Read the New Testament in 24 Weeks

Babylon the Great

17 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came over and spoke to me. “Come with me,” he said, “and I will show you the judgment of the great whore who sits on many waters. ² She is the one with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication; she is the one whose fornication has been the wine that has made all the earth-dwellers drunk.”

³ So he took me away, in the spirit, to the desert. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet monster. It was full of blasphemous names, and had seven heads and ten horns. ⁴ The woman was wearing purple and scarlet, and was decked out with gold, precious stones and pearls. In her hand she was holding a golden goblet, full of abominations and the impurities of her fornications. ⁵ On her forehead was written a name: “Mystery! Babylon the Great, Mother of Whores and of Earth’s Abominations!” ⁶ I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of God’s holy people, and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus. When I saw her, I was very greatly astonished.

⁷ “Why are you so astonished?” asked the angel. “I will explain to you the secret of the woman, and of the monster that is carrying her, the one which has the seven heads and the ten horns. ⁸ The monster you saw was, and is not, and is due to come up from the Abyss and go to destruction. All the inhabitants of the earth will be amazed—all, that is, whose names are not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world—when they see the monster that was and is not and is to come.

The monster and the whore

⁹ “This is a moment for a wise and discerning mind. The seven heads are seven hills, on which the woman sits. And there are seven kings: ¹⁰ five have fallen, one is still there, and the other has not yet arrived—and when he does come he is destined to remain for only a short time. ¹¹ And the monster, which was and is not, he is the eighth king. He is also one of the seven, and he goes to destruction. ¹² The ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have not yet received their kingdom, but will receive their authority as kings with the monster for a single hour. ¹³ All of these are of one mind: they give their power and authority to the monster. ¹⁴ They will make war with the lamb, and the lamb will conquer them, because he is Lord of lords and King of kings. Those with him are called and chosen and faithful.

¹⁵ “As for the waters you saw,” he continued, “where the whore was sitting, these are peoples and multitudes and nations and languages. ¹⁶ The ten horns you saw, and the monster, will hate the whore and will make her desolate and naked, and will eat her flesh and then burn her in the fire. ¹⁷ God has put it into their hearts to do his will and, with a single purpose, to give their kingdom to the monster, until God’s words are completed. ¹⁸ The woman which you saw is the great city that has royal dominion over the kings of the earth.”

Babylon’s plagues

18 After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven with great authority; the earth was lit up with his glory. ² He shouted out in a strong voice, and this is what he said: “Babylon the great has fallen! She has fallen! She has become a place for demons to live, a refuge for every unclean spirit, a refuge for every unclean bird, a refuge for every unclean, hateful monster. ³ All the nations drank from the wine of the wrath of her fornication; the kings of the earth committed fornication with her, and the traders of the earth became rich from the power of her luxury.”

⁴ Then I heard another voice from heaven, and this is what it said: “Come out of her, my people, so that you don’t become embroiled in her sins, and so that you don’t receive any of her plagues. ⁵ Her sins are piled up to the sky, and God has remembered her wickedness. ⁶ Pay her back as she has paid others; give her double again for all her deeds. Mix her a double dose in her own cup—the cup in which she mixed her poisons. ⁷ She made herself glorious and lived in luxury; balance that by giving her torture and sorrow! She said in her heart, ‘I’m the queen! I’m on the throne! I’m not a widow! I’m never going to be a mourner!’ ⁸ Therefore her plagues will come in a single day, death, mourning and famine, and she will be burned with fire, because God the Lord, her judge, is strong.”

Babylon’s judgment

⁹ The kings of the earth who committed fornication with her and shared her luxury will weep and lament over her when they see the smoke from her fire. ¹⁰ They will stand far off, fearful of her tortures. “Alas, alas,” they will say, “the great city! Babylon the powerful city! Your judgment has come in a single hour.” ¹¹ The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her, because nobody will buy their cargo anymore, ¹² their cargo of gold and silver, of precious stones and pearls, fine linen and purple, silk and scarlet, all the sweet-smelling wood, carved ivory, vessels of expensive wood, brass, iron, marble, ¹³ cinnamon, oriental spice, incense, myrrh, frankincense, wine, olive oil, fine flour, wheat, cattle, sheep, horses, chariots and bodies . . . yes, human lives.

¹⁴ All the fruit for which you longed has gone from you; all your luxuries and sparkling objects have been destroyed; you won’t find them anymore. ¹⁵ The merchants who sold these things, and who made themselves rich from her, will stand a long way off for fear of her tortures. They will weep and mourn, ¹⁶ and say, “Alas, alas! The great city! It was clothed in fine linen, purple and scarlet, decked out in gold, precious stones and pearls— ¹⁷ but in a single hour such great wealth has been destroyed!”

All the master mariners, all those who ply their ships to and fro, all sailors, and all who do business on the sea, stood a long way off ¹⁸ and shouted out when they saw the smoke of her fire. “Who is like the great city?” they said. ¹⁹ They threw dust on their heads and shouted out, weeping and mourning. “Alas, alas,” they said, “the great city! Everyone who had ships on the sea could get rich from her wealth, but in a single hour she has become a desert.”

²⁰ Celebrate over her, heaven, and you holy ones, apostles and prophets, because God has passed against her the sentence she passed against you.

²¹ Then a strong angel picked up a rock like a huge millstone and hurled it into the sea, with these words: “Babylon the great city will be thrown down like that with a splash, and will never be seen again! ²² Never again will people hear the sound of harps, musicians, flute players and trumpeters in you. Never again will there be any skilled workmen plying their trade in you. Never again will people hear the sound of the mill in you. ²³ Never again will anyone see the light of a lamp in you. Never again will anyone hear the voice of bridegroom and bride in you. Your merchants were the mighty ones of the earth; all the nations were deceived by your magic.”

²⁴ In her has been found the blood of prophets and God’s holy ones, and all those who have been slaughtered on the earth.