Revelation 18 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Time Period
~AD 95, near the end of the emperor Domitian's reign
Location
Written from Patmos, with the vision looking at Rome and the Mediterranean trade routes that fed it
Audience
Seven Christian congregations in the Roman province of Asia, some of whom made their living inside that trade system
Situation
An angel announces that Babylon the great has fallen, and kings, merchants, and sea captains stand at a distance mourning as the city burns. A voice calls God's people to come out of her so they do not share her punishments.
Key Background
The cargo list, including gold, silk, ivory, spices, and finally slaves described as human bodies and souls, is a fairly accurate inventory of what actually shipped into the port of Ostia to supply Rome. Prophets before John wrote funeral songs over Tyre and over the original Babylon, and this chapter follows that established literary form of mourning a doomed city while it still stands. Guilds and trade associations in cities like Ephesus and Thyatira held banquets in honour of patron gods and the emperor, so a call to come out of the city's economy carried a real cost in lost livelihood.
After this I saw another coming down from heaven with great and the earth was lit up by his brilliance.
He called out in a powerful voice: "Fallen! The great has fallen! She has become a hideout for a prison for every corrupt spirit, a cage for every disgusting and despised bird."
Because every nation has gotten drunk on the of and the kings of the earth have been with and the merchants of the earth got rich off
Then I heard another voice from heaven say: "Get out of her, my people, so you don't share in her and so you don't receive any of her
Because her failures have up all the to and God has remembered her
Give her back exactly what she gave out. Pay her back double for what she has done. In the she drinks for others, mix her a double.
Whatever and luxury she gave herself, give her that much torment and grief. Because she tells herself, 'I as a I am not a widow. I will never see grief.'
Because of this, her plagues will hit in a single day — death, grief, and famine — and she will be completely burned up with fire. Because the who judges her is
The kings of the earth who slept with and will cry and their over when they see the smoke of burning.
Standing far off because they are terrified of her torment, they say: 'How how you great city! Babylon, you powerful city! Your came in a single hour!'
And the of the earth cry and grieve over her, because no one buys their anymore —
cargo of gold, silver, jewels, and pearls; fine linen, silk, and all kinds of fragrant wood, every sort of ivory item, every kind of product made from expensive wood, bronze, iron, and marble;
cinnamon, spice, incense, perfume, and wine, olive oil, fine flour, and wheat; cattle, sheep, horses, and chariots; and — that is,
"The has gone from you. All luxury and splendor have vanished, and they will never be found again."
The merchants who sold these things, who got rich from her, will stand far off because they are terrified of her torment, crying and grieving,
saying: 'How terrible, how terrible, you great city! You who in and and decorated yourself with gold, jewels, and pearls!
Because in a single hour, all that wealth was out!' And every ship captain, every passenger, the sailors, and everyone who makes a living from the sea stood far off
and cried out as they watched the of 'What city was ever like this great city?'
They on their and cried out, weeping and grieving: 'How terrible, how terrible, you great city, where everyone with ships on the sea got rich from her wealth! Because in a single hour she has been wiped out!'
Celebrate over heaven! Celebrate, and you and prophets! Because God has on for how she you."
Then a powerful angel picked up a boulder the size of a huge and hurled it into the sea, saying: "This is how the great city Babylon will be down and never found again."
The sound of playing harps and flutes and trumpets will never be heard in you again. No skilled worker of any trade will ever be found in you again. The sound of a millstone grinding will never be heard in you again.
The light of a lamp will never shine in you again. The voices of a and will never be heard in you again. Your merchants were the most powerful people on earth, and all the nations were deceived by your
And in her was found the of prophets and of and of all who have been on the earth."