Babylon: The Great Prostitute (17:1;19:5)
Revelation 17 NLT
1 One of the seven angels who had
poured out the seven bowls came over and spoke to me. “Come with me,” he said,
“and I will show you the judgment that is going to come on the great
prostitute, who rules over many waters.
2 The kings of the world have committed
adultery with her, and the people who belong to this world have been made drunk
by the wine of her immorality.”
3 So the angel took me in the Spirit
into the wilderness. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that had
seven heads and ten horns, and blasphemies against God were written all over
it.
4 The woman wore purple and scarlet
clothing and beautiful jewelry made of gold and precious gems and pearls. In
her hand she held a gold goblet full of obscenities and the impurities of her
immorality.
5 A mysterious name was written on her
forehead: “Babylon the Great, Mother of All Prostitutes and Obscenities in the
World.”
6 I could see that she was drunk—drunk
with the blood of God’s holy people who were witnesses for Jesus. I stared at
her in complete amazement.
7 “Why are you so amazed?” the angel
asked. “I will tell you the mystery of this woman and of the beast with seven
heads and ten horns on which she sits.
8 The beast you saw was once alive but
isn’t now. And yet he will soon come up out of the bottomless pit and go to
eternal destruction. And the people who belong to this world, whose names were
not written in the Book of Life before the world was made, will be amazed at
the reappearance of this beast who had died.
9“This calls for a mind with understanding:
The seven heads of the beast represent the seven hills where the woman rules.
They also represent seven kings.
10 Five kings have already fallen, the
sixth now reigns, and the seventh is yet to come, but his reign will be brief.
11 “The scarlet beast that was, but is
no longer, is the eighth king. He is like the other seven, and he, too, is
headed for destruction.
12 The ten horns of the beast are ten
kings who have not yet risen to power. They will be appointed to their kingdoms
for one brief moment to reign with the beast.
13 They will all agree to give him their
power and authority.
14 Together they will go to war against
the Lamb, but the Lamb will defeat them because he is Lord of all lords and
King of all kings. And his called and chosen and faithful ones will be with
him.”
15Then the angel said to me, “The waters
where the prostitute is ruling represent masses of people of every nation and
language.
16 The scarlet beast and his ten horns
all hate the prostitute. They will strip her naked, eat her flesh, and burn her
remains with fire.
17 For God has put a plan into their
minds, a plan that will carry out his purposes. They will agree to give their
authority to the scarlet beast, and so the words of God will be fulfilled.
18 And this woman you
saw in your vision represents the great city that rules over the kings of the
world.”
Revelation 18 NLT
1 After all this I saw another angel
come down from heaven with great authority, and the earth grew bright with his
splendor.
2 He gave a mighty shout: “Babylon is
fallen—that great city is fallen! She has become a home for demons. She is a
hideout for every foul spirit, a hideout for every foul vulture and every foul
and dreadful animal.
3 For all the nations have fallen
because of the wine of her passionate immorality. The kings of the world have
committed adultery with her. Because of her desires for extravagant luxury, the
merchants of the world have grown rich.”
4 Then I heard another voice calling
from heaven, “Come away from her, my people. Do not take part in her sins, or
you will be punished with her.
5 For her sins are piled as high as
heaven, and God remembers her evil deeds.
6 Do to her as she has done to others.
Double her penalty for all her evil deeds. She brewed a cup of terror for
others, so brew twice as much for her.
7 She glorified herself and lived in
luxury, so match it now with torment and sorrow. She boasted in her heart, ‘I
am queen on my throne. I am no helpless widow, and I have no reason to mourn.’
8 Therefore, these plagues will
overtake her in a single day— death and mourning and famine. She will be
completely consumed by fire, for the Lord God who judges her is mighty.”
9 And the kings of the world who
committed adultery with her and enjoyed her great luxury will mourn for her as
they see the smoke rising from her charred remains.
10 They will stand at a distance,
terrified by her great torment. They will cry out, “How terrible, how terrible
for you, O Babylon, you great city! In a single moment God’s judgment came
on you.”
11 The merchants of the world will weep
and mourn for her, for there is no one left to buy their goods.
12 She bought great quantities of gold,
silver, jewels, and pearls; fine linen, purple, silk, and scarlet cloth; things
made of fragrant thyine wood, ivory goods, and objects made of expensive wood;
and bronze, iron, and marble.
13 She also bought cinnamon, spice,
incense, myrrh, frankincense, wine, olive oil, fine flour, wheat, cattle,
sheep, horses, wagons, and bodies—that is, human slaves.
14 “The fancy things you loved so much
are gone,” they cry. “All your luxuries and splendor are gone forever, never to
be yours again.”
15 The merchants who became wealthy by
selling her these things will stand at a distance, terrified by her great
torment. They will weep and cry out,
16 “How terrible, how terrible for that
great city! She was clothed in finest purple and scarlet linens, decked out
with gold and precious stones and pearls!
17 In a single moment all the wealth of
the city is gone!” And all the captains of the merchant ships and their
passengers and sailors and crews will stand at a distance.
18 They will cry out as they watch the
smoke ascend, and they will say, “Where is there another city as great as
this?”
19 And they will weep and throw dust on
their heads to show their grief. And they will cry out, “How terrible, how
terrible for that great city! The shipowners became wealthy by transporting her
great wealth on the seas. In a single moment it is all gone.”
20 Rejoice over her fate, O heaven
and people of God and apostles and prophets! For at last God has judged her for
your sakes.
21 Then a mighty angel picked up a
boulder the size of a huge millstone. He threw it into the ocean and shouted,
“Just like this, the great city Babylon will be thrown down with violence and
will never be found again.
22 The sound of harps, singers, flutes,
and trumpets will never be heard in you again. No craftsmen and no trades will
ever be found in you again. The sound of the mill will never be heard in you
again.
23 The light of a lamp will never shine
in you again. The happy voices of brides and grooms will never be heard in you
again. For your merchants were the greatest in the world, and you deceived the
nations with your sorceries.
24 In your streets
flowed the blood of the prophets and of God’s holy people and the blood of
people slaughtered all over the world.”
Revelation 19 NLT
1 After this, I heard what sounded like
a vast crowd in heaven shouting, “Praise the LORD ! Salvation and glory and
power belong to our God.
2 His judgments are true and just. He
has punished the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality.
He has avenged the murder of his servants.”
3 And again their voices rang out:
“Praise the LORD ! The smoke from that city ascends forever and ever!”
4 Then the twenty-four elders and the
four living beings fell down and worshiped God, who was sitting on the throne.
They cried out, “Amen! Praise the LORD !”
5 And from the throne came a voice that
said, “Praise our God, all his servants, all who fear him, from the least to
the greatest.”
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please leave a good comment, Negative comments will not be posted.