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Revelation

About this book
Chapter 18

1 After these things I saw another angel, who possessed great authority, coming down out of heaven, and the earth was lit up by his radiance. 2 He shouted with a powerful voice: “Fallen, fallen, is Babylon the great!⁠ She has become a lair for demons, a haunt for every unclean spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, a haunt for every unclean and detested beast.⁠ 3 For all the nations have fallen from the wine of her immoral passion, and the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have gotten rich from the power of her sensual behavior.”⁠ 4 Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, so you will not take part in her sins and so you will not receive her plagues,⁠ 5 because her sins have piled up all the way to heaven and God has remembered her crimes.⁠ 6 Repay her the same way she repaid others; pay her back double corresponding to her deeds.⁠ In the cup she mixed, mix double the amount for her. 7 As much as she exalted herself and lived in sensual luxury, to this extent give her torment and grief because she said to herself, ‘I rule as queen and am no widow; I will never experience grief!’ 8 For this reason, she will experience her plagues in a single day: disease, mourning, and famine, and she will be burned down with fire, because the Lord God who judges her is powerful!”⁠ 9 Then the kings of the earth who committed immoral acts with her and lived in sensual luxury with her will weep and wail for her when they see the smoke from the fire that burns her up. 10 They will stand a long way off because they are afraid of her torment, and will say, “Woe, woe, O great city, Babylon the powerful city! For in a single hour your doom has come!” 11 Then the merchants of the earth will weep and mourn for her because no one buys their cargo any longer— 12 cargo such as gold, silver, precious stones, pearls, fine linen, purple cloth, silk, scarlet cloth, all sorts of things made of citron wood, all sorts of objects made of ivory, all sorts of things made of expensive wood, bronze, iron and marble, 13 cinnamon, spice, incense, perfumed ointment, frankincense, wine, olive oil and costly flour, wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and four-wheeled carriages, slaves and human lives. 14 (The ripe fruit you greatly desired has gone from you, and all your luxury and splendor have gone from you—they will never ever be found again!) 15 The merchants who sold these things, who got rich from her, will stand a long way off because they are afraid of her torment. They will weep and mourn, 16 saying, “Woe, woe, O great city—dressed in fine linen, purple and scarlet clothing, and adorned with gold, precious stones, and pearls— 17 because in a single hour such great wealth has been destroyed!” And every ship’s captain, and all who sail along the coast—seamen, and all who make their living from the sea, stood a long way off 18 and began to shout when they saw the smoke from the fire that burned her up, “Who is like the great city?” 19 And they threw dust on their heads and were shouting with weeping and mourning, “Woe, Woe, O great city—in which all those who had ships on the sea got rich from her wealth—because in a single hour she has been destroyed!” 20 (Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you saints and apostles and prophets, for God has pronounced judgment against her on your behalf!)⁠ 21 Then one powerful angel picked up a stone like a huge millstone, threw it into the sea, and said, “With this kind of sudden violent force Babylon the great city will be thrown down, and it will never be found again!⁠ 22 And the sound of the harpists, musicians, flute players, and trumpeters will never be heard in you again. No craftsman who practices any trade will ever be found in you again; the noise of a mill will never be heard in you again. 23 Even the light from a lamp will never shine in you again! The voices of the bridegroom and his bride will never be heard in you again.⁠ For your merchants were the tycoons of the world, because all the nations were deceived by your magic spells! 24 The blood of the saints and prophets was found in her, along with the blood of all those who had been killed on the earth.”

Texts in conversation

Compare Baruch 4:35 and Revelation 18:2

Deuterocanon · New Testament

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Summary

Baruch describes the city that oppressed Jerusalem as burned and left empty, a ruined place where demons live. Revelation echoes this in its vision of Babylon’s fall, portraying it as a desolate wasteland inhabited by evil spirits after divine judgment.

Passages

Baruch 4:35

Deuterocanon
30 Take courage, O Jerusalem, for he who called you by name will comfort you. 31 Miserable are those who afflicted you and rejoiced at your fall. 32 Miserable are the cities which your children served. Miserable is she who received your sons. 33 For as she rejoiced at your fall and was glad of your ruin, so she will be grieved at her own desolation. 34 And I will take away her pride in her great multitude and her boasting will be turned into mourning. 35 For fire will come upon her from the Everlasting for many days; and she will be inhabited by demons for a long time. 36 O Jerusalem, look around you toward the east, and behold the joy that comes to you from God. 37 Behold, your sons come, whom you sent away. They come gathered together from the east to the west at the word of the Holy One, rejoicing in the glory of God.
200–50 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Baruch

Revelation 18:2

New Testament
1 After these things I saw another angel, who possessed great authority, coming down out of heaven, and the earth was lit up by his radiance. 2 He shouted with a powerful voice: “Fallen, fallen, is Babylon the great! She has become a lair for demons, a haunt for every unclean spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, a haunt for every unclean and detested beast. 3 For all the nations have fallen from the wine of her immoral passion, and the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have gotten rich from the power of her sensual behavior.” 4 Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, so you will not take part in her sins and so you will not receive her plagues, 5 because her sins have piled up all the way to heaven and God has remembered her crimes.
92–96 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Revelation

References

"... It is also possible that there is an allusion here to Jeremiah 51:37 (LXX 28:37), a possibility made more likely by the presence of seven other allusions to Jeremiah 51 in Revelation 18 ... The same topos is used to gloat over the destruction of Tyre in Isaiah 23:1 and Edom in Isaiah 34:11–15 (nb. that Edom eventually became a code name for Rome in Jewish tradition; see 4 Ezra 6:7–10; Genesis Rabah 65.21). The emptiness and aridity of the location of a city punished by Yahweh is mentioned in Jeremiah 50:12; 51:43. In Baruch 4:35 it is predicted that the enemy of Israel will be destroyed by fire and inhabited by demons. Demons were associated with unsettled and desolate places (Isaiah 13:21; 34:14; Tobit 8:3; Matthew 12:43 = Luke 11:24; Mark 5:10). The threat of desolation is a frequently occurring theme in prophetic denunciations of nations and cities, including Judah and Jerusalem ..."
David E. Aune, Word Biblical Commentary: Revelation 17-22 (Dallas: Word, 1998), 146.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Baruch 4:35 and Revelation 18:2

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