Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Revelation 18:23

"and the light of a lamp shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the princes of the earth; for with thy sorcery were all the nations deceived." — Revelation 18:23 (ASV)

The final lament over the fall of Babylon, spoken by an angel, is poignant and beautiful. A mighty angel picks up a huge stone like a giant millstone (four to five feet in diameter, one foot thick, and weighing thousands of pounds) and flings it into the sea. One quick gesture becomes a parable of the whole judgment on Babylon the Great! Suddenly she is gone forever (cf. Jeremiah 51:64; Ezekiel 26:21), leaving only melancholy behind.

All nations were “led astray” (GK 4414) by her “magic spell” (GK 5758), a word previously used in conjunction with “murders,” “fornicators,” and “thefts” . An element of drugging is involved that results in fatal poisoning. With her deceit, Babylon had charmed the nations (cf. Nahum 3:4).

In the final verse, the great sin of Babylon is cited. She has martyred the prophets and followers of Jesus. John has already mentioned this bloodguiltiness (17:6; cf. 19:2). Elsewhere the death of martyrs is attributed to “the inhabitants of the earth” (6:10), the “beast that comes up from the Abyss” (11:7, 13:7), and the “beast, coming out of the earth” (13:15). In the OT, the city of Jerusalem (Ezekiel 24:6, 9; cf. Matthew 23:37) and Babylon (Jeremiah 51:35) are called cities of bloodshed. In v.24 “the blood... of all who have been killed on the earth” refers to all those who have been martyred because of their loyalty to the true God. Once again, in John’s mind, Babylon the Great encompasses all the persecution against the servants of God until his words are fulfilled (cf. 17:17).