⁴¹ And when the men of Israel turned back, the men of Benjamin panicked, for they saw that disaster had come upon them.

⁸ Therefore her plagues will come ^(A)in one day—death and mourning and famine. And ^(B)she will be utterly burned with fire, ^(C)for strong is the Lord God who ^[a]judges her.

The World Mourns Babylon’s Fall

^9 (D)“The kings of the earth who committed fornication and lived luxuriously with her ^(E)will weep and lament for her, ^(F)when they see the smoke of her burning, ¹⁰ standing at a distance for fear of her torment, saying, ^(G)‘Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! ^(H)For in one hour your judgment has come.’

¹⁵ And the ^(A)kings of the earth, the great men, ^[a]the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, ^(B)hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, ^16 (C)and said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who ^(D)sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! ¹⁷ For the great day of His wrath has come, ^(E)and who is able to stand?”

Depravity of False Teachers

¹² But these, ^(A)like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed, speak evil of the things they do not understand, and will utterly perish in their own corruption,

³ For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then ^(A)sudden destruction comes upon them, ^(B)as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape.

²⁶ men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, ^(A)for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

²⁷ They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the ^(A)day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and ^(B)destroyed them all. ^28 (C)Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built;