18
“Fallen! Fallen Is Babylon the Great!”
1 After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven. He possessed great authority, and the earth was brightened by the glory that was coming from him.
2 He shouted with a powerful voice:
“Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great!
She has become a home for demons
and a haunt for every kind of unclean spirit,
and a haunt for every kind of filthy bird,
and a haunt for every kind of foul and detestable animal.
3 For all the nations have drunk the very wine of God’s wrath,
poured out because of her immorality.
Indulging in immorality with her were the kings of the earth;
and the merchants of the earth—it was by her excessive luxury that they grew rich.”
4 Then I heard another voice from heaven say,
“Come out of her, my people,
so that you don’t take part in the sinful things she does,
and in the plagues to be poured out on her do not share!
5 For her sins have piled up all the way to heaven,
and God has remembered her evil deeds.
6 ᵖYou are to do to her precisely as she herself has done to others;
pay her back twice as much according to her deeds.
In the same cup of terror that she poured out on others,
make the wine to be poured out on her twice as strong.
7 To the degree that she exalted herself and lived in luxury,
give her, in equal amount, torment and mourning.
For in her heart she boasts, ‘I sit enthroned as queen!
A widow I am not, and mourning I will never know.’
8 For this reason the plagues to be poured out on her will arrive suddenly, in a single day,
deadly disease and mourning and famine,
and it is with fire that she will be razed to the ground.
For mighty is the Lord God who judges her.”
9 The kings of the earth, who had indulged with her in immorality and lived in luxury, will weep and beat their chests in mourning over her when they see the smoke rising from the fire consuming her.
10 Terrified at the torment being inflicted on her, they will stand at a distance and say,
“Oh, the calamity! Alas! The great city, Babylon, the mighty city!
How suddenly ˢyour punishment has come!”
11 The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her, because their cargoes no one buys anymore—
12 cargoes of gold and silver and precious stones and pearls; of fine linen and purple cloth and silk and scarlet cloth; of every kind of scented wood and all kinds of things made of ivory, expensive wood, bronze, iron, and marble;
13 cinnamon and spice and incense and myrrh and frankincense, wine and olive oil and fine flour and wheat and cattle and sheep; of horses and carriages and slaves, and prisoners of war.
14 (The good things ˢyou craved have forsaken you;
all your luxury and splendor have disappeared,
never to be recovered.)
15 The merchants who had sold these things and had grown rich from doing business with her will stand at a distance because they are terrified of the torment being inflicted on her, weeping and mourning and
16 crying out,
“Oh, the calamity! Alas! The great city!
She was dressed in fine linen and purple and scarlet,
and adorned with gold jewelry and precious stones and pearls!
17 How suddenly such magnificent wealth has been destroyed!”
All the sea captains and all the sea travelers and sailors and everyone else who earned a living from the sea, too, stood at a distance.18 When they saw the smoke rising from the fire consuming her, they began to cry out, “Has there ever been a city that compares to this great city?”
19 They threw dust on their heads in grief and kept wailing, crying out as they wept and mourned:
“Oh, the calamity! Alas! The great city!
All the seafaring traders grew rich from her affluence!
How suddenly she has been turned into a desolate ruin!”
20 (Celebrate her downfall, O heaven,
and you holy ones and apostles and prophets,
because God has vindicated ᵖyou
by repaying her for what she did to you.)
21 Then a powerful angel picked up a stone the size of a large millstone and hurled it into the sea, declaring,
“It is with this kind of sudden violence that Babylon, the great city,
will be thrown down, never to recover!
22 The music of harpists and musicians and flute players and trumpeters
will never be heard in you again!
No craftsman of any trade
will ever be found in you again!
The sound of millstones grinding grain
will never be heard in you again!
23 The light of a lamp
will never shine in you again!
The voices of a bridegroom and bride
will never be heard in you again!
For your merchants were the most powerful people in all the earth,
and it was by your spells and potions
that all the nations were deceived.
24 On her hands was the blood of prophets and holy ones,
and of all the others who had been killed on the earth.”