Albert Barnes Commentary Revelation 18:7

"How much soever she glorified herself, and waxed wanton, so much give her of torment and mourning: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall in no wise see mourning." — Revelation 18:7 (ASV)

How much she hath glorified herself. She has been proud, boastful, and arrogant. This was true of ancient Babylon, which was proud and haughty, and it has been no less true of mystical Babylon—Papal Rome.

And lived deliciously. Inasmuch as she has lived in luxury and dissoluteness, so let her suffer now. The word used here and rendered lived deliciously—estrhniase is derived from the noun—strhnov—which is used in Revelation 18:3 and rendered delicacies. (See Barnes on Revelation 18:3).

It means "to live strenuously, rudely," as in English, "to live hard;" and then to revel, to live in luxury, riot, and dissoluteness. No one can doubt the propriety of this as descriptive of ancient Babylon, and its propriety can be doubted just as little when applied to Papal Rome.

So much torment and sorrow give her. Let her punishment correspond with her sins. This expresses substantially the same idea that occurs in the previous verse.

For she saith in her heart. This is the estimate that she forms of herself.

I sit a queen. This is indicative of pride and of an asserted claim to rule.

And am no widow. This means she is not in the condition of a widow—a state of depression, sorrow, and mourning. All this indicates security and self-confidence, a description in every way applicable to Papal Rome.

And shall see no sorrow. This is indicative of a state where nothing was feared, notwithstanding all the indications that existed of approaching calamity. In this state we may expect to find Papal Rome, even when its last judgments are about to come upon it; in this state it has usually been; in this state it is now, notwithstanding all the indications evident in the world that its power is waning and that the period of its fall approaches.