And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, [and] so great.
18. voices, and thunders, and lightnings ] Rev 8:5, Rev 11:19. Here the best reading is lightnings and voices and thunders.
earthquake ] Rev 6:12, Rev 11:13: but this earthquake seems distinguished from those as surpassing them greatly in degree: unless the second of those be the local aspect of this.
such as was not, &c.] Cf. Dan 12:1; St Mat 24:21.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings – Accompanying the voice that was heard from the throne. See the notes on Rev 4:5; Rev 11:19.
And there was a great earthquake, … – See the notes on Rev 6:12; Rev 11:19. The meaning is, that a judgment followed as if the world were shaken by an earthquake, or which would be properly represented by that.
So mighty an earthquake, and so great – All this is intensive, and is designed to represent the severity of the judgment that would follow.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 18. A great earthquake] Most terrible commotions, both civil and religious. Or a convulsion, shaking, or revolution.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
See Rev 4:5; 6:12; 11:13,19. Either declarative of the majesty and power of God, {as Exo 19:16, when God came forth to give his law} the violation of which God here was coming out to punish; or of the great stirs and confusions in that part of the world where the beasts greatest interest lay. Or, the
voices, thunders, and lightnings, may be understood as declarative of the former, and the great earthquake of the latter.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
18. voice . . . thunders . . .lightningsA has the order, “lightnings . . . voices . . .thunders.” This is the same close as that of the seven seals andthe seven thunders; but with the difference that they do not merelyform the conclusion, but introduce the consequence, of the last vial,namely, the utter destruction of Babylon and then of theAntichristian armies.
earthquakewhich isoften preceded by a lurid state of air, such as would result from thevial poured upon it.
men wereso B, Vulgate,Syriac, and ANDREAS.But A and Coptic read, “A man was.”
so mightyGreek,“such.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings,…. As at the giving of the law, Ex 19:16 and at the sounding of the seventh trumpet, [See comments on Re 11:15] and may intend either the pure ministry of the Gospel in the spiritual reign, the voices of Christ’s ministers, and the effects of them, who will be “Boanergeses”, sons of thunder, and will be the means of enlightening the minds of many, as well as of shaking the consciences of men, signified by the earthquake following; or rather, the tremendous and awful judgments of God upon the remains of the antichristian party, as the very great commotions and changes that will be made in the world are expressed in the next clause:
and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great: for as the changes made in the Jewish state, civil and ecclesiastical, are signified by the shaking of the heavens and the earth, and as the fall of Paganism is expressed by an earthquake, and the fall of the tenth part of the city is the effect of another; so the destruction of all the antichristian powers, and the mutations made in the earth thereby, are designed by this; see Heb 12:26 Joe 3:16. Mr. Daubuz applies the whole of this vial to the, Reformation, when such a revolution was made in a short time, as has not been known since the world was, or men became worshippers of the beast; at which time Christendom was divided into three parts, the eastern or Greek church, the western or Latin church, and the reformed churches.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
And there were ( ). “And there came” (same verb ginomai). See Rev 8:5; Rev 11:19 for this list of terrible sounds and lightnings, and for the great earthquake ( ) see Rev 6:12; Rev 11:13 (cf. Lu 21:11).
Such as was not ( ). Qualitative relative with again, “such as came not.”
Since there were men (‘ ). “Since which time ( understood) men came.”
So great an earthquake, so mighty ( ). Quantitative correlative rather than the qualitative , to correspond with (not ). And then repeats (redundant) . Cf. Mr 13:19 for — about like tribulation ().
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) “And there were,” (kai egeneto) “and there were,” “There existed, became, or occurred,” in connection with this seventh plague of aerial convulsions.
a) “Voices,” (kai phonai) “voices,” were heard, voices of crying and dying men, Rev 11:19; Psa 50:3-5; Psa 102:25-28.
b) “And thunders,” (kai brontai) “and there were rumbling thunders,” reverberating with tremors of terror to dying men.
c) “And lightnings,” (kai astrapai) “and lightnings flashed,” as thunder rolled; commotion shall come, unparalleled in human history, preceding this final hour of judgment, Isa 29:6; Isa 51:6; Mat 24:29; Heb 12:26-27; Rev 4:5.
2) “And there was a great earthquake,” (kai seismos egeneto megas) 11 and there was (occurred) a great earthquake;” Rev 6:12-17; Isa 2:19-22; Dan 12:1; Hag 2:6-7.
3) “Such as was not,” (hoios ouk egeneto) “the like of which has not occurred or happened,” Mat 24:31. Unprecedented is the scene!
4) “Since men were upon the earth,” (aph’ ou anthropos egeneto) “from the time of man’s existence,” (epi tes ges) “Since men have been upon the earth,” Mat 24:31.
5) “So mighty an earthquake and so great,” (teelikoutos seismos houto megas) “such a devastating earthquake, so exceeding great it was; that mountains are leveled, islands are destroyed, the Dead Sea level is raised so that it shall flow again into the Red Sea and become fresh water, Zec 14:4-5; Rev 6:12; Rev 11:13; 1Pe 4:7.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(18) And there were voices . . .There is some variety in the order of the words in different MSS. There were lightnings, and voices, and thunders (comp. Rev. 8:5; Rev. 11:19); there was a great earthquake, such as was not from the time there was a man upon the earth. The earthquake, which is the shaking down of the kingdom of evil (comp. Heb. 12:26-29), completes the overthrow of which the earlier judgments have been precursors. The throne of the wild beast has been visited, the centre of his power smitten; now the metropolis of his empire is about to fall. And the great city (i.e., Babylon, the symbol of the world-powers capital) became into three parts. It lost its power of cohesion. The three evil spirits endeavoured to unite all powers in one grand assault, but there is no natural cohesion among those whose only bond is hatred of good. The first convulsion shakes them to pieces, and the cities of the nations fall. Every subordinate power in which the earthly element was mingled (comp. Dan. 2:41-44) is overthrown in the earthquake, even as every tree which the Heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up (Mat. 15:13); and great Babylon was remembered before God, &c. The features of the overthrow of Babylon are described more fully later on (Revelation 17, 18), where the various aspects of evil in the great metropolis of the world-power are dealt with (Rev. 17:1-7; Rev. 18:1-3). The fall of Pagan Rome is but one illustration of the overthrow of Babylon.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
18. Voices Though the seventh seal sends forth the seven trumpets, and the seventh trumpet the seven plagues, the seventh plague sends forth no further seven-series, but ends with this catastrophe. The voices, and thunders, and lightnings are the prelude to the great earthquake.
Such as was not earth For it covers all the continents and disturbs all the islands. It changes the face of the human earth. The seer wants words to magnify our thoughts to its true magnitude.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And there were lightnings, and voices, and thunders, and there was a vast earthquake such as there was not since there were men on the earth, so great the earthquake, and so mighty. And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell, and Babylon the Great was remembered in the sight of God to give to her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found, and great hail, about the weight of a talent comes down from heaven on men, and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, for the plague of it is immensely great.’
Herein we have another solemn picture of the final judgment of God. The whole world is caught up in it. ‘The great city’ collapses, every city is destroyed, Babylon the Great receives its final judgment. She who has the golden cup (Rev 17:4) will find it replaced at the last with the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath.
‘There were lightnings, and voices, and thunders and a vast earthquake.’ Similar descriptions are found elsewhere, gradually increasing in intensity. In Rev 4:5 ‘lightnings, voices and thunders’ proceed from the throne after the description of the One on the throne accompanied by the twenty four elders on their thrones. In Rev 8:5 ‘lightnings, and voices, and thunders and an earthquake’ follow the appearance of the angel at the altar of incense as he offers up prayers which went up before God, and then casts them down on the earth. ‘An earthquake’ is added to demonstrate that it is now connected with earth. In Rev 11:19 ‘lightnings, and voices, and thunders, and an earthquake and great hail’ follow the opening of the Temple of God to reveal the Ark of His covenant. God’s final judgment has come on the world. And now lightnings, and voices, and thunders and the greatest of all earthquakes, accompanied later by the great hail (v. 21) accompany the voice from the Temple and from the throne. All is now over.
It will be noted that each time the description appears there is reference, direct or indirect, to the Temple and to the One on the throne. First the One on the throne and the twenty four priestly elders before the throne, then the angel at the altar of incense offering prayers before the throne, then the ark of His covenant which is beneath the throne, and finally the great voice out of the Temple and from the throne. The lightnings and voices and thunders proclaim the mighty activity of God.
We note also the advancement in God’s purposes. The twenty four priestly elders before the throne plead on behalf of God’s people at the time of the visions, the angel at the altar of incense pleads on behalf of God’s people in the holy place at the beginning of the judgments, the Ark of the covenant in the holy of holies is revealed at the time of the final judgment. And now the voice of God declares the end of all things. Thus the lightnings and voices and thunders herald the presence of God in His heavenly Temple at the opening of the seals, at the sounding of the trumpets, at the revelation of the basis of judgment (the Ark and the covenant it contains) and at the final word of judgment. In the end all is of God.
‘The great earthquake.’ This destroys ‘the great city’ and it destroys the cities of the nations. It is seemingly worldwide. These are clearly aspects of the great final day of judgment.
‘The great city was divided into three parts’. But which is ‘the great city’? In Rev 11:13 ‘the great city’ is Jerusalem and one tenth of ‘the great city’ of Jerusalem (Rev 11:8) falls in an earthquake, a symbol of God taking His firstfruits prior to the whole, thus this earthquake following immediately after could then be seen as Jerusalem partaking of the final harvest. That ‘great city’ is described as Sodom and Egypt (Rev 11:8) rather than as Babylon, so we should not link the great city directly with Babylon the Great. It is the earthly Jerusalem which in spite of its great claim to be the centre of religiousness has turned out to be, like Sodom, the centre of wickedness and worldliness.
However, in Rev 14:8 ‘Babylon’ is called ‘the great’, and in Rev 17:18 we have reference to ‘that great city which reigns over the kings of the earth’, which is called ‘Babylon the Great’ in Rev 17:5, while in Rev 18:16; Rev 18:18-19; Rev 18:21 the great city’s destruction is described in terms of Babylon the Great (Rev 18:2). Thus some would refer ‘the great city’ to Great Babylon.
But if ‘the great city’ does refer to Babylon we have in these verses a double reference to Babylon as ‘great’ with the cities of the nations in between. It seems far more likely that the intention is to compare the judgments on the great city which is like Sodom and Egypt, that is, on Jerusalem, with the judgments on the cities of the nations, and finally with the judgment on Babylon the Great itself. ‘The great city’ here is then Jerusalem in contrast with Babylon, in which case we have the portrayal of the destruction of religious but inherently wicked Jerusalem, the destruction of the cities of the nations, and the destruction of the worldly Babylon the Great with all they signified.
As we are to have a new Jerusalem we should perhaps expect a description of the destruction of the old Jerusalem. This would tie in with this suggestion, as would the contrast between ‘the great city’ and ‘the cities of the nations’. The fact that the only description of a ‘great city’ up to this point had reference to Jerusalem, and that great Babylon and her fate is mentioned separately, would also seem to confirm this.
Alternately we could take the great city as Babylon. However, as her judgment is in fact mentioned separately in this very place, and in view of the different way in which she is seen as destroyed in chapter 18, this appears less likely. (Although it must be admitted that there is nothing to stop it being seen as destroyed by an earthquake while it is still languishing in the previous misery brought upon it).
But what is finally important is that the destruction of Babylon the Great is linked with the destruction of all cities, for Babylon the Great is more than Babylon, it is more than Rome, it is the final fruition of Babel, the very idea of ‘cityness’. It represents worldly ‘civilisation’ over against God.
‘Into three parts.’ Compare Deu 19:3 where the land was to be divided into three parts, each to have a city as a refuge for the manslayer. Is this seen as an ironic division of the city in a similar way? Israel having failed in its ministry to provide places of refuge for the world, is now divided into three as a commentary on its failure? Or is it ironically seen as divided between the monster, the beast and the false prophet, mentioned as a trio in Rev 16:13, to whom it has given its obedience (Rev 11:2)? Alternately there may be behind it the idea that just as ‘three’ is a symbol of completeness, this division into three parts is a rending of that previous completeness. It is no longer whole.
‘And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found, and great hail, about the weight of a talent (a hundredweight) comes down from heaven on men.’ This description is similar to that in Rev 6:14. Here the islands disappear and the mountains become level. This is not just a great earthquake, it is a huge cataclysm. The great hail is reminiscent of huge hailstorms which have been known in the Mediterranean region where hailstones weighing more than twelve pounds have been known to fall, but these are huge even by that comparison, weighing a hundredweight (twelve times as much), hailstones such as have never been known before. This vast shaking of the earth and the huge hailstones can only signify the end of time, which is what we saw in Rev 11:19.
‘And men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail.’ It is surely significant that the only place where the final hour causes men to give glory to the God of Heaven is in Jerusalem (Rev 11:13). That supremely religious city is depicted as seeing things differently from the remainder. But its end is the same, for the great day of judgment has arrived, and its religiosity is not sufficient. It too has rejected Christ. That this is one more vivid way of describing the final judgment is clear once we consider what is stated.
‘And Babylon the Great was remembered in the sight of God to give to her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.’ Babylon the Great is singled out because of the idea she represents. It is not said that she is destroyed as such in the earthquake. Indeed God has already dealt with her (chapters 17-18). And yet she is involved in the earthquake for she in reality sums up all those cities.
But what is meant by Babylon the Great? It is an idea that has come from the mists of time, the symbol of all that is worst in the cities of the world. When Cain left the presence of the Lord and went to live in the desert regions he ‘built a city’. It was only a tent encampment, but it contained the seed of an idea. It was the beginnings of men gathering to live together to produce ‘civilisation’, and a multiple society for belligerence and protection, away from the presence of God (Gen 4:16-17 with Gen 4:20-24).
The next growth we learn of is when Nimrod, the mighty warrior, so great that even God saw him as great (‘before the Lord’) founded his empire in the land of Shinar. It is significant that an element of that empire was Babel (Gen 10:9-10). This then resulted at some stage in the building of the tower in the city of Babel, probably a religious ziggurat, in order that men may ‘make a name for themselves’ (Gen 11:4 with 9). In other words they established idolatry as against the worship of the One true God, they began to expand by conquest in order to build up an empire, and they wanted to prevent others doing the same. They wanted ‘world-wide’ control. So from the beginning Babel (possibly ‘babilu’, the gate of god) signifies empire building, idolatry, and rebellion against, and replacement of, the living God.
When later Babylon, its namesake, came into the picture it took over this image in the minds of the prophets. It was prominent through the centuries, but it came into its greatest prominence when it defeated the Assyrian empire and subjugated Jerusalem. Of all nations it alone conquered Jerusalem and took its inhabitants into captivity, destroying the Temple in the process (2Ki 25:9). For this alone it would be remembered for ever and was seen as finally doomed to be destroyed by God (Psa 137:8; Isa 13:19; Isa 14:22; Isa 21:9; Jer 51:24; Jer 51:29; Jer 51:64). We can also consider Nebuchadnezzar’s cry, ‘Is not this great Babylon that I have built?’ It was the perfect example of the pride and arrogance that made Babylon a symbol of such pride (Dan 4:30), compare ‘Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldeans’ pride’ which will be made like Sodom and Gomorrah (Isa 13:19).
Babylon was also the first of the four wild beast empires in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, the ‘head of gold’, the supreme empire (Dan 2:38-39) which along with the other empires would be destroyed by the stone without hands (Dan 2:45) which represented the setting up of God’s kingdom. And its king was famed as the one who had himself set up a golden image, representing either himself or Babylon (compare the golden head of the great image – Dan 2:32), and demanded that all nations should worship it (Dan 3:1; Dan 3:4-5). Indeed the king of Babylon was the one who declared that he would ascend to the throne of God and be like the most High (Isa 14:13).
Thus Babylon had become synonymous with overweening pride, with arrogance, with rebellion and blasphemy, with idolatry, with ambitions of empire, above all with setting itself against God. It had became a symbol of all such empires. Any similar empire which arose, filled with pride at itself, could thus be looked on as the continuation of ‘Babylon’, without being the whole of it. So John in Revelation sees the last great world empire in terms of Babylon. It must be so, for all that Babel and Babylon stood for has to be destroyed.
No doubt, looking from his standpoint, if asked, John would have thought in terms of Rome as probably representing that empire (how could he not?), but he says enough to demonstrate that he did not limit it to Rome, as we shall see. The very idea and nature of Babylon has to be destroyed, and it is nowhere stated to be only Rome.
In the next chapter the destruction of Babylon comes slightly before the end. But that is due to the symbolism. ‘Babylon’ has first to be dealt with, destroyed by those it sought to nurture, and then comes the final day of Judgment. The central feature in that final day is to be the defeat of Satan himself, and thus the destruction of Babylon the Great is first to be seen as accomplished at his hands. First Babylon, then Satan. Ironically He who raised her, destroys her, and then moves on to his own defeat. Satan is self-destructing. We must not literalise the detail too much for its purpose is theological to bring out the many aspects of the judgment and those involved around it.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
18 And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great.
Ver. 18. And there were voices ] A description of the last judgment, when heaven and earth shall conspire together for the punishment of the wicked. See Mat 24:36-41 ; Mat 24:50-51 2Pe 3:10-12 2Th 1:8 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Rev 16:18 . The conventional stormtheophany brings on an exceptionally severe earthquake, which (Rev 16:19 ) shatters Jerusalem into three parts and entirely overthrows the pagan cities. Rome’s more awful ruin is attributed in Rev 17:16 to the invasion of Oriental hordes ( cf. Rev 16:12 ); here the allusion to her downfall is proleptic (= Rev 17:2 , Rev 18:6 f.), as a climax to the foregoing catastrophe. Probably the great city is Jerusalem (sc e.g. , Andr., Bengel, Simcox, B. Weiss, J. Weiss), as in Rev 11:8 . She is distinguished from the Gentile cities as Rome also is singled out from her allies and adherents. Being primarily guilty, Rome-Babylon is reserved for a special fate. The whole passage is enigmatic and obscure. Did the earthquake destroy the inhabitants of Jerusalem? and why? The allusion must be to some form of the tradition underlying Rev 11:1-13 and Rev 14:18-20 , or to that of Zec 14:4-5 . Both earthquakes and invasions had been combined already in the O.T. eschatology ( cf. Isa 13:13 f.; Hag 2:21 f.); both perils were real, at this period; and, in delineating both dangers with a free, poetic imagination, the prophet aims as usual at impressiveness rather than at any systematic regularity. For earthquakes in Jerusalem, cf. G. A. Smith’s Jerusalem , i. pp. 61 f. : neither magnificence nor age wins oblivion for an empire’s crimes against the moral order.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
were, was. Literally came to be.
voices, &c. The texts read “lightnings, and voices, and thunders”. See Rev 4:5.
earthquake. Occurs seven times in Rev. See Rev 6:12.
and. Read “or”.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
were: Rev 4:5, Rev 8:5, Rev 11:19
a: Rev 11:13, Dan 12:1
Reciprocal: Exo 9:23 – the Lord sent 1Sa 7:10 – thundered 1Ki 19:11 – an earthquake Job 9:5 – which overturneth Psa 29:3 – thundereth Isa 2:19 – when he Isa 29:6 – General Isa 30:30 – the flame Isa 42:15 – General Eze 38:19 – Surely Joe 3:16 – and the heavens Zec 14:5 – the mountains Joh 9:32 – the world Rev 6:12 – there
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Rev 16:18. Thunder, lightnings and earthquake in symbolic language refers to great commotions in the public affairs. Such a mighty movement as the dissolving of church and state was enough to bring forth these demonstrations about the temple, for it meant so much to the interests of the cause of God who occupies the temple.
Comments by Foy E. Wallace
Verse 18.
(5) The fall of Jerusalem and citadels of oppression– Rev 16:18-21.
The upheavals of verse eighteen in the visions of voices, and thunders, and lightnings . . . and a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the face of the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great, were the symbols of the fall of Jerusalem and the attending effects of the devastation of Judea, all of which resulted in the shaking of the nations of the empire itself; and though Jerusalem had fallen, the thunders and lightnings and earthquakes were not over until the persecuting nations received full measure of divine wrath from the cup of his indignation.
History verifies the revolutionary reactions in governments symbolized by thunders and lightnings, culminating in wars between the nations of the empire in the coup d’ e tat of the conflict for power between the rulers, as in the wars of Nero Caesar. There is no need of leaving the ten epoch period of the persecutors signified in chapter 2:10 for the fulfillment of these symbols. As was true of the signs in Mat 24:34, it was true of these symbols also: This generation shall not pass till all these be fulfilled.
As the prophecy of Zec 14:4 foretold the city of Jerusalem as cleft in the midst before its fall, so verse nineteen sees that the great city was divided into three parts. It envisioned the partitioning of the city by the circumvallations of the Roman armies, as in Zec 14:1-21; and as suggested in the comments by Adam Clarke on the Zechariah prophecy and verified by the history of Josephus.
The further statement that the cities of the nations fell signified the collapse of the citadels of oppression and the strongholds of evil influence in the operations of the beast and false prophet in their lying wonders and pseudo-signs of deception and seduction. The great Babylon that came in remembrance before God was the apostate Jerusalem, that faithful city turned harlot of Isa 1:21 designated in Rev 11:8 as the spiritual Sodom and Egypt where also our Lord was crucified. In the remembrance of her apostasies God gave unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath in divine retribution for her harlotry.
In the process of this unrelenting succession of inexorable judgments, verse twenty declared that every island fled away, and the mountains were not found–that is, all the seats of authority and power of the Jewish theocracy faded away and disappeared. The fall of Jerusalem and the demolition of the temple effected the complete abrogation of Judaism and the abolition of the Jewish state.
In the ultimate dispensation of judgment on the city and the land of the Jews and their state, verse twenty-one stated that there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven . . . and men blasphemed God because of the plaque of hail. This downpour of hail was preternatural–for the plague thereof was exceeding great–it was beyond normal evulsions from the elements; it was strange and inexplicable in its proportions. It signified the wrath of God which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation –described in the prolepsis of Rev 14:10. But the adherents of the satanic beast were not moved to repentance by any of these manifestations of divine judgment; rather, in complete allegiance to the evil powers they blasphemed God in steeped and stubborn resistance to His will.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Rev 16:18. And there were lightnings and voices and thunders. What follows describing the end seems to be divided into seven particulars, of which this verse contains the first. The lightnings, etc., are those which usually accompany the judgments of God. The earthquake spoken of in the second half of the verse is the second particular, and its terrors are magnified in language of much sublimity.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
There are similarities between this and 4:5, 8:5 and 11:19. These seem to grow in intensity. The first had no earthquake. The second, at the end of the sevn seals, added the earthquakes and the third, at the end of the seven trumpets, added great hail. Here, we have an earthquake greater than man has seen before.
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books
16:18 {25} And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, [and] so great.
(25) Now is declared the execution (as is said) in Rev 16:17 and the things that shall last come to pass in heaven and in earth before the overthrow of the beast of Babylon: both generally in Rev 16:18 and particularly in the cursed city, and such as have any familiarity with it, in the last verses.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Lightning, thunder, and the greatest earthquake this planet has ever experienced will accompany, and to some extent produce, the desolation that follows. The storm theophany again appears at the end of another series of judgments (cf. Rev 8:5; Rev 11:19). These are signs of divine judgment, but this earthquake is much larger than any previous one (cf. Rev 6:12; Rev 8:5; Rev 11:13; Rev 11:19; Hag 2:6; Heb 12:26-27). It heralds the seventh bowl judgment and the end of the seals and trumpets judgments. All three series of judgments end at the same time.