After this I saw another messenger coming down out of the sky with great authority, and the earth was lit up by his glory. And he called out in a strong voice: “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great. She has become a home for demons, a holding place for every unclean spirit, for every unclean bird, for every unclean and hated animal. Because all the nations have drunk the wine of her raging immorality, and the kings of the earth committed immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth grew rich on the strength of her luxury.”
And I heard another voice from the sky saying: “Come out of her, my people, so that you do not share in her wrongs and do not receive any of her plagues. Because her wrongs have piled up as high as the sky, and God has remembered her crimes. Pay her back as she paid out, and give her double for what she has done; in the cup she mixed, mix her a double. As much as she glorified herself and lived in luxury, give her that much torment and grief. Because she says in her heart, ‘I sit as a queen — I am no widow, and I will never see grief.’ That is why her plagues will come in a single day: death and grief and famine, and she will be burned up with fire. Because the Lord God who judges her is strong.”
And the kings of the earth who committed immorality with her and lived in luxury with her will weep and beat their chests over her when they see the smoke of her burning. They will stand a long way off, afraid of her torment, and say: “Trouble, trouble, the great city — Babylon, the strong city — because your judgment came in one hour.”
And the merchants of the earth weep and grieve over her, because nobody buys their cargo any more: cargo of gold and silver and precious stones and pearls, fine linen and purple and silk and scarlet, all kinds of citron wood, every article of ivory, every article of expensive wood and bronze and iron and marble, cinnamon and spice and incense and perfume and frankincense, wine and oil and fine flour and wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and carriages — and bodies, and human lives.
“And the fruit your soul craved has gone from you, and everything rich and bright is lost to you, and people will never find it again.” The merchants who dealt in these things and grew rich from her will stand a long way off, afraid of her torment, weeping and grieving and saying: “Trouble, trouble, the great city, dressed in fine linen and purple and scarlet, covered with gold and precious stones and pearls — because in one hour such great wealth was ruined.”
And every ship’s captain and everyone who sails anywhere, and sailors and everyone who works the sea, stood a long way off and shouted when they saw the smoke of her burning: “What city was ever like the great city?” And they threw dust on their heads and shouted, weeping and grieving: “Trouble, trouble, the great city — where everyone who had ships at sea grew rich on her wealth — because in one hour she was ruined.”
“Celebrate over her, you skies, and God’s people and emissaries and prophets — because God has judged her case for you.”
And a strong messenger picked up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying: “That is how Babylon the great city will be thrown down, violently, and will never be found again. The sound of harpists and musicians and flute players and trumpeters will never be heard in you again. No craftsman of any craft will ever be found in you again. The sound of a mill will never be heard in you again. The light of a lamp will never shine in you again. The voice of a bridegroom and a bride will never be heard in you again. Because your merchants were the great men of the earth, and all the nations were led off the road by your drug-work. And in her was found the blood of prophets and of God’s people, and of everyone slaughtered on the earth.”