Revelation 18

Good riddance, Babylon

Babylon Has Fallen

1Then I saw one of the leading angels—someone with a lot of authority—come down from heaven. His awesome presence lit up the earth. It glowed. 2He spoke in a loud and commanding voice,

“Babylon [1] has fallen! The great city is gone!
Good riddance. She was home to demons
and a place of business for every evil spirit
and for every dirty bird and repulsive beast not fit to eat. [2]
3Countries all over the world drank her wine of immorality.
Kings of the world played by her perverted rules.
Business people did too. They got rich in the process
by exploiting her insatiable desire for luxury.”

Get Out of Town

4I heard another voice from heaven.

“Get out of town, people.
Don’t get sucked into her sins
and suffer the same consequences she’ll face.
5Her sins in a pile, piled high in the sky.
God remembers her crimes.
6Give her a taste of the payback she gave others.
Twice as much.
Serve it up in the same cup she served to others.
Make it a double.
7As much as she lived it up in luxury,
give her an equal encounter with suffering and grief.
After all, she’s the one who said ‘I’m the queen.
I’m no widow in mourning—and never will be.’
8Because she said this, disaster will come in a single day.
Death. Grief. Drought.
She’s going to flame up and burn.
The mighty Lord God said so in the judgment he made.”

Kings Watch the City Burn

9Kings who got down and dirty with her—and rich along the way—are going to cry and scream when they see her burning beneath the smoke. 10They’ll stand far away, horrified by the suffering they’ll witness. They’ll scream,

“Oh no! It can’t be!
This was a great city! Babylon! It was a powerful city!
And in a single moment, it’s gone! Judgment Day!”

International Business Takes a Hit

11Business people will cry. They’ll mourn her death and their loss. No one’s left to buy their products: 12gold, silver, precious stones, pearls, exquisite linen of purple and scarlet, furnishings made from citron [3] wood, anything made of ivory or expensive wood, bronze, iron, marble, 13cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, frankincense, wine, olive oil, finely milled flour, wheat, cattle, sheep, horses, chariots, and slaves in a herd of human livestock. 14The business people will say,

“Everything you coveted is gone,
every extravagance, from dainty to huge.
Gone forever.”

15Business people who got rich by selling her everything she craved will stand far away from her, horrified at the suffering they see. 16They’ll cry,

“Oh no! It can’t be! This was a great city.
She dressed in the finest linen
of the most expensive colors, purple and scarlet.
She shimmered in the lights of her gold, pearls, and jewels.

Ships Sail Past Her Ruins

“In one fleeting moment, a single hour,
extravagant wealth crashes to zero.”

Ships at sea—with their captains, crews, and passengers—sail past her, looking on from a distance. 18From a distance they watch the smoke rise above her flames, and they cry, “What a city she was.” 19They throw dirt in the air to rain back down on them, in a ritual of grief. They weep and mourn. They cry out,

“Oh no! It can’t be! This was a great city.
Ships who made port there sailed away rich,
hulls loaded with a wedge of her wealth.
In one short moment, a single hour,
she’s brought down, destroyed.
20Go ahead and celebrate,
all of you in heaven, apostles, prophets,
and God’s devoted people.
God has judged her and found her guilty
because of what she did to you.”

21Then I saw a powerful angel pick up a heavy stone, the size of a millstone used to grind grain into flour. He threw it into the sea and said,

“That’s what’s going to happen to Babylon.
She’s going down, violently.
She won’t be coming back.
Not ever.
22Her musicians will play nothing forever.
No sound of harps, flutes, or trumpets.
Artisans gone too.
No sounds of the mill crunching grain.
Not ever.
23Her lamplight will never shine again.
Happy voices of brides and grooms, gone.
You’ll never hear them again.
Your business people were savviest on earth.
Your enchantments lured people from all over the world.
24She has blood on her hands.
Blood of prophets,
blood of God’s devoted ones,
and blood of people all over the world.”

Footnotes

Intro Notes for Revelation

118:2

“Babylon” became a code name for Rome after Rome leveled Jerusalem in AD 70. The Babylonian Empire had done the same thing in 586 BC. The Roman Empire’s former capital city of Rome (Ravenna had replaced it as the capital in AD 401) fell for the first time in AD 410. Visigoth invaders from what is now Germany and neighboring countries spent three days pillaging the city, which had been left undefended. Leader of the invaders, Alaric, born in what is now Romania, had fought with the Romans and knew their tactics.

218:2

More literally, “every unclean bird,” “every unclean and detestable beast.” These refer to animals that Jews weren’t allowed to eat or to sacrifice. The animals were not kosher. Apparently, they symbolized people who weren’t particularly kosher, either—a poor excuse of a human being and unfit to stand before God.

318:12

More commonly known today as Thyine. Botanical name: Tetraclinis articulata. Romans often preferred furniture made from this wood, much like some folks today prefer furniture made by old-school Amish techniques.

Discussion Questions

1
Why do you think Jews might have nicknamed Rome as “Babylon”? We don’t know for certain, so feel free to guess—like the pros do. Not all scholars agree that Babylon refers to Rome. Some say it sometimes refers to Jerusalem, the Holy City that occasionally doubled as Sin City.
2
Many scholars say “Babylon” in Revelation usually refers to Rome, the city that controlled the Mediterranean world. In what ways do you think the Roman Empire fits the description of Babylon in Revelation 18:2-3?
3
Imagine your country overrun and burned out the way Revelation describes the fall of Babylon in Revelation 18. Read how and why people of the world mourned Babylon. If your country fell, how and why would the world mourn as they did in Revelation 18:11-19? How might they revise the lyrics of the song they’d sing?
4
Do people generally seem to think it’s okay to celebrate when the hammer comes down on a bad guy? One of Revelation’s songs seems to say so.

“Go ahead and celebrate,
all of you in heaven, apostles, prophets,
and God’s devoted people.
God has judged her [Babylon] and found her guilty

because of what she did to you” (Revelation 18:20).
5
Consider this prophecy:

“Her musicians will play nothing forever.
No sound of harps, flutes, or trumpets” (Revelation 18:22).

With America fallen, what would survivors do with these lyrics? Would the music die?

“Oh, beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea.” (“America the Beautiful,” Katherine Lee Bates)

What do you think it will take to keep your country alive and well in this age of hatred and of weaponry that uses nukes, lasers, railguns, drones, along with chemical and biological toxins? And let’s not forget computer hackers, which some call cyber terrorists.
6
LIFE APPLICATION. How do you think some cities or nations today fit the description of Babylon in Revelation 18:2-3?