Babylon is Fallen

After these things I saw

another angel coming down from heaven

armed with great authority.

The earth was illumined with his splendor,

and with a might voice he cried out, saying,

“Fallen, fallen is Babylon

the great,

She has become the haunt of demons

And the abode of every kind of foul spirit

And every kind of foul and hateful bird.

For all the nations have drunk

of the wrath-provoking wine of her fornication,

And the kings of the earth have committed fornication

with her,

And the merchants of the earth have

grown rich through her excessive wantonness.”

Then I heard another voice from heaven, which said,

“Come out of her, My people,

That you may not become partakers in her sins,

Nor receive a share of her plagues.

For her sins are piled up to the sky,

And God has called her misdeeds to mind.

Give back to her as she has given;

Render unto her double for all her crimes;

In the bowl that she has mixed,

mix twice as much for her.

As she has exulted and reveled in wantonness,

Pay back to her an equal measure of torment and woe.

For in her heart she boasts, saying,

“I sit enthroned as Queen:

No widow am I; I shall never know sorrow”

For this reason calamities shall come thick upon her

on a

single day

Death and sorrow and famine--

And she shall be burned to the ground.

For strong is the Lord God who has judged her.

The kings of the earth who have committed fornication

and acted wantonly with her

Shall weep aloud and lament over her

When they see the smoke of her burning,

While they stand afar off

because of their terror at her doom,

And say,

‘Alas, alas, thou great city, O Babylon, the mighty city!

For in

one short hour

thy doom has come!’

And the merchants of the earth

weep aloud and lament over her,

Because now there is no sale for their cargoes--

Cargoes of gold and silver,

Of jewels and pearls,

Of fine linen, purple, and silk, and of scarlet stuff;

All kinds of rare woods, and all kinds of ivory goods

And articles of costly wood,

Of bronze, steel, and marble.

Also cinnamon and balsam;

Odors to burn as incense or for perfume;

Frankincense, wine, oil

Fine flour, wheat, cattle, and sheep;

Horses and carriages and slaves;

And the lives of men.

The dainties that thy soul longed for are gone from thee,

And all thine elegance and splendor have perished,

And never again shall they be found.

Those who traded in these things,

who grew wealthy through her,

Will stand afar off, through terror at her doom,

Weeping and wailing, and saying,

‘Alas, alas, for this great city,

Which was brilliantly arrayed in fine linen,

and purple and scarlet stuff,

And richly adorned with gold, jewels, and pearls;

Because in

one short hour

all this great wealth has been swept away.’

And every shipmaster and every passenger by sea

And the crews and al who ply their trade on the sea

Stood afar off, and cried aloud

When they saw the smoke of her burning. And they said,

‘What city is like this great city?’

And they threw dust upon their heads,

And cried out, as they wept and wailed,

‘Alas, alas,’ they said, ‘for this great city,

Where all shipowners made rich profit through her wealth;

Because in one short hour she has been laid waste!’

Rejoice over her, O heaven,

And you saints and apostles and prophets;

For

God has taken vengeance upon her because of you

.”

Then a strong angel took a stone like a huge millstone,

and hurled it into the sea, saying:

“So shall Babylon, that great city,

be violently hurled down and never again be found.

No harp or song, no flute or trumpet,

shall ever again be heard in thee;

No craftsman of any kind shall ever again be found in thee;

Nor shall the grinding of the mill ever again be heard in thee.

Never again shall the light of a lamp shine in thee,

and never again shall the voice of a bridegroom

or of a bride be heard in thee.

For they merchants were the great men of the earth,

And with the magic of they spells

all nations were led astray.

And in her was found

the blood of prophets

and of the saints

And of all who had been put to death on the earth.

Revelation 18

The Fall of Babylon the Great

Dirge over Babylon

18:1 After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority and
the earth was illuminated with his glory.

References: Ezekiel 43:2 (And behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east. His voice was like the sound of many
waters; and the earth shone with His glory); Revelation 10:1; 17:1, 7

18:2 And he cried with a loud voice, saying, “Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and has become a
dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird!

City of Sodom an example of Babylon: “This is the iniquity of Sodom: she and her daughter had pride, fullness of

food, and abundance of idleness; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.” Ezekiel 16:49

Is fallen, is fallen – this phrase is here prophetical of her fall, still future (JFB)
What is here portrayed is not merely the doom of an ancient city, but the sure collapse of all human organization,

commercial and otherwise, that leaves God out of its reckoning (Z)

Prison – haunt (NAS)

References: Isaiah 13:19 (And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldeans’ pride, will be as when God overthrew Sodom and
Gomorrah), 21 (But wild beasts of the desert will lie there, and their houses will be full of owls; ostriches will dwell there, and wild goats will caper
there); 21:9 (And look, here comes a chariot of men with a pair of horsemen!” Then he answered and said, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen! And all
the carved images of her gods He has broken to the ground); 34:11 (But the pelican and the porcupine shall possess it, also the owl and the
raven shall dwell in it. And He shall stretch out over it the line of confusion and the stones of emptiness), 13-15 (And thorns shall come up in its
palaces, nettles and brambles in its fortresses; it shall be a habitation of jackals, a courtyard for ostriches. The wild beasts of the desert shall also
meet with the jackals, and the wild goat shall bleat to its companion; also the night creature shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest.
There the arrow snake shall make her nest and lay eggs and hatch, and gather them under her shadow; there also shall the hawks be gathered,
every one with her mate); Jeremiah 51:8 (Babylon has suddenly fallen and been destroyed. Wail for her! Take balm for her pain; perhaps she
may be healed); 50:39 (Therefore the wild desert beasts shall dwell there with the jackals, and the ostriches shall dwell in it. It shall be inhabited
no more forever, nor shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation); 51:37 (Babylon shall become a heap, a dwelling place for jackals, an
astonishment and a hissing, without an inhabitant); Zephaniah 2:14 (The herds shall lie down in her midst, every beast of the nation. Both the
pelican and the bittern shall lodge on the capitals of her pillars; their voice shall sing in the windows; desolation shall be at the threshold; for He
will lay bare the cedar work); Isaiah 47:15 (Thus shall they be to you with whom you have labored, your merchants from your youth; they shall
wander each one to her quarter. No one shall save you); Revelation 14:8; 16:13

18:3 “For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, the kings of the earth
have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the
abundance of her luxury.”

Drunk – have fallen by (NAS)
Abundance – power (NAS)
Businesses and governments are often based on greed, money, and power. Many bright individuals are tempted

to take advantage of an evil system to enrich themselves. Christians are warned to stay free from the enchantment of
money, status, and the ‘good life’. We are to live according to the values Christ lived by: service, giving, self-sacrifice,
obedience, and truth. (LB)

Babylon, the whore, is destroyed before the beast slays the two witnesses (chapter 11) and then the beast himself
is destroyed (JFB)
Luxury – wanton luxury. The reference is not to earthly merchandise, but to spiritual wares, indulgences, idolatries,
superstitions, worldly compromises, wherewith the harlot, i.e., the apostate church, has made merchandise of men. (JFB)
Babylon is presented as a pretentious, worldly, corrupt and domineering city, symbolized as false religion which

deceives the whole world. It describes fallen Babylon as the loathsome state to which she is reduced. (TB)

References: Jeremiah 51:7 (Babylon was a golden cup in the Lord’s hand, that made all the earth drunk. The nations drank her wine;
therefore the nations are deranged); Isaiah 47:15 (Thus shall they be to you with whom you have labored, your merchants from your youth;
they shall wander each one to her quarter. No one shall save you); Ezekiel 27:9-15; 1 Timothy 5:11 (But refuse the younger widows; for when
they have begun to grow wanton against Christ, they desire to marry); Revelation 14:8, 11, 15; 17:2; 18:7, 9, 19, 23

18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you share in
her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues.

What Revelation says Christians are to do about this final Babylon: (DP)

1. Babylon will be a very dangerous place for Christians to stay in because they will be hated by the sinners

there.

They will be the only conscience in the city and the only ones to protest and stand for the things of God.

2. Christians are told to get out and flee from her

3. Christians are told when Babylon falls to sing “Hallelujah”. It will be the end of stocks, money, pensions –

everything is gone.

There may well come a time when Christians will have to disassociate themselves from the increasing secularity of

business and commerce. (DP)

Those that are resolved to partake with wicked men in their sins must receive of their plagues (MH)
State and church are precious gifts of God. But the state being desecrated to a different end from what God

designed

it, viz., to govern for, and as under, God, becomes beastlike; the church apostatizing becomes the

harlot. (JFB)

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 (JB)

The extremity of Babylon’s guilt calls for punishment in full measure. The iniquities with which she filled her cup have

now turned into the wine of the wrath of God. (TB)

References: Isaiah 48:20 (Go forth from Babylon! Flee from the Chaldeans! With a voice of singing, declare, proclaim this, utter it to the end
of the earth; say, “The Lord has redeemed His servant Jacob!”); 52:11 (Depart! Depart! Go out from there, touch no unclean thing; go out from the
midst of her, be clean, you who bear the vessels of the Lord); Jeremiah 1:8 (Do not be afraid of their faces, for I am with you to deliver you, says
the Lord); 50:8 (Move from the midst of Babylon, go out of the land of the Chaldeans; and be like the rams before the flocks); 51:6 (Flee from the
midst of Babylon, and every one save his life! Do not be cut off in her iniquity, for this is the time of the Lord’s vengeance; He shall recompense
her), 9 (We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed. Forsake her, and let us go everyone to his own country; for her judgment reaches
to heaven and is lifted up to the skies), 45 (My people, go out of the midst of her! And let everyone deliver himself from the fierce anger of the
Lord); 2 Corinthians 6:17

18:5 “For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.

Reached – have been heaped up (NKJ); joined together (NAS)
Her sins have become so great and enormous that the longsuffering of God must give place to His justice (AC)

References: Genesis 18:20 (And the Lord said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very
grave); Jeremiah 51:9; Revelation 16:19

18:6 “Render to her just as she rendered, and repay her double according to her works; in the cup
which she has mixed, mix double for her.

Though private revenge is forbidden, yet God will have his people act under Him, when called to it, in pulling down

His and their implacable enemies (MH)

These words are a prophetic declaration of what shall take place: God will deal with her as she dealt with others (AC)
A statement of the principle of retribution in human history which recurs throughout the bible (Z)
Double – in full, sufficiently (NIV)
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, viz., spiritual delusions, because it did not like to retain God in its
knowledge; the unfaithful church’s principle was “The people like to be deceived, and let them be deceived”. (JFB)

References: Psalm 137:8 (O daughter of Babylon, who are to be destroyed, happy the one who repays you as you have served us!);
Jeremiah 50:15 (Shout against her all around; she has given her hand, her foundations have fallen, her walls are thrown down; for it is the
vengeance of the Lord. Take vengeance on her. As she has done, so do to her), 29 (Call together the archers against Babylon. All you who
bend the bow, encamp against it all around; let none of them escape. Repay her according to her work; according to all she has done, do to her;
for she has been proud against the Lord, against the Holy One of Israel); Revelation 14:10; 16:19; 17:4

18:7 “In the measure that she glorified herself and lived luxuriously, in the same measure give her
torment and sorrow; for she says in her heart, ‘I sit as queen, and am no widow, and will not see
sorrow.’

God will proportion the punishment of sinners to the measure of their pride and security (MH)
A person who is financially comfortable often feels invulnerable, secure, and in control, not in need of God or

anyone else. (LB)

I sit – (this long time) – marks her complete unconcerned security as to the past, present, and future (JFB)
No Widow – a claim that the men of Babylon have not died on battlefields (NIV)

References: Ezekiel 28:2-8 (….Because your heart is lifted up…..they shall throw you down into the Pit, and you shall die the death of the slain
in the midst of the seas); Isaiah 47:7, 8 (And you said, ‘I shall be a lady forever,’ so that you did not take these things to heart, nor remember the
latter end of them. Therefore hear this now, you who are given to pleasures, who dwell securely, who say in your heart, ‘I am, and there is no one
else besides me; I shall not sit as a widow, nor shall I know the loss of children); Zephaniah 2:15 (This is the rejoicing city that dwelt securely, that
said in her heart, “I am it, and there is none besides me”. How has she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down! Everyone who
passes by her shall hiss and shake his fist); 1 Timothy 5:11; Revelation 18:3, 9

18:8 “Therefore her plagues will come in one day – death and mourning and famine. And she will
be utterly burned with fire, for strong is the Lord God who has judged her.

When destruction comes on a people suddenly, the surprise is a great aggravation of their misery (MH)
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 (AC)
The carnal, faithless, and worldly elements in all churches … tend towards one common center and prepare the way

for the last form of the beast, viz., antichrist. (JFB)

References: Isaiah 47:9 (But these two things shall come to you in a moment, in one day: the loss of children, and widowhood. They shall
come upon you in their fullness because of the multitude of your sorceries, for the great abundance of your enchantments); Jeremiah 50:31
(Behold, I am against you, O most haughty one! Says the Lord God of hosts; For your day has come, the time that I will punish you), 34 (Their
Redeemer is strong; the Lord of hosts is His name. He will thoroughly plead their case, that He may give rest to the land, and disquiet the
inhabitants of Babylon); Hebrews 10:31 (It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God); Revelation 11:17; 17:16; 18:10

The World Mourns Babylon’s Fall

18:9 “The kings of the earth who committed fornication and lived luxuriously with her will weep and
lament for her, when they see the smoke of her burning.

The mourners: those who had been bewitched by her fornication, and those who had been gainers by her wealth

and trade—the kings and the merchants of the earth (MH)

The kings weep probably because of their own great financial loss (NIV)
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. 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 (JFB)

The term ‘harlot’ describes the false church’s essential character. She retains her human shape as the ‘woman’,

does not become a beast; she has the form of godliness, but denies its power. (JFB)

The fullest form of her whoredom is, where the church wishes to be itself a worldly power, uses politics and diplomacy,

makes flesh her arm, uses unholy means for holy ends, spreads her dominion by sword or money, fascinates men by
sensual ritualism, becomes ‘mistress of ceremonies’ to the dignitaries of the world, flatters prince or people, and like Israel,
seeks the help of one world power against the danger threatening from another. (JFB)

References: Ezekiel 26:16 (Then all the princes of the sea will come down from their thrones, lay aside their robes, and take off their
embroidered garments; they will clothe themselves with trembling; they will sit on the ground, tremble every moment, and be astonished at you);
27:35 (All the inhabitants of the isles will be astonished at you; their kings will be greatly afraid, and their countenance will be troubles);
Jeremiah 50:46 (At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth trembles, and the cry is heard among the nations); 1 Timothy 5:11;
Revelation 14:11; 17:2; 18:3, 7; 18:18; 19:3

18:10 “standing at a distance for fear of her torment, saying, ‘Alas, alas, the great city Babylon, that
mighty city! For in one hour your judgment has come.’

The manner of their mourning: they stood afar off. They were not willing to bear a share in her plagues. Those who

have most indulged themselves in pride and pleasure are the least able to bear calamities. (MH)

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. (JFB)

References: Isaiah 21:9 (And look, here comes a chariot of men with a pair of horsemen! Then he answered and said, “Babylon is fallen, is
fallen! And all the carved images of her gods He has broken to the ground); Revelation 11:8; 16:19; 18:15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21; 17:12; 18:8

18:11 “And the merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her, for no one buys their
merchandise anymore:

The cause of their mourning: not their sin, but their punishment. The spirit of antichrist is a worldly spirit, and their

sorrow is a mere worldly sorrow (MH)

The church did not witness against carnal luxury and pleasure-seeking, the source of the merchants’ gains, but

conformed to them. She cared not for the sheep, but for the wool. (JFB)

References: Ezekiel 27:9-25; 27-34 (….But you are broken by the seas in the depths of the waters; your merchandise and the entire company
will fall in your midst); Revelation 18:3, 15; 18:19, 23

18:12 “a merchandise of gold and silver, precious stones and pearls, fine linen and purple, silk and
scarlet, every kind of citron wood, every kind of object of ivory, every kind of object of most precious
wood, bronze, iron, and marble.

Purple – an expensive dye since it must be extracted a drop at a time from the murex shellfish (NIV)
Citron wood – an expensive dark wood from north Africa – used for inlay work in costly furniture (NIV)

References: Ezekiel 27:12-22 (…..They traded for your wares the choicest spices, all kinds of precious stones, and gold): Revelation 17:4

18:13 “and cinnamon and incense, fragrant oil and frankincense, wine and oil, fine flour and wheat,
cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, and bodies and souls of men.

Incense – spice: amonum (NAS)
Few of these goods are necessities – most are luxuries. The society had become so self-indulgent that people were

willing to use evil means to gratify their desires. (LB)

Fifteen of the 29 commodities are also listed in Ezekiel 27:12-22 (NIV)
Bodies and souls of men – slave trade (NIV)

References: 1 Chronicles 5:21 (Then they took away their livestock….); Ezekiel 27:13 (…They bartered human lives and vessels of bronze for
your merchandise); 1 Timothy 1:10 (for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is
contrary to sound doctrine)

18:14 “The fruit that your soul longed for has gone from you, and all the things which are rich and
splendid have gone from you, and you shall find them no more at all.

Gone – been lost to you (NKJ)
Soul longed for – of your soul’s desire (NAS)
Rich and splendid – delicacies for the table – what is splendid and costly in apparel (AC)

18:15 “The merchants of these things, who became rich by her, will stand at a distance for fear of
her torment, weeping and wailing,

References: Revelation 18:3, 10, 12, 13

18:16 “and saying, ‘Alas, alas, that great city that was clothed in fine linen, purple, and scarlet, and
adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls!

Adorned – gilded (NAS)

References: Revelation 17:4, 18; 18:10, 19, 21

18:17 “For in one hour such great riches came to nothing.’ Every shipmaster, all who travel by ship,
sailors, and as many as trade on the sea, stood at a distance

All who travel – one who sails anywhere (NAS)
Shipmaster – sea captain – the pilot of the ship rather than the owner (NIV)
The spectators come to witness and mourn over the disappearance of a great city in a gigantic conflagration, and

they keep their distance because of the intense heat (Z)

References: Isaiah 23:14 (Wail, you ships of Tarshish! For your strength is laid waste); Ezekiel 27:28 (the common land will shake at the
sound of the cry of your pilots); Revelation 17:16; 18:10, 19

18:18 “and cried out when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, ‘What is like this great city?’

In magnitude, power, and luxury (AC)

References: Ezekiel 27:30 (they will make their voice heard because of you; they will cry bitterly and cast dust on their heads; they will roll
about in ashes); 32; Revelation 13:4; 18:9, 10

18:19 “They threw dust on their heads, and cried out, weeping and wailing, and saying, ‘Alas, alas,
that great city, in which all who had ships on the sea became rich by her wealth! For in one hour she
is made desolate.’

They showed every sign of the sincerest grief. Here is no dissembled sorrow; all is real to the mourners, and

affecting to the spectators (AC)

Three groups lament: (1) kings, (2) merchants, (3) and seamen (NIV)
Wealth – costliness (NAS)

References: Joshua 7:6 (Then Joshua tore his clothes, and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the Lord until evening, he and the
elders of Israel; and they put dust on their heads); Job 2:12 (….they lifted their voices and wept; and each one tore his robe and sprinkled dust
on his head toward heaven); Lamentations 2:10 (the elders of the daughter of Zion sit on the ground and keep silence; they throw dust on their
heads and gird themselves with sackcloth. The virgins of Jerusalem bow their heads to the ground); Revelation 17:16; 18:3, 8, 10, 15, 17

18:20 “Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you saints and apostles, for God has avenged you on her!”

How universal this joy would be: heaven and earth, angels and saints, would join in it. (MH)
There is more joy in heaven at the harlot’s downfall than at that of the two beasts. For the most heinous of all sin is

the sin of those who know God’s word of grace, and keep it not. (JFB)

This is not the malignant delight which some take in the discomfiture of their enemies, but a call to rejoice in the

judgments of God (Z)

Saints – true believers – holy ones (NAS)
Avenged – pronounced – judged your judgment of her (NAS)

References: Jeremiah 51:48 (then the heavens and the earth and all that is in them shall sing joyously over Babylon; for the plunderers shall
come to her from the north says the Lord); Luke 11:49 (Therefore the wisdom of God also said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, and
some of them they will kill and persecute); Isaiah 26:9 (..When Your judgments come upon the earth, the people of the world learn
righteousness) Revelation 6:10; 12:12; 18:6, 19:2

Finality of Babylon’s Fall

18:21 Then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying,
“Thus with violence the great city Babylon shall be thrown down, and shall not be found anymore.

A mighty angel – one angel (NAS)
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 (AC)
With violence – with impetus. (JFB)
Found no more – in her government, consequence, or influence (AC)
The activities and recreations of city life will come to a full stop, and great Babylon will vanish as though she had

never been (Z)

References: Jeremiah 51:63, 64 (Now it shall be, when you have finished reading this book, that you shall tie a stone to it and throw it out into
the Euphrates. Then you shall say, ‘Thus Babylon shall sink and not rise from the catastrophe that I will bring upon her. And they shall be
weary. Thus far are the words of Jeremiah); Revelation 5:2; 10:1; 12:8; 16:20; 18:10

18:22 “The sound of harpists, musicians, flutists, and trumpeters shall not be heard in you anymore.
No craftsman of any craft shall be found in you anymore, and the sound of a millstone shall not be
heard in you anymore.

References: Jeremiah 7:34 (Then I will cause to cease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the voice of mirth and the
voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride. For the land shall be desolate); 16:9; 25:10 (Moreover 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 lamp); Isaiah 24:8 (The mirth of the tambourine ceases, the noise of the jubilant ends, the joy of the harp ceases); Ezekiel 26:13
(I will put an end to the sound of your songs, and the sound of your harps shall be heard no more); Matthew 9:23 (When Jesus came into the
ruler’s house, and saw the flute players and the noisy crowd wailing); Ecclesiastes 12:4 (When the doors are shut in the streets, and the sound of
grinding is low; when one rises up at the sound of a bird. And all the daughters of music are brought low)

18:23 “The light of a lamp shall not shine in you anymore, and the voice of bridegroom and bride shall
not be heard in you anymore. For your merchants were the great men of the earth, for by your sorcery
all the nations were deceived.

Babylon seems to sum up all the systems and agencies whereby the nations in all past ages have been deceived,

and by which the saints of God have been slain. (W)

Sorceries: political arts, state tricks, counterfeit miracles, and deceptive maneuvers of every kind (AC)

References: Jeremiah 25:10; 7:34; 16:9; Isaiah 23:8; 2 Kings 9:22 (…What peace, as long as the harlotries of your mother Jezebel and her
witchcraft are so many?); Nahum 3:4 (Because of the multitude of harlotries of the seductive harlot, the mistress of sorceries, who sells nations
through her harlotries, and families through her sorceries); Revelation 6:15; 18:3; 9:21

18:24 “And in her was found the blood of prophets and saints, and of all who were slain on the earth.”

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

3. Her persecution of prophets and saints

She was the murderer of prophets and of righteous men (AC)
Where godlessness is conjoined with the unconscionable exploitation of the underprivileged and the persecution of the

righteous, nothing but timely and wholehearted repentance can avert the death sentence. Where, however, the sins of

civilization reach their utmost limit and there is no further room for repentance, the judgment falls with the decisiveness of
the ‘large millstone’ (Z)

The destruction of Babylon is the overthrow by God of all that is false and passing, in order that the true and eternal

may take its proper place (TB)

References: Jeremiah 51:49 (As Babylon has caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon the slain of all the earth shall fall);
Revelation 16:6; 17:6; Matthew 23:35 (that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel
to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar)