1   After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven; he came with great authority and the earth was lit up with his splendour. 2   Then in a mighty voice he proclaimed, ‘Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling for demons, a haunt for every unclean spirit, for every vile and loathsome bird. 3   For all nations have drunk deep of ^note the fierce wine of her fornication; the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and merchants the world over have grown rich on her bloated wealth.’

4   Then I heard another voice from heaven that said: ‘Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins and share in her plagues. 5   For her sins are piled high as heaven, and God has not forgotten her crimes. 6   Pay her back in her own coin, repay her twice over for her deeds! 7   Double for her the strength of the potion she mixed! Mete out grief and torment to match her voluptuous pomp! She says in her heart, “I am a queen on my throne! No mourning for me, no

Visions of the end widow's weeds!” 8   Because of this her plagues shall strike her in a single day—pestilence, bereavement, famine, and burning—for mighty is the Lord God who has pronounced her doom!’

9   The kings of the earth who committed fornication with her and wallowed in her luxury will weep and wail over her, as they see the smoke of her conflagration. 10   They will stand at a distance, for horror at her torment, and will say, ‘Alas, alas for the great city, the mighty city of Babylon! In a single hour your doom has struck!’

11   The merchants of the earth also will weep and mourn for her, because no one any longer buys their cargoes, 12   cargoes of gold and silver, jewels and pearls, cloths of purple and scarlet, silks and fine linens; all kinds of scented woods, ivories, and every sort of thing made of costly woods, bronze, iron, or marble; 13   cinnamon and spice, incense, perfumes and frankincense; wine, oil, flour and wheat, sheep and cattle, horses, chariots, slaves, and the lives of men. 14   ‘The fruit you longed for’, they will say, ‘is gone from you; all the glitter and the glamour are lost, never to be yours again!’ 15   The traders in all these wares, who gained their wealth from her, will stand at a distance for horror at her torment, 16   weeping and mourning and saying, ‘Alas, alas for the great city, that was clothed in fine linen and purple and scarlet, bedizened with gold and jewels and pearls! 17   Alas that in one hour so much wealth should be laid waste!’

Then all the sea-captains and voyagers, the sailors and those who traded by sea, 18   stood at a distance and cried out as they saw the smoke of her conflagration: ‘Was there ever a city like the great city?’ 19   They threw dust on their heads, weeping and mourning and saying, ‘Alas, alas for the great city, where all who had ships at sea grew rich on her wealth! Alas that in a single hour she should be laid waste!’

20   But let heaven exult over her; exult, apostles and prophets and people of God; for in the judgement against her he has vindicated your cause!

21   Then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and hurled it into the sea and said, ‘Thus shall Babylon, the great city, be sent hurtling down, never to be seen again! 22   No more shall the sound of harpers and minstrels, of flute-players and trumpeters, be heard in you; no more shall craftsmen of any trade be found in you; no more shall the sound of the mill be heard in you; 23   no more shall the light of the lamp be seen in you; no more shall the voice of the

Visions of the end bride and bridegroom be heard in you! Your traders were once the merchant princes of the world, and with your sorcery you deceived all the nations.’

24   For the blood of the prophets and of God's people was found in her, the blood of all who had been done to death on earth.

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