Charles Ellicott Commentary Revelation 18:2

"And he cried with a mighty voice, saying, Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, and is become a habitation of demons, and a hold of every unclean spirit, and a hold of every unclean and hateful bird." — Revelation 18:2 (ASV)

And he cried . . .—We must omit “mightily,” and translate it as: And he cried in a mighty voice, saying, Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, and is become an habitation of demons, and a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hated bird.

Those who walk in darkness, and whose eyes the god of this world has blinded through their lusts, look only on the material side, upon prosperous times, large revenues, rapidly developing resources. The great city of the world looks fair and glorious in their eyes, and even the godly are dazzled by her beauty. But when the light of heaven shines, her fall is seen to be inevitable, for she is seen to be hateful: her palaces are prisons, her highest wisdom little more than low cunning, her most exalted intelligence ignoble, and her sweetest songs discordant cries. The evil spirit, welcomed back, has come in seven-fold power, for the dry places afford no rest to those who still love sin and the pleasures of sin.

The description in this verse is drawn largely from Isaiah 13:21-22; it is a picture of desolation and degradation, but it has its moral counterpart.