And (A)the kings of the earth, who committed sexual immorality and lived in luxury with her, (B)will weep and wail over her (C)when they see the smoke of her burning. 10 (D)They will stand far off, in fear of her torment, and say,

“Alas! Alas! (E)You great city,
    you mighty city, Babylon!
For (F)in a single hour your judgment has come.”

11 And (G)the merchants of the earth weep and mourn for her, since no one buys their cargo anymore, 12 cargo of gold, silver, jewels, pearls, fine linen, purple cloth, silk, scarlet cloth, all kinds of scented wood, all kinds of articles of ivory, all kinds of articles of costly wood, bronze, iron and marble, 13 cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, frankincense, wine, oil, fine flour, wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, and slaves, that is, human souls.[a]

14 “The fruit for which your soul longed
    has gone from you,
and all your delicacies and your splendors
    are lost to you,
    never to be found again!”

15 (H)The merchants of these wares, who gained wealth from her, (I)will stand far off, in fear of her torment, weeping and mourning aloud,

16 “Alas, alas, for the great city
    (J)that was clothed in fine linen,
        in purple and scarlet,
    adorned with gold,
        with jewels, and with pearls!
17 For (K)in a single hour all this wealth (L)has been laid waste.”

And (M)all shipmasters and seafaring men, sailors and all whose trade is on the sea, stood far off 18 and (N)cried out (O)as they saw the smoke of her burning,

(P)“What city was like the great city?”

19 And they threw (Q)dust on their heads as they wept and mourned, crying out,

“Alas, alas, for the great city
    (R)where all who had ships at sea
    grew rich by her wealth!
For (S)in a single hour she has been laid waste.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Revelation 18:13 Or and slaves, and human lives

And the kings of the earth will weep and mourn over her, those who committed sexual immorality and lived sensually with her, when they see the smoke of her burning, 10 standing far off[a] because of the fear of her torment, saying,

“Woe, woe, the great city,
    Babylon the powerful city,
because in one hour your judgment has come!”

11 And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn over her, because no one buys their cargo any more— 12 cargo of gold and silver and precious stones and pearls and fine linen and purple cloth and silk and scarlet cloth and all kinds of scented wood and all kinds of ivory goods and all kinds of goods of precious wood and bronze and iron and marble 13 and cinnamon and amomum[b] and incense and ointment and frankincense and wine and olive oil and fine wheat flour and wheat and domesticated animals and sheep and horses and carriages and slaves[c] and human lives.

14 “And the fruit your soul desires[d] has departed from you,
and all the luxury and the splendor has perished from you,
    and they will never find them any more.”

15 The merchants of these things, who became rich from them, will stand far off[e], weeping and mourning because of the fear of her torment, 16 saying,

“Woe, woe, the great city,
    dressed in fine linen and purple cloth and scarlet cloth,
    and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls,
17 because in one hour such great wealth has been laid waste!”

And every shipmaster and every seafarer[f] and sailors and all those who labor on the sea stood far off[g] 18 and began to cry out when they[h] saw the smoke of her burning, saying, “Who is like the great city?” 19 And they threw dust on their heads and were crying out, weeping and mourning, saying,

“Woe, woe, the great city,
    in which all those who had ships on the sea
        became rich from her prosperity,
because in one hour she has been laid waste!”

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Revelation 18:10 Literally “from afar”
  2. Revelation 18:13 Or “spice”; the term can refer to “spice” in general, or specifically to amomum, a spice from India
  3. Revelation 18:13 Literally “bodies”
  4. Revelation 18:14 Literally “your fruit of desire”
  5. Revelation 18:15 Literally “from afar”
  6. Revelation 18:17 Literally “everyone who sails to a place”
  7. Revelation 18:17 Literally “from afar”
  8. Revelation 18:18 Here “when” is supplied as a component of the participle (“saw”) which is understood as temporal