came mainly from Phoenicia. The very word Phoenicia is probably derived from phoinos, which
means blood-red, and the Phoenicians may have been known as "the purple men," because they dealt in
purple. Ancient purple was much redder than modern purple. It was the royal colour and the garment of
wealth. The purple dye came from a shellfish called murex. Only one drop came from each animal; and the
shell had to be opened as soon as the shellfish died, for the purple came from a little vein which dried up
almost immediately after death. A pound of double-dyed purple wool cost almost 50 British pounds, and a
short purple coat more than 100 pounds. Pliny tells us that at this time there was in Rome "a frantic passion
for purple."
Silk may now be a commonplace, but in the Rome of the Revelation it was almost beyond price, for it had
to be imported from far-off China. So costly was it that a pound of silk was sold for a pound weight of gold.
Under Tiberius a law was passed against the use of solid gold vessels for the serving of meals and "against
men disgracing themselves with silken garments" (Tacitus: Annals 2: 23).
Scarlet, like purple, was a much sought after dye. When we are thinking of these fabrics we may note that
another of Rome's ostentatious furnishings was Babylonian coverlets for banqueting couches. Such
coverlets often cost as much as 7,000 British pounds, and Nero possessed coverlets for his couches which
had cost more than 43,000 British pounds each.
The most interesting of the woods mentioned in this passage is thyine. In Latin it was called citrus wood; its
botanical name is thuia articulate. Coming from North Africa, from the Atlas region, it was sweet-smelling
and beautifully grained. It was used especially for table tops. But, since the citrus tree is seldom very large,
trees large enough to provide table tops were very scarce. Tables made of thyine wood could cost anything
from 4,000 to 15,000 British pounds. Seneca, Nero's prime minister, was said to have three hundred of such
thyine tables with marble legs.
Ivory was much used for decorative purposes, especially by those who wished to make an ostentatious
display. It was used in sculpture, for statues, for swordhilts, for inlaying furniture, for ceremonial chairs, for
doors, and even for household furniture. Juvenal talks of the wealthy man: "Nowadays a rich man takes no

52. pleasure in his dinner--his turbot and his venison have no taste, his unguents and his roses seem to smell
rotten--unless the broad slabs of his dinner table rest upon a ramping, gaping leopard of solid ivory."
Statuettes of Corinthian brass or bronze were world famous and fabulously expensive. Iron came from the
Black Sea and from Spain. For long marble had been used in Babylon for building, but not in Rome.
Augustus, however, could boast he had found Rome of brick and left it of marble. In the end there was
actually an office called the ratio marmorum whose task was to search the world for fine marbles with
which to decorate the buildings of Rome.
Cinnamon was a luxury article coming from India and from near Zanzibar, and in Rome it commanded a
price of about 65 British pounds per pound (of weight).
Spice is here misleading. The Greek is amomon (GSN0299); Wycliff translated simply "amome". Amomon
was a sweet-smelling balsam, particularly used as a dressing for the hair and as an oil for funeral rites.
In the Old Testament incense had altogether a religious use as an accompaniment of sacrifice in the Temple.
According to Exo.30:34-38 the Temple incense was made of stacte, onycha, galbanum, and frankincense,
which are all perfumed gums or balsams. According to the Talmud seven further ingredients were added--
myrrh, cassia, spikenard, saffron, costus, mace and cinnamon. In Rome incense was used as a perfume with
which to greet guests and to scent the room after meals.
In the ancient world wine was universally drunk, but drunkenness was regarded as a grave disgrace. Wine
was usually highly diluted, in the proportion of two parts of wine to five parts of water. The grapes were
pressed and the juice extracted. Some of it was used just as it was as an unfermented drink. Some of it was
boiled to a jelly, and the jelly used to give body and flavour to poor wines. The rest was poured into great
jars, which were left to ferment for nine days, then closed, and opened monthly to check the progress of the
wine. Even slaves had abundant wine as part of their daily ration, since it was no more than 2 1/2 pence per
gallon.
Myrrh was the gum resin of a shrub which grew mainly in Yemen and in North Africa. It was medically
used as an astringent, a stimulant, and an antiseptic. It was also used as a perfume and as an anodyne by
women in the time of their purification, and for the embalming of bodies.
Frankincense was a gum resin produced by a tree of the genus Boswellia. An incision was made in the tree
and a strip of bark removed from below it. The resin then exuded from the tree like milk. In about ten or
twelve weeks it coagulated into lumps in which it was sold. It was used for perfume for the body, for the
sweetening and flavouring of wine, for oil for lamps and for sacrificial incense.
The chariots here mentioned--the word is rede--were not racing or military chariots. They were four-
wheeled private chariots, and the aristocrats of Roman wealth often had them silver-plated.
The list closes with the mention of slaves and the souls of men. The word used for slave is soma
(GSN4983), which literally means a body. The slave market was called the somatemporos, literally the
place where bodies are sold. The idea is that the slave was sold body and soul into the possession of his
master.
It is almost impossible for us to understand how much Roman civilization was based on slavery. There were
some 60,000,000 slaves in the empire. It was no unusual thing for a man to have four hundred slaves. "Use
your slaves like the limbs of your body," says a Roman writer, "each for its own end." There were, of
course, slaves to do the menial work; and each particular service had its slave. We read of torch-bearers,
lantern-bearers, sedan-chair carriers, street attendants, keepers of the outdoor garments. There were slaves
who were secretaries, slaves to read aloud, and even slaves to do the necessary research for a man writing a
book or a treatise. The slaves even did a man's thinking for him. There were slaves called nomenclatores
whose duty it was to remind a man of the names of his clients and dependants! "We remember by means of
others," says a Roman writer. There were even slaves to remind a man to eat and to go to bed! "Men were

53. too weary even to know that they were hungry." There were slaves to go in front of their master and to
return the greetings of friends, which the master was too tired or too disdainful to return himself. A certain
ignorant man, unable to learn or remember anything, got himself a set of slaves. One memorized Homer,
one Hesiod, others the lyric poets. Their duty was to stand behind him as he dined and to prompt him with
suitable quotations. He paid 1,000 British pounds for each of them. Some slaves were beautiful youths, "the
flower of Asia," who simply stood around the room at banquets to delight the eye. Some were cup-bearers.
Some were Alexandrians, who were trained in pert and often obscene repartee. The guests often chose to
wipe their soiled hands on the hair of the slaves. Such beautiful boy slaves cost at least 1,000 or 2,000
British pounds. Some slaves were freaks--dwarfs, giants, cretins, hermaphrodites. There was actually a
market in freaks--"men without shanks, with short arms, with three eyes, with pointed heads." Sometimes
dwarfs were artificially produced for sale.
It is a grim picture of men being used body and soul for the service and entertainment of others.
This was the world for which the merchants were grieving, the lost markets and the lost money which they
were bewailing. This was the Rome whose end John was threatening. And he was right--for a society built
on luxury, on wantonness, on pride, on callousness to human life and personality is necessarily doomed,
even from the human point of view.
4. WILLIAM BURKITT, “The second sort of persons who passionately lament and bitterly bewail
Babylon's downfall and destruction, are the merchants who traded in and with Babylon.
Here we have an allusion to the merchants and merchandise of Tyre spoken of, Ezekiel 17 As
Tyre was the mart of the earth for temporal things, so was Babylon for spiritual things, making
merchandise even of the souls of men,persuading people that they could purchase the
redemption of souls out of purgatory by masses.
Here note, That Pagan Rome, though she did traffic for slaves, yet not for souls: but Papal Rome
deals for both. She sells also the souls of men, by selling her ecclesiastical benefices, and cure of
souls. And I would to God that this piece of spiritual merchandise were only found amongst them,
and not heard of elsewhere.
Observe next, The Holy Ghost is pleased to enumerate at last several sorts of wares, and the
kinds of merchandise, which Babylon, dealt and trafficked in, namely, gold, silver, precious
stones, fine linen, purple, silk, and scarlet; all things for ornament, necessity, and delight; the pride
and sensuality of Rome prompted her to buy up all sorts of commodities, and took off all that the
countries round about could bring in; partly to gratify her pride, and partly to serve her idolatry.
Observe farther, What a bitter lamentation is here taken up; but for what? not for their sins, their
luxury, or idolatry, but for the loss of their market and merchandise only. Behold in these
Babylonians, the spirit and temper of all natural men, they weep not for sin, but for sufferings: for
any temporal cross they have tears enough, they refuse to be comforted: but for their sins, which
are not their cross, but their curse, their plague, yea, the greatest of all plagues, because spiritual,
these they can speak of with dry eyes and unaffected hearts.
Observe lastly, How these merchants here, as the kings before, stand afar off for fear of her
torment, weeping and wailing; pitying and condoling one another, greatly affected and sorely
afflicted to see the ruin of that polity that sustained them, but not able to help one another.
Behold! how fruitless and helpless the wicked's friendship is to one another in the day of visitation;
they stand afar off for fear of torments, but can afford no succour to each other: they durst not
come near to help Babylon or them.
5. JAMISON, “shall — So. B. But A and C read the present, “weep and mourn.”

54. merchandise — Greek, “cargo”: wares carried in ships: ship-lading (compare Rev_18:17). Rome
was not a commercial city, and is not likely from her position to be so. The merchandise must
therefore be spiritual, even as the harlot is not literal, but spiritual. She did not witness against
carnal luxury and pleasure-seeking, the source of the merchants’ gains, but conformed to them
(Rev_18:7). She cared not for the sheep, but for the wool. Professing Christian merchants in her
lived as if this world not heaven, were the reality, and were unscrupulous as to the means of
getting gain. Compare Notes, see on Zec_5:4-11, on the same subject, the judgment on mystical
Babylon’s merchants for unjust gain. All the merchandise here mentioned occurs repeatedly in the
Roman Ceremonial.
6. PULPIT, “And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her. Weep and mourn;
the historical present (see on Rev_18:9). The kings have been mentioned; the merchants and
next the seamen are referred to, showing the wide distribution of "Babylon," and forbidding the
application to a single state or city. The description which follows is analogous to that in Eze_27:1-
36.; Isa_23:1-18. For no man buyeth their merchandise any more; their cargo. We are naturally
reminded of the action of the second beast in forbidding to buy and sell (Rev_13:17). Alford here
recognizes the difficulty in applying the prophecy to Rome, either pagan or papal, and adds, "I
leave this difficulty unsolved ... The details of this mercantile lamentation far more nearly suit
London than Rome." (See the interpretation given of the harlot and Babylon on Rev_17:1.)
12 cargoes of gold, silver, precious stones and
pearls; fine linen, purple, silk and scarlet cloth;
every sort of citron wood, and articles of every
kind made of ivory, costly wood, bronze, iron and
marble;
1.BARNES, “The merchandise of gold, and silver - Of course, these constitute an important article
of commerce in a great city.
And precious stones - Diamonds, emeralds, rubies, etc. These have always been important
articles of traffic in the world, and, of course, most of the traffic in them would find its way to great
commercial cities.
And pearls - See the notes on Mat_7:6; Mat_13:46. These, too, have been always, and were,
particularly in early times, valuable articles of commerce. Mr. Gibbon mentions them as among
the articles that contributed to the luxury of Rome in the age of the Antonines: “precious stones,
among which the pearl claimed the first rank after the diamond,” vol. i. p. 34.
And fine linen - This was also a valuable article of commerce. It was obtained chiefly from Egypt.
See the notes on Isa_19:9. Linen, among the ancients, was an article of luxury, for it was worn
chiefly by the rich, Exo_28:42; Lev_6:10; Luk_16:19. The original word here is ß?´ss?? bussos,
“byssus,” and it is found in the New Testament only in this place, and in Luk_16:19. It was a
“species of fine cotton, highly prized by the ancients.” Various kinds are mentioned - as that of
Egypt, the cloth which is still found wrapped around mummies; that of Syria, and that of India,
which grew on a tree similar to the poplar; and that of Achaia, which grew in the vicinity of Elis.
See Robinson, Lexicon.
And purple - See the notes on Luk_16:19. Cloth of this color was a valuable article of commerce,
as it was worn by rich men and princes.
And silk - Silk was a very valuable article of commerce, as it was costly, and could be worn only by
the rich. It is mentioned by Mr. Gibbon as such an article in Rome in the age of the Antonines:
“Silk, a pound of which was esteemed not inferior in value to a pound of gold,” vol. i. p. 34. On the
cultivation and manufacture of silk by the ancients, see the work entitled, “The History of Silk,
Cotton, Linen, and Wool, etc.,” published by Harper Brothers, New York, 1845, pp. 1-21.
And scarlet - See the notes on Rev_17:3.

55. And all thyine wood - The word used here - ??´????? thuinon - occurs nowhere else in the New
Testament. It denotes an evergreen African tree, from which statues and costly vessels were
made. It is not agreed, however, whether it was a species of cedar, savin, or lignum-vitae, which
latter constitutes the modern genus Thuja, or Thyia. See Rees’ Cyclo., art. “Thuja.”
And all manner vessels of ivory - Everything that is made of ivory. Ivory, or the tusk of the
elephant, has always been among the precious articles of commerce.
And all manner vessels of most precious wood - Furniture of costly wood - cedar, the citron tree,
lignum-vitae, etc.
And of brass, and iron, and marble - Brass or copper would, of course, be a valuable article of
commerce. The same would be the case with iron; and so marble, for building, for statuary, etc.,
would likewise be.
2. CLARKE, “The merchandise of gold, and silver, etc. - The same author, Bishop Bale, who was
once a priest of the Romish Church, goes on to apply all these things to that Church; and whether
the text have this meaning or not, they will show us something of the religious usages of his time,
and the real mockery of this intolerant and superstitious Church. Speaking in reference to the
Reformation, and the general light that had been diffused abroad by the word of God, which was
then translated into the vulgar tongue, and put into the hands of the people at large, he says: -
“They will pay no more money for the housell sippings, bottom blessings; nor for ‘seest me and
seest me not,’ above the head and under of their chalices, which in many places be of fine gold.
Neyther regarde they to kneele anye more downe, and to kisse their pontificall rings which are of
the same metal. They will be no more at coste to have the ayre beaten, and the idols perfumed
with their sensers at pryncipall feastes; to have their crucifixes layde upon horses, or to have them
solemply borne aloft in their gaddings abroade; with the religious occupyings of their paxes,
cruettes, and other jewels which be of silver.
“Neyther passe they greatly to beholde precyous stones any more in their two-horned miters,
whan they hollow their churches, give theyr whorishe orders, and tryumphantly muster in
processions. Nor in costuous pearles in theyr copes perrours, and chysibilles, whan they be in
their prelately pompous sacrifices. Men, knowing the worde of God, supposeth that their
ornaments of silk, wherewith they garnishe their temples and adorne their idolles, is very
blasphemous and divillish. They thinke also, that their fayre white rockets of raynes, or fine linnen
cloath; their costly gray amices, of calaber and cattes tayles; theyr fresh purple gownes, whan
they walke for their pleasures; and their read scarlet frockes, whan they preach lyes in the pulpit,
are very superfluous and vayne.
“In their thynen wood (whom some men call algume trees, some basill, some corall) may be
understande all theyr curious buildings of temples, abbeys, chappels, and chambers; all shrines,
images, church stooles, and pews that are well payed for; all banner staves, paternoster scores,
and peeces of the holy crosse.
“The vessels of ivory comprehendeth all their maundye dyshes, their offring platters, their relique
chestes, their god boxes, their drinking horns, their sipping cuppes for the hiccough, their tables
whereupon are charmed their chalises and vestiments; their standiches, their combes, their
muske balles, their pomaunder pottes, and their dust boxes, with other toyes.
“The vessels of precious stone; which after some interpretours, are of precious stone, or after
some are of most precious wood; betokeneth their costuous cuppes, or cruses of jasper, jacinct,
amel, and fine beral; and their alabaster boxes, wherwith they annointe kinges, confirme children,
and minister their holy whorish orders. Their pardon masers, or drinking dishes, as St. Benit’s
bole, St. Edmond’s bole, St. Giles’s bole, St. Blythe’s bole, and Westminster bole, with such other
holy re-liques.
“Of brasse, which containeth latten, copper, alcumine, and other harde metals, are made all their
great candlesticks, holy water kettles, lampes, desks, pyllers, butterasses, bosses, bels, and
many other thinges more.
“Of strong yron are the braunches made that holde up the lightes before their false gods; the
tacks that sustayne them for fallinge; the lockes that save them from the robberye of thieves; their
fyre pans, bars, and poolyes, with many other straunge ginnes besides.
“With marble most commonlye pave they their temples, and build strong pillers and arches in their
great cathedrale churches and monastries; they make thereof also their superalities, their tumbs,
and their solemne grave-stones; besides their other buildinges, with free-stone, flint, ragge, and

56. brick, comprehended in the same.
3. GILL, “The merchandise of gold and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls,.... Things for
treasure and ornament, and with which the great whore is said to be decked, Rev_17:4 and,
literally understood, may denote the vast riches which these spiritual merchants, or factors for
Rome, cardinals, archbishops, bishops, priests, monks, and friars, bring into their own coffers and
the pope's, by the trade they drive in her wares with the souls of men; and may have also a regard
to what their images, chalices, crowns, mitres, &c. are made of, and what some of them are
adorned with; and as Tyre, to whom the reference is in the several particulars of this account, had
her merchants for these things, Eze_27:12 so Mr. Brightman thinks that in these, and in some
following ones, Spain is Rome's merchant, which fetches them from the Indies for her: but these
things, mystically taken, sometimes design the doctrines of the Gospel, 1Co_3:12 and which are
to be preferred to, and more to be esteemed than thousands of gold and silver; and these Rome's
merchants pretended to deliver out; but instead of them, they put off wood, hay, and stubble, yea,
doctrines of devils, and lies in hypocrisy; and sometimes the grace of God is meant, Rev_3:18
which is more precious than gold that perisheth; and this they pretend to convey to men "ex opere
operato", in the ordinances, as baptism, &c. and to communicate the Spirit, with his gifts and
graces, for money, which is direct simony; yea, they pretend to sell eternal life, nay, Christ, and
God himself:
and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet: things which belong to apparel and dress; and,
literally taken, the "fine linen" is for their copes, wore by bishops and by chanters, and sub-
chanters, and for surplices wore by their priests, in imitation of the Jewish priests, and for Mass
clothes, &c. the "purple, silk", and "scarlet", were for the popes, cardinals, archbishops, and
bishops; so the woman on the scarlet coloured beast is said to be arrayed in purple and scarlet,
Rev_17:4, Tyre had its merchants for these, Eze_27:7 the fine linen and silk may mystically
denote the holy lives, good works, and merits of the saints, those of them called works of
supererogation, which become the church's stock, and they sell out for others that want; which is
a monstrous kind of ware, and a dreadful imposition upon men, since men cannot be saved and
justified by works; and the best of men are so far from having a redundancy of works, that in
everything they sin and offend, and are greatly deficient: and they are so far from helping others,
that they are unprofitable servants themselves: the purple and scarlet may signify the blood of
Christ, which they pretend to sell in the Mass; nay, they have pretended to have had the very
liquid blood of Christ, which they have carried in a crystal glass, thick on one side, and transparent
on the other; and so could not be seen by persons in a mortal sin, until they had given a good deal
of money, and then the clear side was by sleight of hand turned to them; and which was no other
than the blood of a duck, renewed weekly by the priest; which trick for a long time brought in vast
sums of money, and was detected at Hales in Gloucestershire, in Henry the Eighth's time; or
these may intend the sufferings of the saints, which likewise come into the treasure of the church,
and are at its dispose for money, the virtue of which being very great for the salvation of men's
souls:
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: things for utensils and furniture, not so much for their
houses, as for their churches; Tyre had its merchants for these, Eze_27:5. "Thyine wood", Pliny
says (i), was very durable, and of it the rafters of ancient temples were made; and may design
such like lasting and odoriferous wood as cypress, cedar, &c. used in the Popish churches, for the
embellishing of them, and for images in them; it may be the same with the wood of the Almug, or
Algum trees, since these are rendered thyine wood in the Vulgate Latin version in 1Ki_10:11
vessels of ivory may be boxes made thereof, in which the host is put, and the relics of saints are
preserved: and "vessels of most precious wood", or "stone", as the Alexandrian copy, Vulgate
Latin, and Ethiopic versions read,
and of brass, iron, and marble, may intend various vessels used in their churches; as vessels for
holy water, fonts of marble, and other valuable stones, for baptism, censers of iron and brass to
burn incense in. Cocceius thinks that by these vessels of different materials are meant good men;
who are like sweet smelling wood for the fragrancy of their doctrines and lives; and like iron,

57. brass, and marble, for their courage, constancy, and patience; and who have been canonized for
saints, which has brought in much money into the pope's coffers: this is a practice in imitation of
the Heathens, who deified men, and set them over particular days and affairs; and the privileges
of such canonization among the Papists are, that such a saint has his name set in the calendar in
red letters, may have churches and altars dedicated to him, and his image set up in them, and a
holiday be kept for him, and may be prayed to, and worshipped; a practice dreadfully derogatory
to the glory of Christ's person and office, but is that in which these merchants have found their
account; for through references, commissions, and reports, for proof of the saint's character and
miracles, his friends are at very great expense before the affair is issued, especially if rich; our
King Henry the Seventh was very desirous of having his kinsman Henry the Sixth canonized, and
solicited the pope for it, but he would not do it under fifteen hundred ducats of gold, which the king
thought was too much, and so declined it.
4. HENRY, “What was the cause of their mourning; not their sin, but their punishment. They did
not lament their fall into idolatry, and luxury, and persecution, but their fall into ruin - the loss of
their traffic and of their wealth and power. The spirit of antichrist is a worldly spirit, and their sorrow
is a mere worldly sorrow; they did not lament for the anger of God, that had now fallen upon them,
but for the loss of their outward comfort. We have a large schedule and inventory of the wealth
and merchandise of this city, all which was suddenly lost (Rev_18:12, Rev_18:13), and lost
irrecoverably (Rev_18:14): All things which were dainty and goodly have departed from thee, and
thou shalt find them no more at all. The church of God may fall for a time, but she shall rise again;
but the fall of Babylon will be an utter overthrow, like that of Sodom and Gomorrah. Godly sorrow
is some support under affliction, but mere worldly sorrow adds to the calamity.
5. JAMISON, “(See on Rev_17:4).
stones ... pearls — Greek, “stone ... pearl.”
fine linen — A, B, and C read Greek, “bussinou” for “bussou,” that is, “fine linen manufacture”
[Alford]. The manufacture for which Egypt (the type of the apostate Church, Rev_11:8) was
famed. Contrast “the fine linen” (Eze_16:10) put on Israel, and on the New Testament Church
(Rev_19:8), the Bride, by God (Psa_132:9).
thyine wood — the citrus of the Romans: probably the cypressus thyoyides, or the thuia articulata.
“Citron wood” [Alford]. A sweet-smelling tree of Cyrene in Lybia, used for incense.
all manner vessels — Greek, “every vessel,” or “furniture.”
6. PULPIT, “The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine
linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet. (On "precious stone" and" linen," see on Rev_15:6.) Such
was the attire of the harlot (Rev_17:4). Writers have endeavoured to classify in various ways the
articles mentioned, in order to obtain some signification from the numbers used. Thus
Hengstenberg sees four hard and then four soft articles mentioned, and he reminds us that the
number four is symbolical of the world: but this does not carry him beyond Rev_18:12. The
articles enumerated seem naturally to fall into six classes (from which we can gather no
information, unless we look upon six as typifying the world, as in Rev_13:18). First, articles of
personal adornment; second, articles used for furniture, etc.; third, objects of sensual
gratification—smell, etc.; fourth, articles of food; fifth, animate possessions; sixth, souls of men.
These certainly seem to be arranged in a kind of progressive order of importance. All the articles
mentioned in the text above were of the highest value. Purple and scarlet (see Rev_17:3) were
the prerogative of kings; silk was so scarce, that its use was forbidden in the reign of Tiberius.
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; and every ivory vessel, and every vessel, etc.Thyine
wood is "that of the Thuya articulata, Desfont., the Callitris quadrivalvis of present botanists. This
tree was much prized by the ancient Greeks and Romans, on account of the beauty of its wood
for various ornamental purposes. By the Romans the tree was called citrus, the wood citrum. It is
a native of Barbary, and grows to the height of fifteen to twenty-five feet" (Smith's 'Dictionary of the
Bible '). In this passage the accusative case is used; the preceding nouns are in the genitive.
7. COLLEGE PRESS, “WONDER BOOK OF THE BIBLE 18:12,13

58. The follows an enumeration of the articles in which they made
traffic.
vs. 12, 13 "The 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 man-
ner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and
marble.
And cinnamon, and odors, 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."
In this lamentation over the sudden fall of Babylon, the mer-
chants of earth and king's of earth join in their voices,
Probably not until God himself reveals all things to us will we
begin to realize how this spiritual Babylon has her hand in busi-
ness and politics — as symbolized by the lament of merchants and
kings.
For a book of such brevity as the apocalypse to devote so much
space and divulge so many articles of traffic as here confronts us,
it must be that the angel wanted to make plain to a startled world
how vast are the ramifactions of Rome's activities in all the affairs
of men.
The whole world is conscious of the political activities of this
apostate church which maintains embassies and sends ambassadors
to almost every nation on earth, but it may come as a complete
surprise to learn of her commercial activities.
But the last statement of these verses is the most startling — a
revelation of her traffic in the "slaves and souls of men." Literally,
the word "slaves" should read, "bodies." Thus the Greek reads.
Here it is that men and women barter their souls and bodies.
There are multitudes of Esaus who will barter their spiritual birth-
right for a mess of this world's pottage,
How pertinent are Christ's words about the conditions of the near
approach of His return.
13 cargoes of cinnamon and spice, of incense,
myrrh and frankincense, of wine and olive oil, of
fine flour and wheat; cattle and sheep; horses and
carriages; and human beings sold as slaves.
1.BARNES, “And cinnamon - Cinnamon is the aromatic bark of the Laurus Cinnamomam, which

59. grows in Arabia, India, and especially in the island of Ceylon. It was formerly, as it is now, a
valuable article in the Oriental trade.
And odours - Aromatics employed in religious worship, and for making perfumes. Mr. Gibbon (vol.
i. p. 34) mentions, among the articles of commerce and luxury, in the age of the Antonines, “a
variety of aromatics that were consumed in religious worship and the pomp of funerals.” It is
unnecessary to say that the use of such odors has been always common at Rome.
And ointments - Unguents - as spikenard, etc. These were in common use among the ancients.
See the Mat_14:7 note; Mar_14:3 note.
And frankincense - See the notes on Mat_2:11. It is unnecessary to say that incense has been
always much used in public worship in Rome, and that it has been, therefore, a valuable article of
commerce there.
And wine - An article of commerce and luxury in all ages.
And oil - That is, olive oil. This, in ancient times, and in Oriental countries particularly, was an
important article of commerce.
And fine flour - The word here means the best and finest kind of flour.
And beasts, and sheep, and horses - Also important articles of merchandise.
And chariots - The word used here - ??ed??? redo‾n - means, properly a carriage with four
wheels, or a carriage drawn by mules (Prof. Stuart). It was properly a traveling carriage. The word
is of Gallic origin (Quinctil. 1:9; Cic. Mil. 10; Att. v. 17; 6:1. See Adam’s Rom. Ant. p. 525). It was
an article of luxury.
And slaves - The Greek here is s? a´t?? so‾mato‾n - “of bodies.” Prof. Stuart renders it
“grooms,” and supposes that it refers to a particular kind of slaves who were employed in taking
care of horses and carriages. The word properly denotes body - an animal body - whether of the
human body, living or dead, or the body of a beast; and then the external man - the person, the
individual. In later usage, it comes to denote a slave (see Robinson, Lexicon), and in this sense it
is used here. The traffic in slaves was common in ancient times, as it is now. We know that this
traffic was carried on to a large extent in ancient Rome, the city which John probably had in his
eye in this description. See Gibbon, Dec. and Fall, vol. 1, pp. 25, 26. Athenaeus, as quoted by Mr.
Gibbon (p. 26), says that “he knew very many Romans who possessed, not for use, but for
ostentation, ten, and even twenty thousand slaves.” It should be said here, however, that although
this refers evidently to traffic in slaves, it is not necessary to suppose that it would be literally
characteristic of papal Rome. All this is symbolical, designed to exhibit the papacy under the
image of a great city, with what was customary in such a city, or with what most naturally
presented itself to the imagination of John as found in such a city; and it is no more necessary to
suppose that the papacy would be engaged in the traffic of slaves, than in the traffic of cinnamon,
or fine flour, or sheep and horses.
And souls of men - The word used and rendered “souls” - ???a`? psuchas - though commonly
denoting the “soul” (properly the “breath” or “vital principle”), is also employed to denote the living
thing - the animal - in which the soul or vital principle resides; and hence may denote a person or
a man. Under this form it is used to denote a “servant” or “slave.” See Robinson, Lexicon. Prof.
Robinson supposes that the word here means “female slaves,” in distinction from those
designated by the previous word. Prof. Stuart (in loco) supposes that the previous word denotes a
particular kind of slaves - those who had the care of horses - and that the word here is used in a
generic sense, denoting slaves in general. This kind of traffic in the “persons” or souls of people is
mentioned as characterizing ancient Tyre, in Eze_27:13; “Javan, Tubal, and Meshech, they were
thy merchants; they traded in the persons of men.” It is not quite clear why, in the passage before
us, this traffic is mentioned in two forms, as that of the bodies and the souls of people but it would
seem most probable that the writer meant to designate all that would properly come under this
traffic, whether male or female slaves were bought and sold; whether they were for servitude, or
for the gladiatorial sports (see Wetstein, in loco); whatever might be the kind of servitude that they
might be employed in, and whatever might be their condition in life. The use of the two words
would include all that is implied in the traffic, for, in most important senses, it extends to the body
and the soul. In slavery both are purchased; both are supposed, so far as he can avail himself of
them, to become the property of the master.
2. CLARKE, “And cinnamon - “By the sinamon is ment all maner of costly spyces, wherewith they
bury their byshops and founders, lest they shoulde stinke when they translate them agayne to

60. make them saintes for advauntage.
“By the smellynge odours, the swete herbes that they strewe abrode at theyr dedications and
burials; besydes the damaske waters, bawmes, muskes, pomaunder, civet, and other curious
confections they yet bestow upon theyr owne precious bodyes.
“The oyntments are such oyles as they mingle with rose water, aloes, and spike, with other mery
conceits, wherwith they anoynt their holy savours and roods, to make them to sweat, and to smell
sweete when they are borne abrod in procession upon their high feastfull dayes.
“Frankinsence occupye they ofte as a necessarie thinge in the sensyng of their idols, hallowinge
of their paschal, conjuringe of their ploughes; besydes the blessing of their palmes, candles,
ashes, and their dead men’s graves, with requiescant in pace.
“With wine synge they theyr masses for money, they housell the people at Easter, they wash their
aultar stones upon Maundy Thursday; they fast the holy imber dayes, besydes other banketinges
all the whole years, to kepe theyr flesh chaste.
“With oyle smere they yonge infantes at baptisme and bishopping; they grease their
massmongers, and gere them the mark of madian; they anele their cattell that starveth; and do
many other feates els.
“Fyne floure is suche a merchandyse of theirs as far excedeth all other, and was first geven them
by Pope Alexander the first, thinkinge Christes institution not sufficient, nor comly in using the
common breade in that ministerie. For that ware hath brought them in their plentifull possessions,
their lordshippes, fatte benifices, and prebendaries, with innumerable plesures els.
“Wheat have thei of their farms, whereof they make pardon bread and cakes, to draw people to
devocion towardes them.
“Cattell receive they, offered unto their idols by the idiots of the countries, for recover of sondrye
diseases; besides that they have of their tithes.
“Shepe have they, sometime of their owne pastures, sometime of begginge, sometime of
bequestes for the dead, to cry them out of their feareful purgatorye, when they be asleepe at
midnight.
“Great horses have they, for mortuaries, for offices, for favers, giftes, and rewardes, to be good
lords unto them, that they may holde still their farmes, and to have saunder waspe their sonne
and their heire a priest; or to admitte him unto a manerly benefice, that he may be called ‘maister
person,’ and suche lyke.
“Charets have they also, or horse litters, of al manner of sorts, specially at Rome, with foote men
runninge on both sides of them, to make roome for the holy fathers. Of whom some carye their
owne precious bodyes, some theyr treasure, some the blessed sacramente, some holy reliques
and ornamentes, some their whores, and some their bastardes. The bodyes of men must needes
be judged to be at their pleasure, so long as Christen provinces be tributaries unto them, princes
obediente, people subject, and their lawes at their commaundement to slea and to kyll. And to
make this good, who hath not in England payd his Peter peny, sometime to acknowledge
hymselfe a bondman of theirs, at the receit of his yerely howsell? Furthermore yet, besides their
market muster of monkes, fryars, and priestes, they have certayne bondmen, of whom some they
sell to the Venicians, some to the Genues, some to the Portingales, and some to the Turks, to row
in their galleis. And laste of all, to make up their market, least any thing should escape theyr
hands, these unmercifull bribers maketh marchaundise of the soules of men, to deprive Christe of
his whole right, sending many unto hell, but not one unto heaven, (unlesse they maliciously
murther them for the truths sake), and all for mony. After many other sortes els, abuse they these
good creatures of God, whom the Holy Ghost heere nameth. Much were it to shew here by the
cronicles severally of what Pope they have received authorytie, power, and charge, to utter these
wares to advauntage, and how they came firste by the old idolatrous.”
Several of the most reputable MSS. versions, and some of the fathers, after cinnamon, add ?a?
a ? ??, and amomum. What this shrub was is not easy to say, though mentioned and partially
described by Pliny and Dioscorides. Some think it was a species of geranium; others, the rose of
Jericho. It was an odoriferous plant supposed to be a native of Assyria; and is thus mentioned by
Virgil, Eclog. iv., ver. 25: -
- Assyrium vulgo nascetur amomum.
“The Assyrian amomum shall grow in every soil.”
This is translated by some spikenard; by others lady’s rose.
Thyine wood - The Thyne or Thyin is said to be a tree whose boughs, leaves, stalks, and fruit,
resemble the cypress. It is mentioned by Homer, Odyss, lib. v., ver. 60; by Theophrastes, Hist.

61. Plant, Rev_18:5; and by Pliny, Hist. Nat. lib. xiii. c. 16. How much the different articles mentioned
in the 12th and 13th verses were in request among the ancients, and how highly valued, every
scholar knows.
Slaves - S? at??? The bodies of men; probably distinguished here from ???a?, souls of men, to
express bondmen and freemen.
3. GILL, “And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense,.... Things for delight and
pleasure, for the gratifying of the senses; cinnamon, and odours were used for perfuming, Pro_
7:17 anointing with oil was used at feasts, Psa_23:5 and "frankincense", or censings, at banquets,
and for the regaling of persons after food (k): these customs obtained among the eastern people.
Tyre had its merchants for these things, Eze_27:19 and Mr. Brightman thinks Italy is Rome's
merchant in these, which it fetches from Greece, Arabia, and Egypt; it may be these rather
respect the ecclesiastical use of them; "cinnamon, odours", and "frankincense", may signify the
perfumings and censings used in churches, or the burning incense in imitation of the sweet
incense under the law; and "ointments" may denote their chrism, or anointing with oil at baptism,
imagining that Christ was anointed with material oil at his baptism, whereas it was with the Holy
Ghost: moreover, these things may be mystically understood, "cinnamon" being used by harlots in
perfuming their bed, Pro_7:17 may intend the stews and brothel houses erected at Rome, and
licensed by authority, each whore paying so much per week; the revenues of which would
sometimes yearly amount to twenty thousand ducats: "ointments" may be understood of chrism in
baptism, and extreme unction at death: "odours" and "frankincense" may mean their prayers and
pater nosters, their prayers for the dead, which were never made without the pence; hence that
proverbial expression, no pence, no pater noster.
And wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep: things for civil use; these are
things which belong to food, to eating and drinking, and are the most material and necessary
things of life, Psa_4:7. Tyre had her merchants for these, Eze_27:17 and Mr. Brightman will have
Italy to be Rome's merchant for wine and oil; Sardinia and Sicily her merchants for fine flour and
wheat; Germany for beasts, and England for sheep: and with respect to the ecclesiastical use of
these things, wine is for the chalice, used in daily Masses, and drank only by the priests; "oil" for
chrism at baptism, and for the extreme unction: "fine flour" for the Mass, or to make their breaden
god of; and "wheat, beasts, and sheep" for tithes for the clergy:
and horses, and chariots, and slaves; things for splendour, equipage, and attendance; horses and
chariots for the popes, cardinals, archbishops, and bishops, to ride in state and grandeur, and
slaves to wait upon them. Tyre had her merchants for these Eze_27:14 and Mr. Brightman's
opinion is, that the French are Rome's merchants for horses and chariots, and the Swiss for
slaves, or "bodies", as the word may be rendered, who live by exercising their bodies, and hiring
them out in war; and who are many of them the guards of the person of the pope of Rome: and
last of all it is added,
and souls of men; still in allusion to the merchandise of Tyre, some of whose merchants are said
to trade in the persons of men, Eze_27:13 which the Targum and Septuagint render, in the souls
of men; the popes have some of them sold their own souls to the devil, to get into the chair, and,
when in, have been the means of destroying of thousands of others; they assume a power over
the souls of men, of binding and loosing the consciences of men, imposing new laws upon them,
and freeing them from obligation to the laws of God and men, to the ruin of their souls; and it has
been said by their sycophants, that if the pope should send thousands of men to hell, no one
should say to him, what dost thou? The Romish priests pretend to redeem souls out of purgatory
for such a sum of money, and sell pardons and indulgences, say Mass, and promise heaven itself
for money; and this they get at the expense of men's souls, by their false doctrine and
superstitious worship, and so make merchandise of them, as is said of the false teachers, 2Pe_
2:3 moreover, as by "slaves", or bodies, in the preceding clause, are meant such who serve with
their bodies, either by way of attendance, or in unnatural lust; so by "souls" of men may be meant
men of soul, of great natural wit and understanding, of great parts, abilities, and learning, with
which they serve the man of sin, and his interest, such as Bellarmine, and others.

62. 4. JAMISON, “cinnamon — designed by God for better purposes: being an ingredient in the holy
anointing oil, and a plant in the garden of the Beloved (Son_4:14); but desecrated to vile uses by
the adulteress (Pro_7:17).
odours — of incense. A, C, Vulgate, and Syriac prefix “and amomium” (a precious hair ointment
made from an Asiatic shrub). English Version reading is supported by Coptic and Andreas, but not
oldest manuscripts.
ointments — Greek, “ointment.”
frankincense — Contrast the true “incense” which God loves (Psa_141:2; Mal_1:11).
fine flour — the similago of the Latins [Alford].
beasts — of burden: cattle.
slaves — Greek, “bodies.”
souls of men — (Eze_27:13). Said of slaves. Appropriate to the spiritual harlot, apostate
Christendom, especially Rome, which has so often enslaved both bodies and souls of men.
Though the New Testament does not directly forbid slavery, which would, in the then state of the
world, have incited a slave revolt, it virtually condemns it, as here. Popery has derived its greatest
gains from the sale of masses for the souls of men after death, and of indulgences purchased
from the Papal chancery by rich merchants in various countries, to be retailed at a profit
[Mosheim, III, 95, 96].
5. PULPIT, “And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense; and cinnamon, and
amomon, and incense, and ointment, and frankincense. These constitute the third class (see on
Rev_18:12). Cinnamon, an Indian tree, was in use in the Levitical ritual (Exo_30:23). It is referred
to as a perfume in Pro_7:17. Amomon, which is omitted in the Textus Receptus, is found in à , A,
C. P, etc. It is rendered in the Revised Version by "spice." Its use was similar to that ofcinnamon.
Its seeds are used under the name "cardamoms." And wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat.
These form the fourth class (see on Pro_7:12; cf. Le Pro_2:1, Pro_2:2). And beasts, and sheep,
and horses, and chariots, and slaves; and cattle, etc. The word rendered "slaves" is s? a´t?? ,
"bodies," i.e. slaves. At the word "horses" the nouns are again placed in the genitive (see on Pro_
7:12). These form the fifth class (see on Pro_7:12). "Chariots," de´d? , is not the word used in
Rev_9:9. It is a word probably of Gaulish origin. And souls of men. The accusative again. Not in
the ordinary acceptation of the word "souls," but rather "lives of men," as the Revised Version
margin; that is, "living men." It is probable that the two expressions, "bodies" (vide supra) and
"souls of men," refer to two classes of slaves.
6. COLLEGE PRESS, “18:13-19 WONDER BOOK OF THE BIBLE
"For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world, and
lose his own soul, or what shall a man give in exchange for his
soul? For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of his Father
with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to
his works." (Matt. 16:26, 27)
The spiritual Babylon has with business made traffic of the bodies
and souls of men. And when we recall the masses for the dead
which are said by the priesthood of Papal Rome, in which the
devotees pay to have their loved ones prayed out of Purgatory,
surely there has been a long and lively traffic in the souls of men.
But the thmgs for which Babylon longed are gone forever at the
time of her fall.
vs. 14-19 "And the fruits that thy soul lusteth after are departed
from thee, and all the things that were dainty and goodly are
departed from thee, and thou shall find them no more at all.
The merchants of these things which were made rich by her,
shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing,

63. and 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!
For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every ship-
master, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as
trade by sea, stood afar off, and cried when they saw the smoke
of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city!
And cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, say-
ing, 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!"
Thus we see merchants, kings and shipmaster with their sailors
lamenting the fall of Babylon. In other words, business, politics
and transportation were under the denomination of and blessed by a
false religious system that fostered their respective ungodly world-
systems.
14 “They will say, ‘The fruit you longed for is
gone from you. All your luxury and splendor have
vanished, never to be recovered.’
1.BARNES, “And the fruits that thy soul lusted after - Literally, “the fruits of the desire of thy soul.”
The word rendered “fruits” - ??p?´?a opo‾ra - properly means, “late summer; dog-days,” the time
when Sirius, or the Dog-star, is predominant. In the East this is the season when the fruits ripen,
and hence the word comes to denote fruit. The reference is to any kind of fruit that would be
brought for traffic into a great city, and that would be regarded as an article of luxury.
Are departed from thee - That is, they are no more brought for sale into the city.
And all things which were dainty and goodly - These words “characterize all kinds of furniture and
clothing which were gilt, or plated, or embroidered, and therefore were bright or splendid” (Prof.
Stuart).
And thou shalt find them no more at all - The address here is decidedly to the city itself. The
meaning is, that they would no more be found there.
2. CLARKE, “And the fruits that thy soul lusted after - ?a? ?? ?p??a t?? ep??? ?a? t?? ?????
s??. As ?p??a signifies autumn, any and all kinds of autumnal fruits may be signified by the word
in the above clause.
Dainty and goodly - ?a ??pa?a? Delicacies for the table. ?a ?a p?a, what is splendid and costly in
apparel.
3. GILL, “And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee,.... Or "the autumn of the
desire of thy soul"; the desirable fruits which are then in season; the Vulgate Latin and Ethiopic
versions render it "apples", which are ripe in autumn; and may design all such fruit as Italy
abounds with, which will now be destroyed; and seems to point at the time of year when Babylon's

64. destruction will be: but, in the mystical sense, these fruits may intend universal dominion over
nations and churches, the obedience of kings and princes, riches, honours, and pleasures of all
sorts; things greatly affected by the Papacy, and of which a large harvest was expected, but now
all will be at an end:
and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed from thee; all that were palatable to the
taste, and pleasant to the sight, that were excellent and desirable; as the triple crown,
cardinalships, archbishoprics, bishoprics, deanaries, fat benefices, and good livings:
and thou shalt find them no more at all; for this will be an utter destruction; at the Reformation
these desirable things were taken from her in several nations, and in some places she has
recovered them again, as in Germany and other places; and the outward court, or the reformed
church, sinking into an outward show and form, will be wholly given to the Gentiles, the Papists,
and they will have these things in their hands again before Rome's utter destruction, but after that
they will no more be regained.
4. ELLICOTT, “(14) Directly ADDRESSED to Babylon herself.
And the fruits that thy soul . . .—Rather, And the fruits (or, the harvest) of the desire of thy soul
(that, namely, which thy soul lusteth after) departed (not “are departed:” the word expresses the
thought that these things “departed once for all”) from thee, and all things that are rich and that
are glorious perish from thee, and thou shalt not find them any more. The descriptive passage is
interrupted by this verse, in which Babylon herself is ADDRESSED. It is in harmony with the
fervour of the whole chapter that the descriptive tone should for a moment give place to this
apostrophe. The fruits to which the eye of desire had looked so longingly as to a harvest of delight
departed. The desire of the wicked has perished.
5. JAMISON, “Direct address to Babylon.
the fruits that thy soul lusted after — Greek, “thy autumn-ripe fruits of the lust (eager desire) of the
soul.”
dainty — Greek, “fat”: “sumptuous” in food.
goodly — “splendid,” “bright,” in dress and equipage.
departed — supported by none of our manuscripts. But A, B, C, Vulgate, Syriac, and Coptic read,
“perished.”
thou shalt — A, C, Vulgate, and Syriac read, “They (men) shall no more find them at all.”
6. PULPIT, “And 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; all things
that were dainty and splendid are perished from thee, and [men] shall find, etc. The Textus
Receptus reads a?p????e? , "are gone," as in 1; a?p?´???t? is found in à , 7, and about twelve
other cursives; a?p?´?et? is supported by A, R, C, P, and others, besides many versions and
Fathers. This verse, containing a direct address to Babylon. has been thought by Vitringa and
others to be misplaced; but this is unnecessary (cf. the similar circumstance in Rev_18:21-24).
15 The merchants who sold these things and
gained their wealth from her will stand far off,
terrified at her torment. They will weep and
mourn

65. 1.BARNES, “The merchants of these things - Who trafficked in these things, and who supplied the
city with them, Rev_18:11.
Which were made rich by her - By traffic with her.
Shall stand afar off - Rev_18:10.
For fear of her torment - Struck with terror by her torment, so that they did not dare to approach
her, Rev_18:10.
2. CLARKE, “Stand afar off - See Rev_18:10.
2B. ELLICOTT, "(15-17) The merchants of these things . . .—The description is RESUMED. The
merchants stand like the kings (see Revelation 18:10) afar off, because of the fear of her torment,
saying, “Woe! woe! (or, alas! alas!) the great city, because in one hour so great wealth was
desolated.” The words of this lamentation are parallel to the lament of the kings, the only
difference is characteristic—they bewail the sudden decay of the wealth. On the fine linen and
purple, comp. Revelation 18:12, and Luke 16:19.
3. GILL, “The merchants of these things,.... Before mentioned, who have traded in them for
themselves and for Rome:
which were made rich by her, see Rev_18:3
shall stand afar off for fear of her torment; as the kings of the earth before, Rev_18:10 being
conscious to themselves of their being partners in her crimes, and so might justly fear they should
share in her punishment; and it may be, they will outwardly deny they are now of her religion, and
will externally embrace the reformed religion; though they will be inwardly weeping and wailing for
the destruction of Rome, and the loss of their merchandise and goodly things.
4. KRETZMANN, “These features are so prominent that they are treated in another paragraph:
v. 15. The merchants of these things which were made rich by her shall stand afar off for the fear
of her torment, weeping and wailing,
v. 16. and 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!
v. 17. For in one hour so great riches is come to naught. And every shipmaster and all the
company in ships and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
v. 18. and cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great
city?
v. 19. And 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.
v. 20. Rejoice over her, thou heaven and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged
you on her.
Just as the kings and rulers before them, so here the merchants bewail the fall of the anti-
Christian kingdom, which has always offered them such a lucrative trade: The traders in these
things, that have grown rich from her, stand at a distance for fear of her torment, weeping and
mourning, saying, Woe and alas, the great city, that was clothed in fine linen and purple and
scarlet goods, and ornamented with gold and precious stones and pearls! For in one hour has
been made desolate such great wealth. All this is not due to mere outward sympathy, but they are
included in the bankruptcy of the great harlot. They furnished the goods for her sinful and godless
traffic and are therefore bound to be included in the damage that results to her. At the same time

66. their selfishness causes them to keep their distance, lest someone identify them with her whose
desolation has become so apparent.
They are finally joined in their wailing by another class of people that has grown rich from the
traffic of Rome: And every shipmaster and all sea-faring people and sailors, and all whose
business takes them on the sea, stood at a distance and cried when they saw the smoke of her
burning, saying, Who is like to the great city? And they threw dust on their heads, and they cried,
weeping and lamenting, saying, Woe and alas, the great city, in which grew rich all that have ships
on the sea from her expensive habits! For in one hour she has become desolate. This scene
reminds one strongly of the destruction of the great commercial city Tyre, Eze_27:32, since anti-
Christian Rome is also pictured as sitting upon great waters and doing a big business in all parts
of the world. No wonder that shipmasters and sailors, and all whose business is on the sea, feel
the loss of business very keenly when the power of Rome declines, that they give way to the
utmost protestations of grief and lament the fall of her whose luxurious tendencies and expensive
habits were a source of great gain to them.
In sharp contrast to these selfish wailings and lamentings is the triumphant cry which is here
inserted: Rejoice over her, O heaven and saints and apostles and prophets, for God has judged
her with your judgment. The victory always rests with the Lord and with all those that are faithful to
Him, and so heaven celebrates the triumph over the great harlot, over the kingdom of Anti-Christ.
And not only God and all the host of heaven are here called upon to rejoice, but also the apostles
and prophets, since their earnest teaching and warning was directed against all antichristian
doctrine and activity as it finally came to a head in the empire of Anti-Christ. By the fall of Rome
they have been avenged, they have been vindicated, they have been given justice by God's
vengeance upon the great harlot.
5. JAMISON, “of these things — of the things mentioned, Rev_18:12, Rev_18:13.
which — “who.”
made rich by — Greek, “derived riches from her.”
stand afar off for the fear — (Compare Rev_18:10).
wailing — Greek, “mourning.”
6. PULPIT, “The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her (cf. Rev_18:11), shall
stand afar off for the fear of her torment. The future tense is now used (see on Rev_18:9); cf.
Rev_18:10, where the same thing is related of' the kings. Weeping and wailing (cf. Rev_18:9,
where, however, we have ??´???ta? , "wail," instead of, as here, pe??????te? , "mourn:" cf. also
Rev_18:11).
16 and cry out:
“‘Woe! Woe to you, great city,
dressed in fine linen, purple and scarlet,
and glittering with gold, precious stones and
pearls!
1.BARNES, “And saying, Alas, alas ... - notes on Rev_18:10.
That was clothed in fine linen - In the previous description Rev_18:12-13, these are mentioned as
articles of traffic; here the city, under the image of a female, is represented as clothed in the most
rich and frivolous of these articles.
And purple, and scarlet - See the notes on Rev_17:3-4. Compare Rev_18:12 of this chapter.

67. And decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls - notes on Rev_17:4.
2. CLARKE, “Clothed in fine linen, and purple, etc. - The verb pe??ßa??es?a?, which we here
translate clothed, signifies often to abound, be enriched, laden with, and is so used by the best
Greek writers; see many examples in Kypke. These articles are not to be considered here as
personal ornaments, but as articles of trade or merchandise, in which this city trafficked.
3. GILL, “And saying, alas, alas! that great city,..... Using the same words the kings of the earth
do, Rev_18:10 only adding, suitable to their characters as merchants, and the things they traded
in with her,
that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones,
and pearls; See Gill on Rev_18:12, Rev_17:4, see also Eze_27:32.
4. HENRY, “
5. JAMISON, “And — so Vulgate and Andreas. But A, B, and C omit.
decked — literally, “glided.”
stones ... pearls — Greek, “stone ... pearl.” B and Andreas read “pearls.” But A and C, “pearl.”
6. PULPIT, “And saying, Alas, alas that great city! Most authorities omit "and." Woe, woe, the
great city! (nominative case); exactly as in Rev_18:10. That was clothed in fine linen, and purple,
and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls. She that was clothed, etc.
Decked; "gilded," as in the Revised Version margin, as in Rev_17:4. The identity of description of
the woman and Babylon is another proof of the essentially identical nature of the two (see on
Rev_17:1; cf. also Rev_17:12).
17 In one hour such great wealth has been
brought to ruin!’
“Every sea captain, and all who travel by ship, the
sailors, and all who earn their living from the sea,
will stand far off.
1.BARNES, “For in one hour - In a very brief period - so short, that it seemed to them to be but
one hour. In the prediction Rev_18:8, it is said that it would be “in one day” (see the notes on that
place); here it is said that, to the on-lookers, it seemed to be but an hour. There is no
inconsistency, therefore, between the two statements.
So great riches is come to nought - All the accumulated wealth of so great and rich a city. This
should have been united with Rev_18:16, as it is a part of the lamentation of the merchants, and
as the lamentation of the mariners commences in the other part of the verse. It is so divided in the
Greek Testaments.
And every ship-master - This introduces the lamentation of the mariners, who would, of course, be
deeply interested in the destruction of a city with which they had been accustomed to trade, and
by carrying merchandise to which they had been enriched. The word “ship-master” - ??ße???´t??
kuberne‾te‾s - means, properly, a “governor”; then a governor of a ship - the “steersman” or
“pilot,” Act_27:11.

68. And all the company in ships - Prof. Stuart renders this “coasters.” There is here, however, an
important difference in the reading of the text. The commonly received text is, pa?? e?p?` t???
p???´?? ?? ??´ ???? pas epi to‾n ploio‾n ho homilos - “the whole company in ships,” as in our
common version; the reading which is now commonly adopted, and which is found in Griesbach,
Hahn, and Tittmann, is ?? e?p?` t?´p?? p?e´?? ho epi topon pleo‾n - “he who sails to a place”;
that is, he who sails from one place to another along the coast, or who does not venture out far to
sea; and thus the phrase would denote a secondary class of sea-captains or officers - those less
venturesome, or experienced, or bold than others. There can be little doubt that this is the correct
reading (compare Wetatein, in loco); and hence the class of seamen here referred to is
“coasters.” Such seamen would naturally be employed where there was a great and luxurious
maritime city, and would have a deep interest in its fall.
And sailors - Common seamen.
And as many as trade by sea - In any kind of craft, whether employed in a near or a remote trade.
Stood afar off - notes on Rev_18:10.
2. CLARKE, “Every shipmaster - Captains of vessels; some think pilots are meant, and this is
most likely to be the meaning of the original word ??ße???t??. This description appears to be at
least partly taken from Eze_27:26-28.
And all the company in ships - ?a? pa? ep? t?? p????? ?? ?? ????? The crowd or passengers
aboard. But the best MSS, and versions have ?a? pa? ?? ep? t?p?? p?e??, those who sail from
place to place, or such as stop at particular places on the coast, without performing the whole
voyage. This sufficiently marks the traffic on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Some might
debark (in sailing from Rome) at the island of Sicily, others at different ports in Greece; some at
Corinth, others at Crete, or the various islands of the Aegean Sea; some at Rhodes, Pamphylia,
etc., etc.; as in those times in which the compass was unknown, every voyage was performed
coastwise, always keeping, if possible, within sight of the land.
3. GILL, “For in one hour so great riches is come to nought,.... That is, in a very short time,
expressing the suddenness and speediness of Rome's destruction, the quick dispatch and
expedition that will be made in it, by the instruments of it, as in Rev_18:10. Rome was always
famous for its great wealth and riches; the Jews have a saying (l), that if ten kabs of riches
descend into the world, the ancient Romans take nine of them, and the other the whole world:
and every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea,
stood afar off; the lamentation of the kings and merchants of the earth being ended, masters of
ships, sailors, and seafaring men begin theirs: by "ships" are meant dioceses, abbeys, priories,
and monasteries; and by the masters, or governors of them, bishops, abbots, priors, the heads of
monasteries, and of the several orders of the Franciscans, Dominicans, &c. and by "all the
company in ships", or "every shipmate", the fellows that belong to every religious house and order;
and by "sailors" and "traders at sea", all such who compass sea and land to make proselytes to
the Romish religion, like the Pharisees of old, and who, as they, make them two fold more the
children of hell than themselves; and, in general, these traders abroad may design the pope's
legates, sent by him into various parts, to collect his revenues, and the Jesuits, who are
everywhere sent abroad to sow sedition and false doctrine, and the priests that travel about to sell
pardons and indulgences: these
stood afar off; as the kings and merchants before, for fear of sharing in the condemnation and
punishment of Babylon; knowing full well that they deserved it, having been associates with her in
her crimes.
4. BURKITT, “The last sort of mourners for Babylon's ruin are sailors and seamen; all spiritual
seamen that have an oar in St. Peter's boat shall lament greatly, whose life and livelihood did
depend upon the merchant trade of that great city; these, though they stuck close to her, and
trafficked with her in the day of her prosperity, yet now with the rest they stand afar off from her,
lamenting her ruin, and their own loss, in the day when her desolation cometh.

69. And, as an evidence of the greatness of their sorrow and mourning, they are here said to cast
dust on their heads; which amongst the ancients was used as a special token of extraordinary
grief and sorrow, Job_2:13. In a time of deep affliction we may express our outward sorrows by
our outward gestures: those mourners for Babylon express their sorrow for her and themselves,
by casting dust upon their heads.
4B. BARCLAY, "THE LAMENT OF THE SHIPMASTERS
Rev. 18:17-19
And every shipmaster and everyone who sails the sea, and sailors who gain their living from the sea, stood
afar off and cried, when they saw the smoke of her burning. "What city was like the great city!" they said,
and they flung dust upon their heads, and cried weeping and lamenting: "Alas! Alas! for the great city, in
which all who had ships on the sea grew rich from her wealth, because in one hour she has been desolated."
First, the kings uttered their lament over Rome; then, the merchants; and now, the shipmasters. John was
taking his picture from Ezekiel's picture of the fall of Tyre, from which so much of this chapter comes. "At
the sound of the cry of your pilots the countryside shakes, and down from their ships come all that handle
the oar. The mariners and all the pilots of the sea stand on the shore and wail aloud over you, and cry
bitterly. They cast dust on their heads and wallow in ashes." (Eze.27:28-30).
Rome, of course, was not upon the sea coast, but its port was Ostia, and, as we have seen, the merchandise
of the world flowed into the port of Rome.
It is little wonder that the shipmasters and the sailors will lament, for all the trade which brought so much
wealth will be gone.
There is something almost pathetic in these laments. In every case the lament is not for Rome but for
themselves. It is one of the laws of life that, if a man places all his happiness in material things, he misses
the greatest things of all--love and friendship with his fellowmen.
5. JAMISON, “is come to naught — Greek, “is desolated.”
shipmaster — Greek, “steersman,” or “pilot.”
all the company in ships — A, C, Vulgate, and Syriac read, “Every one who saileth to a place” (B
has “... to the place”), every voyager. Vessels were freighted with pilgrims to various shrines, so
that in one month (a.d. 1300) two hundred thousand pilgrims were counted in Rome [D’aaubigne,
Histoire de la Reformation]: a source of gain, not only to the Papal see, but to shipmasters,
merchants, pilots, etc. These latter, however, are not restricted to those literally “shipmasters,”
etc., but mainly refer, in the mystical sense, to all who share in the spiritual traffic of apostate
Christendom.
6. PULPIT, “For in one hour so great riches is come to nought; because ( ??´t? ) in one hour was
made desolate that so great wealth. This is given as the reason of the "Woe, woe!" of Rev_18:16,
and is to be connected with the preceding clauses. (On "one hour," see Rev_18:10, where the
same reason is given as in this verse.) And every shipmaster; pilot; found only here and in Act_
27:11. And all the company in ships; and every one who saileth to a place. Such is probably the
correct text, though there are several small variations. The Authorized Version has little support.
The Revised Version renders, And every one that saileth anywhither. And sailors, and as many as
trade by sea; as many as work the sea; i.e. gain their living by means of the sea. Thus are
enumerated all who are connected with the sea in any capacity (cf. Eze_27:27). Stood afar off.
Like the kings (Act_27:10) and the merchants (Act_27:15), and doubtless for the same reason;
viz. to avoid being overwhelmed in the destruction of the city.

70. 18 When they see the smoke of her burning, they
will exclaim, ‘Was there ever a city like this great
city?’
1.BARNES, “And cried ... - That is, as they had a deep interest in it, they would, on their own
account, as well as hers, lift up the voice of lamentation.What city is like unto this great city? - In
her destruction. What calamity has ever come upon a city like this?
2. CLARKE, “What city is like unto this great city! - Viz. in magnitude, power, and luxury.
3. GILL, “And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning,.... See Gill on Rev_18:9.
saying, what city is like unto this great city? as before for magnificence and grandeur, so now for
sorrow, desolation, and ruin; nor was any city like it for power and authority, for pride and luxury,
for idolatry and superstition, blasphemy and impenitence; the like the sailors say of Tyre, Eze_
27:30 from whence this and other expressions are borrowed in this lamentation.
4. JAMISON, “when they saw — Greek, “horontes.” But A, B, C, and Andreas read, Greek,
“blepontes,” “looking at.” Greek, “blepo,” is to use the eyes, to look: the act of seeing without
thought of the object seen. Greek, “horao,” refers to the thing seen or presented to the eyes
[Tittmann].
smoke — so B, C. But A reads “place.”
What city is like — Compare the similar beast as to the beast, Rev_13:4 : so closely do the harlot
and beast approximate one another. Contrast the attribution of this praise to God, to whom alone
it is due, by His servants (Exo_15:11). Martial says of Rome, “Nothing is equal to her;” and
Athenaeus, “She is the epitome of the world.”
5. PULPIT, “And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying. The same description as
in Rev_18:9 (which see). What city is like unto this great city! (cf. Eze_27:32, "And lament over
thee, saying, What city is like Tyrus, like the destroyed in the midst of the sea?").
19 They will throw dust on their heads, and with
weeping and mourning cry out:
“‘Woe! Woe to you, great city,
where all who had ships on the sea
became rich through her wealth!
In one hour she has been brought to ruin!’
1.BARNES, “And they cast dust on their heads - A common sign of lamentation and mourning

71. among the Orientals. See the notes on Job_2:12.
By reason of her costliness - The word rendered “costliness” - t? ??´t?t?? timiote‾tos - means,
properly, “preciousness, costliness”; their magnificence, costly merchandise. The luxury of a great
city enriches many individuals, however much it may impoverish itself.
For in one hour is she made desolate - So it seemed to them. See the notes on Rev_18:17.
2. CLARKE, “They cast dust on their heads - They showed every sign of the sincerest grief. The
lamentation over this great ruined city, Rev_18:9-19, is exceedingly strong and well drawn. Here is
no dissembled sorrow; all is real to the mourners, and affecting to the spectators.
3. GILL, “And they cast dust on their heads,.... As the seafaring men on account of Tyre, Eze_
27:30 this was a gesture used in mourning when persons were in afflicted and distressed
circumstances, denoting disorder, confusion, and debasement; see Jos_7:6
and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, alas, alas! that great city; as in Rev_18:10 so it was once,
though now in flames:
wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea; not only the merchants of the earth, as in
Rev_18:3 the cardinals, archbishops, and bishops, but the governors of religious houses; these
accumulated great wealth to themselves, and got the best of lands into their possession for the
use and support of their abbeys and monasteries:
by reason of her costliness; or costly things; pardons, indulgences, absolution, saying Mass, and
praying souls out of purgatory, all which are costly, and hereby these traders have been enriched;
and now the remembrance of these things, of which they will be deprived, will affect and grieve
them, as well as the suddenness of Rome's ruin:
for in one hour is she made desolate; her judgment come, and her riches come to nought, Rev_
18:10.
4. COLLEGE PRESS, “WONDEK BOOK OF THE BIBLE 18:19,20
And three times we hear the cry, Alas, alas! Once it comes from
the kings of the earth, or the political realm; once it is uttered by
the merchants, or the commercial realm; and once from the ship-
masters and sailor, or the transportation realm, It is a triple voice,
each part of which is double. It is that evil number six complete.
The repeated Alas, alas! is striking. The word is the same as that
of the angel in Rev. 8:13, when he cried, "Woe, woe, woe, to the
inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet
of the three angels, which are yet to sound."
The casting of dust on the head is a symbolic act of one who
thus expresses his utter hopelessness and despair. Because of the sin
of Achan which brought defeat to Israel we read:
"And Joshua rent his clothes, and fell on the earth upon his
face before the ark of the Lord until the eventide, he and the
elders of Israel, and put dust upon their heads." (Joshua 7:6)
Again this recurrence of the word "woe" or "alas" (verses 10,
16, and 19) helps us to identify the time of the fall of Babylon as
being in the period of the third and last woe. (Rev. 11:14)
We have had symbolized to us the suddenness of Babylon's down-

72. fall in the expressions: "in one day" Verse 8, "in one hour" verses
17 and 19. Now we are informed as to the violence of the downfall.
vs. 20 "And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great mill-
stone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that
great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more."
This symbolic action of the mighty angel as portrayed in this
verse is an intensified picture of a typical act which Jeremiah com-
manded Seraiah to perform when he came to that Babylon on
antiquity:
"And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, when thou comest to Babylon,
and shalt see, and shalt read all these words, . . . and it shall
be, when thou hast made an end of reading this book, that
thou shalt bind a stone to it and cast it into the midst of
Euphrates. And thou shalt say. Thus shall Babylon sink and
shall not rise from the evil that I will bring upon her." (Jere-
miah 51:61, 63, 64)
5. JAMISON, “wailing — “mourning.”
that had ships — A, B, and C read, “that had their ships”: literally, “the ships.”
costliness — her costly treasures: abstract for concrete.
5B. ELLICOTT,"(19) Alas! alas! that great city . . .—The lament is parallel with the laments of the
kings and the merchants; the difference is the appropriate reference to the destruction of THE
SHIPPING interests. Woe! woe! (or, Alas! alas!) the great city, in which all who had their vessels
on the sea grew rich out of her costliness. By her “costliness” we are to understand her
extravagances of living, and the splendour of her palaces which drew materials from all ports of
the world. The lament ends with the repeated cry, “in one hour.” Because in one hour she was
desolated.
6. PULPIT, “And they cast dust on their heads. This continues the description as given in Eze_
27:30, "Shall cast up dust upon their heads." And cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas
that great city! Weeping and mourning, saying, Woe, woe! etc.; an exact repetition of Eze_27:15,
Eze_27:16. Wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness. Like
the merchants, the men here described regret the loss of their wealth (cf. Eze_27:11,Eze_27:15,
Eze_27:16). So in Eze_27:33, "When thy wares went forth out of the seas, thou filledst many
people; thou didst enrich the kings of the earth with the multitude of thy riches and of thy
merchandise." For in one hour is she made desolate. Exactly as in Eze_27:17; and similarly to
Eze_27:10.
20 “Rejoice over her, you heavens!
Rejoice, you people of God!
Rejoice, apostles and prophets!
For God has judged her
with the judgment she imposed on you.”

73. 1.BARNES, “Rejoice over her - Over her ruin. There is a strong contrast between this language
and what precedes. Kings, merchants, and seamen, who had been countenanced and sustained
by her in the indulgence of corrupt passions, or who had been enriched by traffic with her, would
have occasion to mourn. But not so they who had been persecuted by her. Not so the church of
the redeemed. Not so heaven itself. The great oppressor of the church, and the corrupter of the
world, was now destroyed; the grand hindrance to the spread of the gospel was now removed,
and all the holy in heaven and on earth would have occasion to rejoice. This is not the language of
vengeance, but it is the language of exultation and rejoicing in view of the fact, that the cause of
truth might now spread, without hindrance, through the earth.
Thou heaven - The inhabitants of heaven. Compare the notes on Isa_1:2. The meaning here is,
that the dwellers in heaven - the holy angels and the redeemed - had occasion to rejoice over the
downfall of the great enemy of the church.
And ye holy apostles - Prof. Stuart renders this, “Ye saints, and apostles, and prophets.” In the
common Greek text, it is, as in our version, “holy apostles and prophets.” In the text of Griesbach,
Hahn, and Tittmann, the word ?a?` kai (and) is interposed between the word “holy” and “apostle.”
This is, doubtless, the true reading. The meaning, then, is that the “saints” in heaven are called on
to rejoice over the fall of the mystical Babylon.
Apostles - The twelve who were chosen by the Saviour to be his witnesses on earth. See the
notes on 1Co_9:1. The word is commonly limited to the twelve, but, in a larger sense, it is applied
to other distinguished teachers and preachers of the gospel. See the notes on Act_14:14. There is
no impropriety, however, in supposing that the apostles are referred to here as such, since they
would have occasion to rejoice that the great obstacle to the reign of the Redeemer was now
taken away, and that that cause in which they had suffered and died was now to he triumphant.
And prophets - Prophets of the Old Testament and distinguished teachers of the New. See the
notes on Rom_12:6. All these would have occasion to rejoice in the prospect of the final triumph
of the true religion.
For God hath avenged you on her - Has taken vengeance on her for her treatment of you. That is,
as she had persecuted the church as such, they all might be regarded as interested in it and
affected by it. All the redeemed, therefore, in earth and in heaven, are interested in whatever
tends to retard or to promote the cause of truth. All have occasion to mourn when the enemies of
the truth triumph; to rejoice when they fall.
2. CLARKE, “Rejoice over her, thou heaven - This is grand and sublime; the fall of this bad city
was cause of grief to bad men. But as this city was a persecutor of the godly, and an enemy to the
works of God, angels, apostles, and prophets are called to rejoice over her fall.
3. GILL, “Rejoice over her, thou heaven,.... This is said by the voice from heaven, Rev_18:4 which
having called upon the saints to come out of Babylon, and to take vengeance on her, now calls
upon all good men to rejoice at her ruin, while others were weeping and wailing; not at that, simply
considered, but as the justice of God is displayed therein: heaven may be literally understood,
which sometimes is addressed when anything of very considerable note and moment is done or
spoken of, whether it be something exceeding bad, as in Isa_1:2 or something exceeding great
and good, as in Psa_96:11 or else the inhabitants of heaven, either the angels, who as they
rejoice at the good and happiness of the saints, so at the confusion and destruction of their
enemies; and the Syriac version reads, "heavens and angels"; or else the souls of men departed,
particularly the souls under the altar, that have been long crying for vengeance on account of the
shedding of their blood, Rev_6:9 who may be made acquainted with Rome's destruction; or rather
the true church of Christ upon earth, which in this book often goes by the name of heaven, in
opposition to the apostate church, called the earth, because its members, doctrines, and
ordinances, are from heaven, and its happiness lies there:
and ye holy apostles and prophets; the Alexandrian copy and Complutensian edition read, "and
the saints, and the apostles, and prophets"; making three distinct sorts of persons, of which
heaven, or the church, consists: by "saints" may be meant private members of churches, who are

74. sanctified by the Spirit of God, and live holy lives and conversations; and by "apostles", not the
twelve apostles, or persons in such an office as they were, but ordinary ministers of the word, who
are sent forth to preach the Gospel, and will be upon the spot at the destruction of Babylon, and
will be such as shall have preached and defended the pure apostolic doctrine; and by "prophets"
are intended not the prophets of the Old Testament, nor such under the New who had the gift of
foretelling things to come, but such who have a gift of interpreting the Scriptures and preaching
the Gospel; the same with the two witnesses, who till this time will have prophesied in sackcloth,
but shall now put it off, and put on the garments of praise and joy:
for God hath avenged you on her; or "judged your judgment on her"; that is, has executed
righteous judgment on her, for all the evils done by her to the saints in ages past, the
predecessors of the persons here mentioned, as well as to themselves: vengeance belongs to the
Lord, and he will avenge his elect sooner or later.
3B. ELLICOTT, "(20) Rejoice over her. . . .—Better, Rejoice over her, O heaven, and the saints,
and the apostles, and the prophets, because God has judged your judgment on (or, out of) her.
The second portion of the chapter CLOSES with this invitation to the saints to rejoice: they are
summoned to rejoice because the law of retribution has worked on her. Your judgment (it is said
to the saints) is judged on her. This does not mean a judgment which the saints have decreed, but
the judgment which Babylon wrought on the holy is now exacted from her (comp. Revelation 18:6,
and Revelation 6:10; Revelation 13:10). Heaven, and every CLASS OF those whose citizenship
has been in heaven, are bidden by the heavenly voice to rejoice The covetous and the worldly
mourn; their minds were set upon a material glory, which has slipped away from their grasp. All
saintly souls, whose affections have been towards righteousness and the righteous King, can
rejoice; for the wealth of holiness is imperishable. and the fall of Babylon is the removal of one
vast hindrance to holiness. It has been argued that the verse represents the Apostles to be in
heaven, and from this it has been inferred that the twelve must have all died before the
Apocalypse was written, and, if so, St. John was not the writer. The verse, however, has no
reference whatever to the question: it is not meant to state who have passed into heaven and who
have not: it is simply a summons to all who have fought on the side of their Lord to rejoice at the
removal of one of the great obstacles to the manifestation of Christ’s kingdom. Thus do all holy
men, whether on earth or heaven, joy when any giant evil is swept away.
4. HENRY, “An account of the joy and triumph there was both in heaven and earth at the
irrecoverable fall of Babylon: while her own people were bewailing her, the servants of God were
called to rejoice over her, Rev_18:20. Here observe, 1. How universal this joy would be: heaven
and earth, angels and saints, would join in it; that which is matter of rejoicing to the servants of
God in this world is matter of rejoicing to the angels in heaven. 2. How just and reasonable; and
that, (1.) Because the fall of Babylon was an act of God's vindictive justice. God was then
avenging his people's cause. They had committed their cause to him to whom vengeance
belongs, and now the year of recompence had come for the controversies of Zion; and, though
they did not take pleasure in the miseries of any, yet they had reason to rejoice in the discoveries
of the glorious justice of God.
4B. BARCLAY, "JOY AMIDST LAMENTING
Rev. 18:20
Rejoice over her, O Heaven, and you dedicated ones of God, and you apostles, and you prophets, because
God has given judgment for you against her.
Amidst all the lamenting comes the voice of joy, the voice of those who are glad to see the vengeance of
God upon his enemies and their persecutors.
This is a note which we find more than once in Scripture. "Praise his people, O you nations; for he avenges
the blood of his servants, and takes vengeance on his adversaries, and makes expiation for the land of his

75. people" (Deut.32:43). Jeremiah says of the doom of ancient Babylon; "Then the heaven and the earth, and
all that is in them, shall sing for joy over Babylon; for the destroyers shall come against them out of the
north, says the Lord" (Jer.51:48).
We are here very far from praying for those who despitefully use us. But two things have to be remembered.
However we may feel about this voice of vengeance, it is none the less the voice of faith. These men had
utter confidence that no man on God's side could ultimately be on the losing side.
Second, there is little personal bitterness here. The people to be destroyed are not so much personal enemies
as the enemies of God.
At the same time this is not the more excellent way which Jesus taught. When Abraham Lincoln was told
that he was too lenient with his opponents and that his duty was to destroy his enemies, he answered: "Do I
not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?" The real Christian attitude is to seek to destroy
enmity, not by force, but by the power of that love which won the victory of the Cross.
5. JAMISON, “(See on Rev_17:4).
stones ... pearls — Greek, “stone ... pearl.”
fine linen — A, B, and C read Greek, “bussinou” for “bussou,” that is, “fine linen manufacture”
[Alford]. The manufacture for which Egypt (the type of the apostate Church, Rev_11:8) was
famed. Contrast “the fine linen” (Eze_16:10) put on Israel, and on the New Testament Church
(Rev_19:8), the Bride, by God (Psa_132:9).
thyine wood — the citrus of the Romans: probably the cypressus thyoyides, or the thuia articulata.
“Citron wood” [Alford]. A sweet-smelling tree of Cyrene in Lybia, used for incense.
all manner vessels — Greek, “every vessel,” or “furniture.”
5B. RIGGS, “Rev. 18:20-24
The heaven, the holy apostles and prophets (some ancient manuscripts add, "and ye saints" are
told to rejoice because God had avenged them on her ("for God hath judged your judgment on
her" ASV). This is another of the key verses which shows the theme and purpose of the book.
(See also 6:9-11; 16:6-7; 19:2). The great city shall be cast down as a millstone (literally,
"millstone turned by an ass"; thus, a stone of great size used to grind grain; it is the same word
used in Matt. 18:6) thrown into the sea and three types of sound would be heard no more at all in
her: of music (22a), of business life or industry (22b), and of the home (23). The same kind of
symbolism was used in reference to ancient Babylon's destruction (Jer. 51:63-64; 25:10). The
sounds of amusement, business, and the home would no more be heard in her because: (1) "Thy
merchants were great men of the earth" (also said of Tyre in her destruction, Isa. 23:8-9; here it
has reference to Rome's quest for luxuries and riches; it was founded on these and her
merchants became rich through them, 18:3). (2) "For by thy sorceries were all nations deceived"
(this, too, was said of Tyre, Nah. 3:4; it has to do with her witchcraft by which she beguiled the
people into wickedness and idolatry). (3) For her martyrdom of the saints and conquering of
peoples (vs. 24). This is another key verse to the proper understanding of the book. It was the
reason for her utter destruction (19:2).
Instead of questions, for a study of chapter 18, compare these Old Testament passages with the
following verses:
(vs. 2) -- Isa. 21:9; 13:21; Jer. 50:35; 51:37
(vs 3) -- Isa. 47:15
(vss. 4-5) -- Jer. 51:9
(vs. 6) -- Jer. 50:15, 29; 51:49
(vs. 7) -- Ezek. 28:2-8; Isa. 47:7-8; Zeph. 2:13-15
(vs. 8a) -- Jer. 50:13
(vs. 8b) -- Jer. 50:34
(vss. 9-10) -- Ezek. 26:16-17

76. (vss. 11-17a) -- Ezek. 27:33-36
(vss. 17b-19) -- Ezek. 27:25-32
(vs. 20) -- Jer. 51:48
(vs. 21) -- Jer. 51:63-64
(vss. 22-23) -- Jer. 25:10
We see that the same language of chapter 18 was used against various cities of the Old
Testament era and we conclude that chapter 18 is speaking of God's doom and destruction upon
the city of Rome. DAVID RIGGS
6. PULPIT, “Rejoice over her, thou heaven. These words are best understood as being uttered by
the writer, as in Rev_12:12 (see on Rev_12:10). And ye holy apostles and prophets; and ye
saints, and ye apostles, and ye prophets, is read in à , A, B, P, etc., and adopted by the Revisers.
The Authorized Version reading is found in C, 1, 17. Not only the heavenly inhabitants are to
rejoice, but also those on earth who have been persecuted by her, as mentioned in verse 24. The
time is again described which has been already referred to in former parts of the book, and
especially in Rev_11:18. Some authors have held this verse to prove that the writer of the
Apocalypse was not the Apostle John; either because
(1) he speaks as if he were not an apostle, or
(2) because they assume that all the apostles are here referred to, and that they are in heaven.
There is no ground for either presumption:
(1) A rhapsodical utterance of this nature cannot be interpreted literally;
(2) the word "apostles" cannot be limited to the twelve;
(3) as Dusterdieck justly observes, one might as well argue that the writer was not a prophet.
By the "prophets "are primarily intended, perhaps, the Christian prophets (cf. Eph_3:5); but if
Babylon is typical of the hostile world power, and the harlot of the faithless, worldly portion of
God's Church, as we have seen them to be, the words are applicable to the Church of God in all
ages. For God hath avenged you on her; for God hath judged your judgment on her. The answer
to the prayer of the martyrs in Rev_6:10. The words, "your judgment," probably mean "that
judgment which is her due for her treatment of you," as in the Authorized Version. Hengstenberg
gives "the doom which she pronounced upon you." Wordsworth, laying stress upon e?? , "out of,"
makes the words mean, "He has taken your cause out of her hands into his own."
7. BURKITT, ” Note here, 1. That as Babylon's ruin was matter of great grief and sorrow to the
fore-mentioned mourners who merchandised and traded with her; so it is matter of great joy and
rejoicing to all spiritual and heavenly-minded persons, which are the true church, who are
commanded to rejoice at it. Rejoice over her, O heaven; that is, ye angels in heaven, or ye saints,
that are of an heavenly disposition. And all ye holy apostles and prophets; that is, all faithful
ministers who succeed them, who are endued with the same spirit, and teach the same pure and
holy doctrine with them.
Note, 2. The cause of this rejoicing declared: For God hath avenged them upon her. The church
does not, the saints of God dare not, rejoice at Babylon's calamity as such, but as an act of divine
vengeance God will be avenged onBabylon for the doctrine of the gospel corrupted by her, and for
the rules of worship violated by her, and for all the barbarities and indignities which his church and
people have suffered from her: God will revenge the wrongs of his people, when through want of
power they cannot, and through his prohibition they may not, avenge themselves.
8. SPURGEON, “May the Spirit of God take away the veil from our eyes while we read what was
revealed to the beloved apostle John! Here we have the prophecy of the destruction of the great
anti-Christian system of Babylon, which, being interpreted, is and can be none other than the

77. apostate church of Rome.
18:20-24. Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath
avenged you on her. And 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. And 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 he found any
more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee; and 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. And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints,
and of all that w ere slain upon the earth. Now, after the false church is put away, the true Church
of Christ shines out in all her glory and purity.
This exposition consisted of readings from Rev_18:20-24; and Rev_19:1-18.
9. COLLEGE PRESS, “18:20-22 wonder book of the bible
Thus we see that the destruction of ancient Babylon was typical
of the destruction of spiritual Babylon.
Thus we see that the fall of mysterious Babylon, that Romish
church; that great Harlot woman; the Mother of Harlots and abom-
inations of the earth; is one of the, if not the most outstanding and
marvelous events of all time. More is said about Babylon in the
Scriptures than any other great religious and secular occurrence.
But the rejoicings of heaven, and those whose affections are set
on things above and not on things on the earth (Col. 3:2), are
now set forth in exact contrast with the lamentations Of the kings,
merchants and shipmasters and all their peoples they represent.
vs. 21 "Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles
and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her." '
While earth rings with the chorus of lamentation, dissappoint-
ment and despair, a grand jubulation fills the heaven. While the
world cries, Woe, woe over the fall of this religio-political system,
the citizens of heaven pour out of their mighty halleluias.
The angel then announces:
vs. 22 "And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers,
and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee, and no crafts-
man, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee;
and the sound of a millstone shall be herd no more at all in thee.
And 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 earth;
for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.
And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and
of all that were slain upon the earth."
It will be an event unbelievable to the world. The world has
become so accustomed to seeing the Roman church, her priesthood
and religious processions and pronouncements played up with such

78. righteousness in the press, magazines and periodicals; propagated in
306
WONDER BOOK OF THE BIBLE 18:22
the movies, on the radio and television screen; eulogized in song,
poetry and story; kowtowed to by politician, merchant, transporta-
tion interests, advertisers, rulers and common citizens that the fall
of such a church with such suddenness and violence will be shock
that will shake the whole earth.
And it will be the immediate act of God. No earthy power or
agency could bring to an end an institution so hoary with age and
deeply intrenched in every activity of man.
And to think that all of this could have been avoided 1 . If there
had been the New Testament church, with Christ as head and
supreme authority upon the earth since Pentecost there would have
been no spiritual Babylon to confuse the world religiously, currupt
political governments, compromise truth and morals, and finally to
condemn the world to eternal destruction and damnation.
The Finality of Babylon’s Doom
21 Then a mighty angel picked up a boulder the
size of a large millstone and threw it into the sea,
and said:
“With such violence
the great city of Babylon will be thrown down,
never to be found again.
1.BARNES, “And a mighty angel - See the notes on Rev_18:1. This seems, however, to have
been a different angel from the one mentioned in Rev_18:1, though, like that, he is described as
having great power.
Took up a stone like a great millstone - On the structure of mills among the ancients see the notes
on Mat_24:41.
And cast it into the sea - As an emblem of the utter ruin of the city; an indication that the city would
be as completely destroyed as that stone was covered by the waters.
Saying, Thus with violence - With force, as the stone was thrown into the sea. The idea is, that it
would not be by a gentle and natural decline, but by the application of foreign power. This accords
with all the representations in this book, that violence will be employed to overthrow the papal
power. See Rev_17:16-17. The origin of this image is probably Jer_51:63-64; “And it shall be,
when thou hast made an end of reading this book, that thou shalt bind a stone to it, and cast it into
the midst of Euphrates; and thou shalt say, Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise from the
evil that I will bring on her.”

79. 2. CLARKE, “Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down - This action is finely
and forcibly expressed by the original words: ???t?? ??? ? at? ß????seta? ?aß???? ?? e?a??
p????. The millstone will in falling have not only an accelerated force from the law of gravitation,
but that force will be greatly increased by the projectile force impressed upon it by the power of
the destroying angel.
Shall be found no more at all - In her government, consequence, or influence. This is true of
ancient Babylon; we are not certain even of the place where it stood. It is also true of Jerusalem;
her government, consequence, and influence are gone. It is not true of Rome pagan; nor, as yet,
of Rome papal: the latter still exists, and the former is most intimately blended with it; for in her
religions service Rome papal has retained her language, and many of her heathen temples has
she dedicated to saints real or reputed, and incorporated many of her superstitions and
absurdities in a professedly Christian service. It is true also that many idols are now restored
under the names of Christian saints!
2B. ELLICOTT, "(21) And a mighty angel . . .—The taking up of the stone and casting it into the
waters is a symbol drawn from Jeremiah (Jeremiah 51). Jeremiah enjoined Seraiah to bind THE
PROPHETIC roll to a great stone, and cast them together into the Euphrates. The meaning of the
act was explained—“Thus shall Babylon sink and shall not rise,” &c. (Jeremiah 51:63-64). The
great dead mass, sinking helplessly by the law of its own weight, signified a fall past recovery. So
Pharaoh and his host sank like lead in the mighty waters. It is the doom Christ foreshadowed as
awaiting those who caused His children to fall (Matthew 18:6). The mighty angel, strong to lift the
ponderous stone, throws it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence (or, with a bound) shall
Babylon, the great city, be thrown, and shall not BE FOUND any more. At one bound, without a
single resting-stage in its downward career, without chance or POWER of recovery, the vast
world-city would fall. She who sat as a queen upon many waters, sinks as a stone in the mighty
waters. She will not be found any more. The words “any more,” or “no more,” are repeated in
these verses no less than six times, like a funeral knell over the departed greatness which is
described.
3. GILL, “And a mighty angel,.... Not Christ, nor one of the ministering spirits, but some man or set
of men, perhaps the same with him in Rev_18:1
took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea; just as Jeremiah took a stone and
bound it to his book after he had read it, and cast it into the river Euphrates, as a sign and token of
the destruction of old Babylon, Jer_51:63
saying, thus with violence shall that great city be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all;
which is expressive of the utter destruction of Rome, and of the violence, force, and power with
which it will be destroyed, and of the suddenness and swiftness of its destruction, and of the
irrecoverableness of its state and condition.
4. HENRY, “Because it was an irrecoverable ruin. This enemy should never molest them any
more, and of this they were assured by a remarkable token (Rev_18:21): An angel from heaven
took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, “Thus shall Babylon be
thrown down with violence, and be found no more at all; the place shall be no longer habitable by
man, no work shall be done there, no comfort enjoyed, no light seen there, but utter darkness and
desolation, as the reward of her great wickedness, first in deceiving the nations with her sorceries,
and secondly in destroying and murdering those whom she could not deceive,” Rev_18:24. Such
abominable sins deserved so great a ruin.
4B. BARCLAY, "THE FINAL DESOLATION
Rev. 18:21-24
And a strong angel lifted a stone like a great mill-stone, and cast it into the sea. "Thus," he said, "with a rush
Babylon the great city will be cast down, and will never again be found. The sound of harpers and minstrels

80. and flute-players and trumpeters will never again be heard in you. No craftsman of any craft will ever again
be found in you. No more will the sound of the mill be heard in you. No more will the light of the lamp
shine in you. No more will the voice of the bridegroom and the bride be heard in you; for your merchants
were the great ones of the earth, and because all nations were lead astray by your sorcery, and because in
her was found the blood of the prophets and of God's dedicated ones and of all who have been slain upon
the earth."
The picture is of the final desolation of Rome.
It begins with a symbolic action. A strong angel takes a great millstone and hurls it into the sea which closes
over it as if it had never been. So will Rome be obliterated. John was taking his picture from the destruction
of ancient Babylon. The word of God came to Jeremiah: "When you finish reading this book, bind a stone
to it, and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates: and say, Thus shall Babylon sink, to rise no more, because
of the evil that I am bringing upon her" (Jer.51:63-64). In later days Strabo, the Greek geographer, was to
say that ancient Babylon was so completely obliterated that no one would ever have dared to say that the
desert where she stood was once a great city.
Never again will there be any sound of rejoicing. The doom of Ezekiel against Tyre reads: "And I will stop
the music of your songs, and the sound of your lyres shall be heard no more" (Eze.26:13). The harpers and
the minstrels played and sang on joyous occasions; the flute was used at festivals and at funerals; the
trumpet sounded at the games and at the concerts; but now all music was to be silenced.
Never again will there be the sound of a craftsman plying his trade.
Never again will the sound of domestic activity be heard. Grinding was done by the women at home with
two great circular stones one on the top of the other. The corn was put into a hole in the uppermost stone; it
was ground between the two stones and emerged through the lower stone. The creak of stone on stone,
which could be heard any day at any house door, will never again be heard.
Never again will there be light on the streets or in the houses.
Never again will there be any sound of wedding rejoicing for even love will die. Jeremiah uses the same
pictures: "I will banish from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom,
and the voice of the bride, the grinding of the millstones, and the light of the lamp" (Jer.25:10; compare
Jer.7:34; Jer.16:9).
Rome is to become a terrible silent desolation.
And this punishment will come for certain definite reasons.
It will come because she worshipped wealth and luxury and lived wantonly, and found no pleasure except in
material things.
It will come because she led men astray with her sorceries. Nahum called Nineveh "graceful and of deadly
charms" (Nah.3:14). Rome flirted with the evil powers to make an evil world.
It will come because she was blood guilty. "Woe to the bloody city!" said Ezekiel of Tyre (Eze.24:6).
Within Rome the martyrs perished and persecution went out from her all over the earth.
Before we begin to study the last four chapters of the Revelation in detail, it will be well to set out their
general programme of events.
They begin with a universal rejoicing at the destruction of Babylon, the power of Rome (Rev. 19:1-10).
There follows a description of the emergence of a white horse and on it him who is Faithful and True (Rev.

81. 19:11-18). Next comes the assembling of hostile powers against the conquering Christ (Rev. 19:19); then
the defeat of the opposing forces, the casting of the beast and of the false prophet into the lake of fire, and
the slaughter of the rest (Rev. 19:20-21).
Rev. 20 opens with the binding of the devil in the abyss for a period of a thousand years (Rev. 20:1-3).
There follows the resurrection of the martyrs to reign with Christ for a thousand years, although the rest of
the dead are not yet resurrected (Rev. 20:4-6). At the end of the thousand years Satan is again loosed for a
brief space; there is final conflict with the enemies of Christ who are destroyed with fire from heaven while
Satan is cast for ever into the lake of fire and brimstone (Rev. 20:7-10). Then comes the general
resurrection and the general judgment (Rev. 20:11-14); and finally the description of the new heaven and
the new earth to take the place of the things which have passed away (Rev. 21; Rev. 22:1-5).
5. JAMISON, “a — Greek, “one.”
millstone — Compare the judgment on the Egyptian hosts at the Red Sea, Exo_15:5, Exo_15:10;
Neh_9:11, and the foretold doom of Babylon, the world power, Jer_51:63, Jer_51:64.
with violence — Greek, “with impetus.” This verse shows that this prophecy is regarded as still to
be fulfilled.
6. PULPIT, “And a mighty angel took up a stone like a groat millstone, and cast it into the sea,
saying; add one strong angel (cf. the "mighty voice" in Rev_18:2; also Rev_10:1, and elsewhere).
The adjective, of course, refers to the mightiness of the deed wrought (cf. Jer_51:61-64, "Thou
shall bind a stone to it, and cast it into the midst of Euphrates; and thou shall say, Thus shall
Babylon sink, and shall not rise," etc.). The sea may be typical of the nations of the earth
(seeRev_13:1). Thus with violence shall that groat city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be
found no more at all; Thus with a mighty fall shall Babylon, the great city, be cast down, etc.
(Revised Version). Alford translates "with a rush;"??´? ? a is peculiar to this passage. The
complete nature of this extinction is indicated by the frequency of the words, "no more at all," in
Rev_18:21-23.
7. BURKITT, “Observe here, 1. Babylon's utter desolation represented by the type and sign of a
millstone cast into the sea; like a millstone she had ground and oppressed the church of God, and
now, like a millstone thrown into the sea, she sinks into the pit of destruction.
Almighty God, by this sign or symbol, signified to St. John that Babylon's ruin should be violent,
irrecoverable, and irreparable; she falls never to rise more. The casting of a stone into the sea
was anciently the emblem of everlasting forgetfulness.
Observe, 2. The amplification of Babylon's ruin particularized in several instances.
1. That nothing should evermore be found in her that belonged to pleasure or delight: no voice of
harpers, musicians, or trumpeters.
2. Nothing which belonged to profit or trading, no artificers or craftsmen.
3. Nothing belonging to food, no noise of a millstone for grinding corn and making provision for
bread.
4. Nothing to relieve against the darkness and terror of the night; as the light of a candle.
5. No means for the propagation of mankind by marriage; The voice of the bride and the
bridegroom shall be heard no more.
All which expressions do imply extreme destruction and utter desolation: intimating, that Babylon
shall be a place utterly abandoned and forsaken.

82. Observe, 3. A three-fold cause assigned for all this, to wit,
1. Damnable covetousness: Her merchants were the great ones of the earth. Her sinful way of
merchandising, by dealing in spiritual commodities peculiar to Rome, seems to be here pointed at;
her making merchandise of the souls of men, as we have it, Rev_18:13.
2. Her bewitching idolatry, called here sorceries, whereby she enticed people to join with her in her
superstitious worship.
3. Her cruelty and bloodshed: In her was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all that
were slain upon earth.
Quest. But how can the blood shed by others be laid to her charge?
Ans. 1. Because the doctrines which caused their blood to be shed were with her.
2. Because her jurisdiction gave commission to slay the saints which were slain in other
kingdoms.
3. Because by the influence of her example at home, much blood had been shed abroad.
God will charge upon others, as he did upon Babylon, not only the sin which they have acted, but
all the sin which they have been accessary to.
8. KRETZMANN, “The punishment completed:
v. 21. and 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.
v. 22. And 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;
v. 23. and 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 the e; for thy merchants were the great men of the
earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.
v. 24. And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints and of all that were slain upon the
earth.
Here the seer pictures inevitable doom, total and terrible desolation: And there lifted up one
mighty angel a stone like a millstone, and threw it into the sea, saying, Thus with force shall be
thrown down Babylon, the great city, and shall no more be found; and the voice of harpists and
minstrels and flutists and trumpeters no more shall be heard in thee, and all craftsmen of every
craft shall no more be found in thee, and the sound of the millstone shall no more be heard in
thee, and the light of a lamp shall no more shine in thee, and the voice of bridegroom and bride
shall no more be heard in thee, because thy merchants were the magnates of the earth, because
by thy incantations were deceived all nations, and in her was found the blood of prophets and
saints and of all those that had been slain on the earth. That is the sentence of doom, given in the
form of a rhythmic song, and introduced by a symbolic action resembling that of Jer_51:63-64.
The judgment of the great city, of spiritual Babylon, the kingdom of Anti-Christ, is sealed; the blow
given her by the Reformation was so strong as to lay her low forever. No matter what efforts the
papacy makes to regain her former absolute reign in the world, all such attempts are bound to
result in failure. The glory which she formerly held is departed from her forever. The sins of
spiritual adultery, of idolatry, and of the magic spells with which Rome managed to seduce the
mighty ones of the earth, the blood which she has shed during the thousand years and more
which she has been in existence, call down upon her the curse of the Lord, His eternal damnation.

83. Summary
The fall and destruction of the kingdom of Anti-Christ is here described in full, together with the
wailing complaint of rulers and merchants and shipmasters that grew rich in the traffic in her
goods and luxuries, while there is rejoicing in heaven over the vindication of the martyrs and
prophets and apostles.
9. SPURGEON, “We have no difficulty in knowing to what city this great Babylon refers, for the
Church of Rome, in the plenitude of its wisdom, has taken the title to itself in attempting to claim
that Peter was the first bishop of Rome. They quote the text, “The church that is in Babylon
saluteth thee” that church, they say, being the church in Rome. Therefore, Rome is Babylon.
Beside, the whole of the eighteenth chapter gives such a description as can only apply to her, and
she must, and shall, come to her end.
Rev_18:21-24. And 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. And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard
no more at all in thee; and no craftsmen 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, And 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. And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that
were slain upon the earth.
10. PULPIT, “"No more."
Six times over does this word recur, and always concerning the same fact. That fact, therefore,
must be notable, and is intended to be noticed by us. Of what, then, is it thus repeatedly said, it is
"no more"? A glance at this chapter shows that "the great city Babylon" is spoken of, and that
accursed city meant heathen Rome to the mind of St. John. But full well we know that even when
Rome pagan gave way to Rome papal, evil and sin, bloody persecution and cruel wrong, did not
disappear. Therefore we take Babylon to mean far more than any Rome, or any city that is or has
been on the face of the earth; we take it as telling of the whole kingdom of evil—that mighty
empire, that hoary sinner against God and man. Though St. John meant Rome, his words tell of
far more than Rome. And we, coming so far further down in the world's history, are able and glad
to read in them this fuller meaning which we believe to have been in the Divine mind, though not
in that of his servant. Let Babylon stand, then, for the city where Satan's seat is—the whole
kingdom and dominion of the devil, and let us listen to the six times repeated stroke of the word
"no more," which in our text and two following verses may be heard. The city is to be "no more,"
and her music "no more," and her trade "no more," and her food supplies "no more," and her lamp
lit feasts "no more," and her marriage festivals "no more." Thus, by the utter desolation of a great
city, such as that which came on Babylon, is set forth the fact of the final and complete overthrow
of that kingdom of evil of which Babylon was the ancient type, and Rome, in St. John's day, the
embodiment. Such utter overthrow is—
I. SIGNIFIED BY SYMBOL. See the mighty angel lifting aloft the huge and ponderous millstone
and then hurling it, with all his force, into the depths of the sea. There, buried out of sight, sunk
down into the bed of ocean, it shall never more be seen. Such is the symbol. One that seemed
little likely of fulfilment when it was given, and even now, oftentimes, seems as if it never would be
fulfilled.
II. VERIFIED BY FACT. Babylon had fallen, in spite of all its greatness, and heathen Rome was
hastening to her fall. And other such Babylons have risen, and wrought their evil, and rioted in
their sin, and, like her, have fallen. Therefore we may he assured that the last and greatest of
them all will also one day be "no more."
III. LONGED FOR BY THE OPPRESSED. "How long, O Lord, how long, dost thou not avenge?"—

84. such has been the cry of the oppressed for weary ages. "Thy kingdom come," is the cry we put up
day by day.
IV. PROMISED IN THE GOSPEL. "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me," said Jesus, "because he
hath anointed me to preach glad tidings to the poor," etc. (Luk_4:1-44.). And this is the gospel,
that the kingdom of evil shall be "no more." It is present with us now, we know, in all its forms. But
it is not always so to be. Ere the glad tidings were proclaimed, good men, sore perplexed and
troubled, pondered much and sadly over the mystery of evil. They could not understand how God
could let it be. Nor do we fully understand even now. But this much we know, that it is but for a
time. And faith is able to grasp the promise of the gospel, and to "rest in the Lord, and wait
patiently for him."
V. REJOICED IN BY SAINTS. The joy of all heaven because of this overthrow of evil is told of in
the next chapter. Their Alleluias ascend unceasingly, for that God hath judged the accursed city
and established his own reign.
VI. CREDIBLE TO REASON. The evidence for the Divine existence and the Divine character—as
holy, just, wise, and good—becomes more convincing the more it is considered, notwithstanding
the existence of a kingdom of evil. Doubtless that kingdom is a great stumbling block to both
reason and faith, but it is not an insurmountable one. But were it not for the truth we are
considering now, that all this accursed rule of evil shall one day be "no more," we do not see how
faith in God could live. For that faith necessitates as its corollary that evil should terminate and be
"no more." Reason reiterates her conviction that if God be, evil must one day be "no more."
VII. ACCOMPLISHED BY CHRIST. "For this purpose the Son of God was manifested." "I saw," he
says, "Satan as lightning fall from heaven." "The prince of this world is judged." There was that,
however imperfectly we may understand it, in the life, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus
Christ, which effected the virtual overthrow of evil. Satan received his death stroke; he is no longer
what he was. We know and confess that in some aspects of life it seems very hard to believe this.
But when we consider what the power of our blessed Lord and Master has already done; how the
might of his meekness, the love of his sacrifice, the attraction of his cross, have already subdued
so many hearts and triumphed over so many foes,—then faith revives, and we can believe that,
as he said, "the prince of this world is judged." Lord, we believe; but help our unbelief.—S.C.
22 The music of harpists and musicians, pipers
and trumpeters,
will never be heard in you again.
o worker of any trade
will ever be found in you again.
The sound of a millstone
will never be heard in you again.
1.BARNES, “And the voice of harpers - Those who play on the harp. This was usually
accompanied with singing. The idea, in this verse and the following, is substantially the same as in
the previous parts of the chapter, that the mystical Babylon - papal Rome - would be brought to

85. utter desolation. This thought is here exhibited under another form - that all which constituted
festivity, joy, and amusement, and all that indicated thrift and prosperity, would disappear. Of
course, in a great and “fun” city, there would be all kinds of music; and when it is said that this
would be heard there no more it is a most striking image of utter desolation.
And musicians - Musicians in general; but perhaps here singers, as distinguished from those who
played on instruments.
And of pipers - Those who played on pipes or flutes. See the 1Co_14:7 note; Mat_11:17 note.
And trumpeters - Trumpets were common instruments of music, employed on festival occasions,
in war, and in worship. Only the principal instruments of music are mentioned here, as
representatives of the rest. The general idea is, that the sound of music, as an indication of
festivity and joy, would cease.
Shall be heard no more at all in thee - It would become utterly and permanently desolate.
And no craftsman, of whatsoever craft - That is, artificers of all kinds would cease to ply their
trades there. The word used here - te???´t?? technite‾s - would include all artisans or
mechanics, all who were engaged in any kind of trade or craft. The meaning here is, that all these
would disappear, an image, of course, of utter decay.
And the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more - Taylor (Frag. to Calmet, Dictionary vol. iv.
p. 346) supposes that this may refer not so much to the rattle of the mill as to the voice of singing,
which usually accompanied grinding. The sound of a mill is cheerful, and indicates prosperity; its
ceasing is an image of decline.
2. CLARKE, “The voice of harpers, etc. - This seems to indicate not only a total destruction of
influence, etc., but also of being. It seems as if this city was to be swallowed up by an earthquake,
or burnt up by fire from heaven.
3. GILL, “And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers and trumpeters,.... Which were
for mirth, delight, and pleasure:
shall be heard no more at all in thee: the words seem to be taken from Isa_24:8 and may not only
regard the loss of every thing that was delightful and pleasant to the ear in private houses, at
festivals, and nuptials, and the like, but the ceasing of church music; there will be no more bells,
nor organs, or any other instruments of music; no more chanters, and sub-chanters, choristers,
singing men and boys:
and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be shall be, found any more in thee; which are very
useful and necessary in cities and societies; it is threatened to Judah, that the cunning artificer
should be taken from her, Isa_3:3 and it is reckoned as a considerable part of the distress of the
captivity that the carpenters and smiths were away from Jerusalem, Jer_24:1 and this judgment
may fall on Rome for her worshipping idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, the works of
men's hands, artificers and craftsmen, and who are employed in making other trinkets and wares
for antichrist:
and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee; to grind corn with, see Jer_
25:10 there will be a famine at the time that Rome is besieged, Rev_18:8 and after it is destroyed,
there will be no corn to grind, nor inhabitants to eat it, and so no use of the millstone; this is said in
opposition to her luxurious and delicious living, Rev_18:3 and this may also refer to feasts and
rich entertainments, for which spices were ground and prepared by an hand mill (m) in the house;
and so may signify here that there would be no more of such entertainments and rich living; with
which sense agrees what follows. This clause is wanting in the Syriac and Ethiopic versions.
4. ELLICOTT, “(22, 23) And the voice of harpers . . .—Better, the sound, . . The sounds of mirth
and triumph, &c., cease: the sound of harpers, and musicians, and flute-players, and trumpeters,
shall not be heard in thee ANY MORE: the power of wealth has gone; her own right hand has
forgotten her cunning: every craftsman of every craft shall not be found in thee ANY MORE: the
sound of grinding the corn is at an end: the sound of millstone shall not be heard in thee ANY
MORE: the cheerful lamps of home and feast are extinguished: light of lamp shall not shine in

86. thee ANY MORE: the sounds of domestic joy are silenced: voice of bridegroom and of bride shall
not be heard in thee ANY MORE. The words are an echo of earlier prophecy: “I destroy from them
the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the VOICE OF THE bridegroom and the voice of the
bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle.” It was thus Jeremiah warned
Jerusalem of her coming doom (Jeremiah 25:10). Now the same judgments are
PRONOUNCEDagainst the foe of the true Jerusalem.
5. JAMISON, “pipers — flute players. “Musicians,” painters and sculptors, have desecrated their
art to lend fascination to the sensuous worship of corrupt Christendom.
craftsman — artisan.
6. PULPIT, “And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be
heard no more at all in thee; harpers and minstrels and flute players, etc. (Revised Version). Cf.
the description of the desolation of Tyre in Eze_26:13and Isa_24:8. And no craftsman, of
whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee. "Every craft" is omitted in à , A. (On the
last phrase, see on Isa_24:21.) And the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in
thee.This passage, together with the following verse, is founded on Jer_25:10.
23 The light of a lamp
will never shine in you again.
The voice of bridegroom and bride
will never be heard in you again.
Your merchants were the world’s important
people.
By your magic spell all the nations were led
astray.
1.BARNES, “And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee - Another image of
desolation, as if every light were put out, and there were total darkness.
And the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee - The merry
and cheerful voice of the marriage procession in the streets (notes on Mat_25:1-7), or the
cheerful, glad voice of the newly-married couple in their own dwelling (notes on Joh_3:29).
For thy merchants were the great men of the earth - Those who dealt with thee were the rich, and
among them were even nobles and princes; and now that they trade with thee no more there is
occasion for lamentation and sorrow. The contrast is great between the time when distinguished
foreigners crowded thy marts, and now, when none of any kind come to traffic with thee. The
origin of this representation is probably the description of Tyre in Ezek. 27.
For by thy sorceries were all nations deceived - This is stated as a reason for the ruin that had
come upon her. It is a common representation of papal Rome that she has deceived or deluded
the nations of the earth (see the notes on Rev_13:14), and no representation ever made accords
more with facts as they have occurred. The word “sorceries” here refers to the various arts the
tricks impostures, and false pretences by which this has been done. See the notes on Rev_9:21.

87. 2. CLARKE, “By thy sorceries - Political arts, state tricks, counterfeit miracles, and deceptive
maneuvers of every kind. This may be spoken of many great cities of the world, which still
continue to flourish!
3. GILL, “And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee,.... Either for common use, or
at feasts, or at marriages, which being kept at night, required candies, lamps, or torches; this
shows that Babylon, or Rome, shall be deprived of everything, even of the least thing that is
comfortable in life; see Jer_25:10 this will be a just punishment upon her for her abuse of this
blessing of life; so where wax candles in great numbers have been burning in the daytime, there
will not be so much as a single candle to give light in the night; and where candles have been
lighted up for the dead, there will not be one for the use of the living:
and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: there will be
no marrying, nor giving in marriage; no procreation of children, or propagation of posterity, in this
place; which denotes the utter extirpation of the inhabitants of it; the phrases are taken from Jer_
7:34 Jer_25:10 and this will be in righteous retaliation for the prohibition of marriage; which God
has instituted, and is honourable, 1Ti_4:2 the reasons of Babylon's destruction follow:
for thy merchants were the great men of the earth: in allusion to the merchants of Tyre, said to be
princes, Isa_23:8 for by trading and dealing in the wares and merchandise of Rome, persons of
mean extract, and of very low circumstances of life, have grown exceeding rich, and have
equalled the princes of the earth; as for instance, Cardinal Wolsey here in England, a butcher's
son at Ipswich; and on the other hand, the princes and great men of the earth have become
Rome's merchants, and have thought it an high honour to get a cardinal's hat, as the Cardinals
Albertus duke of Austria, Bourbon, Pool, and others, mentioned by Brightman:
for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived; meaning her false doctrines, traditions, idolatry,
superstition, and will worship, with which, as another Jezebel, she has bewitched, allured, and
deceived the nations of the empire, and the kings thereof, Rev_18:3.
4. ELLICOTT, “(23) For thy merchants were the great . . .—The judgment does not fall because
the merchants were great: it is the sorcery of the next clause which is the true cause of her fall:
the merchants are those who traded with her, as well as those who dwelt in her: by “her sorceries”
we must understand her artful policy, her attractiveness, and the seductions by which she drew
into the meshes of her worldliness and sin the nations around. “In thy sorcery were all the nations
led astray” (Revelation 13:14).
5. JAMISON, “What a blessed contrast is Rev_22:5, respecting the city of God: “They need no
candle (just as Babylon shall no more have the light of a candle, but for a widely different reason),
for the Lord God giveth them light.”
candle — Translate as Greek, “lamp.”
bridegroom ... bride ... no more ... in thee — Contrast the heavenly city, with its Bridegroom, Bride,
and blessed marriage supper (Rev_19:7, Rev_19:9; Rev_21:2, Rev_21:9; Isa_62:4, Isa_62:5).
thy merchants were — So most of the best authorities read. But A omits the Greek article before
“merchants,” and then translates, “The great men of ... were thy merchants.”
sorceries — Greek, “sorcery.”
6. PULPIT, “And 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; of a lamp (cf. Jer_25:10, "I will
take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the
voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle"). For thy merchants
were the great men of the earth; were the princes. The cause of this overthrow is thus again
stated. It is a repetition of the idea in Rev_18:7, Rev_18:15, Rev_18:19, "I sit a queen;" "The
merchants which were made rich by her;" "That great city, wherein were made rich all that had
ships in the sea" (cf. Isa_23:8, "Whose merchants were princes;" also Eze_27:20-22). For by thy

88. sorceries were all nations deceived. The judgment is the result of the non-repentance of Rev_
9:21.
24 In her was found the blood of prophets and of
God’s holy people,
of all who have been slaughtered on the earth.”
1.BARNES, “And in her - When she came to be destroyed, and her real character was seen.
Was found the blood of prophets - Of the public teachers of the true religion. On the word
“prophets” see the notes on Rev_18:20.
And of saints - Of the holy. See the notes on Rev_18:20.
And of all that were slain upon the earth - So numerous have been the slain, so constant and
bloody have been the persecutions there, that it may be said that all the blood ever shed has been
poured out there. Compare the notes on Mat_23:35. No one can doubt the propriety of this
representation with respect to pagan and papal Rome.
In regard to the general meaning and application of this chapter the following remarks may be
made:
(1) It refers to papal Rome, and is designed to describe the final overthrow of that formidable anti-
Christian power. The whole course of the interpretation of the previous chapters demands such
an application, and the chapter itself naturally suggests it.
(2) If it be asked why so much of this imagery is derived from the condition of a maritime power, or
pertains to commerce, since both Babylon and Rome were at some distance from the sea, and
neither could with propriety be regarded as seaport towns, it may be replied:
(a) That the main idea in the mind of John was that of a rich and magnificent city;
(b) That all the things enumerated were doubtless found, in fact, in both Babylon and Rome;
(c) That though not properly seaport towns, they were situated on rivers that opened into
seas, and were therefore not unfavorably situated for commerce; and,
(d) That, in fact, they traded with all parts of the earth.
The leading idea is that of a great and luxurious city, and this is filled up and decorated with
images of what is commonly found in large commercial towns. We are not, therefore, to look for a
literal application of this, and it is not necessary to attempt to find all these things, in fact, in the
city referred to. Much of the description may be for the mere sake of keeping, or ornament.
(3) If this refers to Rome, as is supposed, then, in accordance with the previous representations, it
shows that the destruction of the papal power is to be complete and final. The image which John
had in his eye as illustrating that was undoubtedly ancient Babylon as prophetically described in
Isa. 13–14, and the destruction of the power here referred to is to be as complete as was the
destruction described there. It would not be absolutely necessary in the fulfillment of this to
suppose that Rome itself is to become a heap of ruins like Babylon, whatever may be true on that
point, but that the papal power, as such, is to be so utterly destroyed that the ruins of desolate
Babylon would properly represent it.
(4) If this interpretation is correct, then the Reformation was in entire accordance with what God
would have his people do, and was demanded by solemn duty to him. Thus, in Rev_18:4, his
people are expressly commanded to “come out of her, that they might not be partakers of her
sins, nor of her plagues.” If it had been the design of the Reformers to perform a work that should
be in all respects a fulfilling of the command of God, they could have done nothing that would
have more literally met the divine requirement. Indeed, the church has never performed a duty
more manifestly in accordance with the divine will, and more indispensable for its own purity,
prosperity, and safety, than the act of separating entirely and forever from papal Rome.
(5) The Reformation was a great movement in human affairs. It was the index of great progress
already reached, and the pledge of still greater. The affairs of the world were at that period placed
on a new footing, and from the period of the Reformation, and just in proportion as the principles

89. of the Reformation are acted on, the destiny of mankind is onward.
(6) The fall of papal Rome, as described in this chapter, will remove one of the last obstructions to
the final triumph of the gospel. In the notes on Rev_16:10-16, we saw that one great hindrance to
the spread of the true religion would be taken away by the decline and fall of the Turkish power. A
still more formidable hindrance will be taken away by the decline and fall of the papal power; for
that power holds more million of the race under its subjection, and with a more consummate art,
and a more powerful spell. The papal influence has been felt, and still is felt, in a considerable part
of the world. It has churches, and schools, and colleges, in almost all lands. It exercises a vast
influence over governments. It has powerful societies organized for the purpose of propagating its
opinions; and it so panders to some of the most powerful passions of our nature, and so converts
to its own purposes all the resources of superstition, as still to retain a mighty, though a waning
hold on the human mind. When this power shall finally cease, anyone can see that perhaps the
most mighty obstruction which has ever been on the earth for a thousand years to the spread of
the gospel will have been removed, and the way will be prepared for the introduction of the long-
hoped-for millennium.
2. CLARKE, “In her was found the blood of prophets, etc. - She was the persecutor and murderer
of prophets and of righteous men.
And of all that were slain upon the earth - This refers to her counsels and influence, exciting other
nations and people to persecute and destroy the real followers of God. There is no city to which all
these things are yet applicable, therefore we may presume that the prophecy remains yet to be
fulfilled.
Bishop Bale, who applies this, as before, to the Romish Church, has, on Rev_18:22, given some
information to the curious antiquary.
“But be certaine,” says he, “and sure, thou myserable Church, that thou shalt no longer enjoy the
commodious pleasures of a free cittye. - The merry noyes of them that play upon harpes, lutes,
and fidels; the sweet voice of musicians that sing with virginals, vials, and chimes; the armony of
them that pipe in recorders, flutes, and drums; and the shirle showt of trumpets, waits, and
shawmes, shall no more be heard in thee to the delight of men. Neyther shall the sweet organs
containing the melodious noyse of all maner of instruments and byrdes be plaied upon, nor the
great belles be rong after that, nor yet the fresh discant, prick-song, counter-point, and faburden
be called for in thee, which art the very sinagog of Sathan. Thy lascivious armonye, and delectable
musique, much provoking the weake hartes of men to meddle in thy abhominable whordom, by
the wantonnes of idolatry in that kinde, shall perish with thee for ever. No cunning artificer, carver,
paynter, nor gilder, embroderer, goldsmith, nor silk-worker; with such other like of what
occupacion soever they be, or have bene to thy commodity, shall never more be found so agayne.
“Copes, cruettes, candelstickes, miters, crosses, sensers, crismatoris, corporasses, and chalices,
which for thy whorishe holines might not somtime be touched, will than for thy sake be abhorred of
all men. Never more shall be builded for marchants of thi livery and mark, palaces, temples,
abbeys, collages, covents, chauntries, fair houses, and horcherds of plesure. The clapping noise
of neyther wyndmil, horsemil, nor watermil, shal any more be heard to the gluttenous feeding of
thy puffed up porklings, for the maintenaunce of thine idle observacions and ceremonies. For thy
mitred marchaunts were sumtimes princes of the earth, whan they reigned in their roialty. Thy
shorn shavelinges were lordes over the multitude whan they held their priestly authority over the
soules and bodies of men. Yea, and with thy privy legerdemain, with thy juggling castes, with thy
craftes and inchauntmentes of thy subtile charmes, were all nacions of the world deceyved.”
This is very plain language, and thus on all hands a monstrous system of superstition and idolatry
was attacked by our Reformers; and with these unfurbished weapons, directed by the Spirit of the
living God, popery was driven from the throne, from the bench, from the universities, and from the
churches of this favored kingdom. And by a proper application of Scripture, and by the universal
diffusion of the word of God, it may be soon driven from the face of the universe. And when the
inventions of men are separated from that Church, and it becomes truly regenerated, (and of this
it is highly capable, as, among its monstrous errors and absurdities, it contains all the essential
truths of God), it will become a praise and a glory in the earth. Protestants wish not its destruction,
but its reformation.
Some there may be, who, in their zeal for truth, would pull the whole edifice to pieces; but this is
not God’s method: he destroys what is evil, and saves what is good. It is reformation, not

90. annihilation, that this Church needs.
3. GILL, “And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints,.... Such as before mentioned,
in Rev_18:20 this is another reason of her destruction, besides her luxury and idolatry, namely,
her shedding the blood of the saints, with which she is said to be drunk, and therefore blood is
now given her to drink, Rev_17:6 for she will now be found guilty of slaying the witnesses, who are
meant by the prophets and saints, that have been from the beginning of the apostasy:
and of all that were slain upon the earth: not only of those that have been slain in the city of Rome,
but of all those that have been slain throughout the empire; they being slain by her order, or with
her consent, and she conniving at it, encouraging it, and therefore will be justly chargeable with it
all; see Mat_23:31 the Ethiopic version adds, "for the name of Christ".
4. ELLICOTT, “(24) And in her was found . . .—It is not by seductiveness only that her guilt is
measured: her hands are defiled with blood: the blood of prophets, who had witnessed against
her: of saints, whose holy lives were a PROTEST against her sins, and so hateful to her; and “of
all who have been slain on the earth.” (Comp. Revelation 17:6, and Note there.) It is not meant
that literally all the blood shed by violence had been shed by Rome, or any other single city of
which Babylon is type: all that is meant is that Babylon, the world city, is founded on those
principles, the logical outcome of which is violence, bloodshed, and hostility to the highest right:
those who die by her hands, few or many, are the evidence that the whole tendency of her power
is against holiness and truth. In the earthly view, we are guilty of the acts we do: in the heavenly
view, we are guilty of all that the spirit and sin of our conduct tends to do. The spirit of
transgression is seen in one act as well as in many, and as it is the attitude of the spirit that God
looks upon, so in a single act may be gathered up the transgression of the whole law. (Comp.
Revelation 17:6, and Note there; see also James 2:10). It is the fatal failure to perceive this which
leads MAN TO make light of sin, and to undervalue the Cross of Christ.
5. JAMISON, “Applied by Christ (Mat_23:35) to apostate Jerusalem, which proves that not merely
the literal city Rome, and the Church of Rome (though the chief representative of the apostasy),
but the WHOLE of the faithless Church of both the Old and New Testament is meant by Babylon
the harlot; just as the whole Church (Old and New Testament) is meant by “the woman” (Rev_
12:1). As to literal city, Aringhus in Bengel says, Pagan Rome was the “general shambles” for
slaying the sheep of Jesus. Fred. Seyler in Bengel calculates that papal Rome, between a.d. 1540
and 1580, slew more than nine hundred thousand Protestants. Three reasons for the harlot’s
downfall are given: (1) The worldly greatness of her merchants, which was due to unholy traffic in
spiritual things. (2) Her sorceries, or juggling tricks, in which the false prophet that ministers to the
beast in its last form shall exceed her; compare “sorcerers” (Rev_21:8; Rev_22:15), specially
mentioned among those doomed to the lake of fire. (3) Her persecution of (Old Testament)
“prophets” and (New Testament) “saints.”
6. PULPIT, “And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain
upon the earth. At first sight it seems difficult to understand that these words are spoken not only
of Babylon, but of the faithless portion of the Church, symbolized by the harlot. But we must
remember
(1) that he who is guilty in respect of one commandment, is guilty of the whole Law;
(2) similar words are addressed by Jeremiah to Judah (Jer_2:34): "Also in thy skirts is found the
blood of the souls of the poor innocents" (see on Rev_17:1). Auberlen remarks, "Wherever true,
faithful Christians are neglected and oppressed by the rulers of the Church, from avowed or
secret antipathy to God's truth; where a false theology and science robs youth of its faith; where a
pastor neglects, and keeps at a distance, the true living Christians in his flock, on account of the
signum crucis which they bear; wherever we refuse or are ashamed to bear the reproach of Jesus
Christ, our heavenly Master, even as he bore it, there we commit murder against the saints of
God."

91. Here is concluded the pronouncement of the judgment of Babylon; which may be said to answer
the prayer in Rev_6:10; and which forms the conclusion of the revelation commencing at Rev_
17:1-18.
WILLIAM KELLY
Revelation Chapter 18
Chapter 18 need not delay us long. It is not. the warning beforehand, as in Rev. 14, announcing
Babylon's fall before the fact; nor is it its exact place as the last of the Bowls of God's wrath; nor
yet as in Rev.17 the relation of Babylon to the Beast and the kings of the earth in contrast with the
Bride's to the Lamb and the millennial kings as in Rev. 21. It is the catastrophe viewed as come,
with a preceding call to God's people, and consequent on her ruin the lamentations of all from
kings to seamen over her who had contributed to their pleasure and earthly greed. But there is a
call for the joy of heaven, and of saints, apostles, and prophets, that God has judged her, the
shameless deceiver and prostitute.
Thus runs the introduction. "And after these things I saw another angel descending out of the
heaven, having great authority: and the earth was lightened with his glory, and he cried, saying,
Fallen, fallen, is Babylon the great, and become a habitation of demons, and a hold of every
unclean spirit, and a hold of every unclean and hated bird; because of the wine of the fury* of her
fornication all the nations have drunk, and the kings of the earth committed fornication with her,
and the merchants of the earth grew rich by the might of her luxury. And I heard another voice out
of heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye have no fellowship with her sins, and that
ye receive not of her strokes; for her sins reached up to the heaven, and God remembered her
unrighteousnesses. Award her, even as she awarded, and double to her double according to her
works: in the cup which she mixed, mix to her double. How much she glorified herself and lived
luxuriously, so much give her torment and grief: because she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and
I am no widow, and in no wise shall I see grief. For this reason in one day shall come her strokes,
death, and grief, and famine; and she shall be burnt with fire; for strong [is] the Lord God that
judgeth her."
* "Poison" has been suggested by pious and learned men. But it is better rendered
homogeneously with what is said elsewhere. we cannot apply "poison" to God's wrath, but we may
with many scriptures employ "fury" to mark His extreme indignation, and Babylon's excessive
deception and unbridled iniquity.
It is a description, as we readily see, not of the corrupt woman's relation to the Beast but of the
city's fall, with certain dirges put into the month of the different classes that groan because of her
extinction here below. But along with that, God warns of her total ruin, and calls on His people
(verse 4) to come out of her. "Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins,
and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins reached up to the heaven, and God
remembered her unrighteousnesses." Then the word is, "Award her even as she awarded you,
and double to her double according to her works: in the cup which she mixed, mix to her double.
How much she glorified herself and lived luxuriously, so much give her torment and grief: for she
saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and I am no widow, and I shall in no wise see grief."
Babylon is viewed in this chapter not so much in her mysterious and religious form, giving
currency to every kind of confusion of truth and error, of good and evil, intoxicating, corrupting,
and seducing, as all can see, through her wickedly ecclesiastical influence; she is regarded here
as the most conspicuous aider and abettor of the world in its luxuries and delicacies and the pride
of life, or what men call "civilisation."
This is accordingly traced in our chapter with considerable detail, and unto the sorrow and
vexation of all the different classes who on the fall of Babylon groaned over her destruction, and
the loss of their wealth and enjoyment, or their occupation.
"And the kings of the earth, that committed fornication with her and lived luxuriously, shall weep

92. and wail over her, when they behold the smoke of her burning, standing afar off for the fear of her
torment, saying, Woe, woe, the great city Babylon, the strong city, because in one hour came thy
judgment. And the merchants of the earth weep and grieve over her, because no one buyeth their
lading any more, lading of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and pearls, and fine linen, and
purple, and silk, and scarlet; and all thyine wood, and every vessel of ivory, and every vessel of
precious wood; and of brass, and of iron, and of marble; and cinnamon, and spice, and incense."
Nor are these by any means all. "And unguent, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour,
and wheat, and cattle and sheep, and of horses and chariots, and of bodies, and souls of men.
And the ripe fruits thy soul desired are departed from thee, and all the fair and bright things are
perished from thee, and they shall find them no more at all. The merchants of these things, who
were enriched by her, shall stand afar off for fear of her torment, weeping, and grieving, saying,
Woe, woe, the great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with
gold, and precious stones, and pearls, for in one hour so great wealth was desolated. And every
steersman, and every one sailing to a place, and sailors, and as many as ply their work on the sea
stood afar off, and kept crying as they beheld the smoke of her burning, saying, What [city] is like
the great city 7 And they cast dust upon their heads, and kept crying, weeping, and grieving,
saying, Woe, woe, the great city in which all that had ships in the sea were enriched by her
costliness; for in one hour was she desolated. Rejoice over her, heaven, and ye saints and ye
apostles and ye prophets; for God judged your judgment upon her."
Yet is it a profound error to infer from the divine denunciation of her far-reaching and malignant
influence as the centre, and factor, and patron of the world's luxury, that so vast an impulse to
commerce is Babylon's worst virus. That she, proclaiming herself the church, should thus play the
harlot instead of being a chaste virgin for Christ, is no doubt monstrously false and evil. But to
combine idolatry with the Lord's name is viler still and unpardonable before God; to which must be
added her implacable and deadly hatred of all that truly bear witness to God and His Anointed.
But the graphic account does not end until the Spirit of God shows us another figure of Babylon's
downfall. "And a strong angel took up a stone as a great millstone, and cast [it] into the sea,
saying, Thus with violence shall be cast down Babylon the great city, and shall be found no more
at all; and voice of harp-singers and musicians and flute-players and trumpeters shall be heard no
more at all in thee; and no artificer of any art shall be found any more at all in thee; and voice of
millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee; and light of lamp shall shine no more at all in thee;
and voice of bridegroom and bride shall be heard no more at all in thee; because thy merchants
were the grandees of the earth, because by thy sorcery all the nations were deceived. kind in her
was found blood[s] of prophets and saints, and of all that were slain on the earth." The reason is
given at the close; not only "for by thy witchcraft were all the nations deceived," but above all "and
in her was found blood of prophets and saints, and of all that were slain on the earth."
What a solemn and weighty fact in the government of God! How can it be said that this vile,
corrupt, idolatrous system of the last days was guilty of the blood of all the martyrs? She followed
and had inherited the spirit of all, from the days of Cain, who had lifted up their hands against their
righteous brethren. Instead of taking warning from the wickedness of those before her, who had
seduced on the one hand and persecuted on the other, she had, when she could, gone on
increasing in both, until at last the blow of divine judgment came. It is thus that God is wont to deal
as a rule in His judgments, not necessarily on the one that first introduces an evil, but on those
that inherit the guilt and perhaps aggravate it, instead of being warned by it. When God does
judge, it is not merely for the evil fruits of those then judged but for all from its first budding till that
day. Far from being unrighteous, this is, on the contrary, the highest justice from a divine point of
view in public government.
We may illustrate it by the members of a family, and suppose, for instance, a drunken father. If
the sons had a spark of right feeling, not only must they feel the utmost shame and pain on
account of their parent, but they would endeavour (like the two sons of Noah, who had a due
sense of what was proper) to cast some mantle of love over that which they could not deny, yet
would not look at; but surely above all things they would watch against that shameful sin Alas!
there is a son in the family, who, instead of being admonished by his father's sin, tales licence
from it to indulge in the same. On him the blow falls, not on the unhappy parent The son is doubly

93. guilty, because he saw his father's nakedness, yet felt it not enough to turn away in silent sorrow.
He ought to have felt the shame as holily hating the sin itself, yet withal in deep compassion for
his parent But far from this, the unwitting exposure he wilfully exposed in mockery, not in grief.
Then and thus is guilt aggravated in the case of his wicked son.
It is a similar case here. Babylon had once heard the varied testimony of God; for what had she
not heard of truth? The gospel had been preached at Rome, as she of Chaldea had heard of law
and prophet. The Roman Babylon too must hear the final testimony of God, the gospel of the
kingdom that is to go forth in the last days; but she loves earthly pleasure and power, and refuses
truth in any measure. She despises everything really divine; she will only use whatever of God's
word she can pervert for increasing her own importance, and gaining a greater ascendancy over
the consciences of men, whilst enjoying herself more luxuriously in the present life. For it is here
to obliterate all remembrance of heaven, and to make this world such a paradise as suits her,
which she embellishes, not with pure and undefiled religion, but with the arts of men, the idolatries
of the world, and the snares of Satan.
This it is which will bring out the indignant judgment of God upon the last phase of Babylon, so
that the guilt of all blood of holy ones shed on the earth shall be imputed to her, and she may be
judged accordingly. It does not hinder, of course, that in the judgment of the dead each man is
judged for his own sin. This remains true. The day of the Lord on the world in no way sets aside
His dealing with souls individually for eternity. The judgment of the dead is strictly individual
judgments in this world are not. His blows on the quick come more nationally as on Israel;
incomparably more severe, as in possession of greater privileges, is the judgment of corrupt
Christendom, or Babylon here so called. But according to His principle of government it is not
merely personal guilt, but that which, from despising the testimony of God, thus morally
accumulates from age to age in the ratio of the testimony of God and of men's wickedness
indulged in spite of it. All Israel too shall be saved (Rom_11:26) as a people, and for the glory of
Jehovah on the earth. But there is neither restoration nor mercy for Babylon, but unmitigated
destruction, extinction at length through God's indignant judgment.
Footnotes:
a. Revelation 18:2 Isaiah 21:9
b. Revelation 18:4 Jer. 51:45
c. Revelation 18:7 See Isaiah 47:7,8.
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.
®Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.