Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong [is] the Lord God who judgeth her.
8. she shall be utterly burnt with fire ] So Rev 17:16. While literally true of the city, the doom may refer to that pronounced by the Law on certain cases of foul fornication, Lev 21:9, &c.
for strong is the Lord God ] Jer 50:34.
that Judgeth ] Rather, that hath judged.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Therefore – In consequence of her pride, arrogance, and luxury, and of the calamities that she has brought upon others.
Shall her plagues come in one day – They shall come in a time when she is living in ease and security; and they shall come at the same time – so that all these terrible judgments shall seem to be poured upon her at once.
Death – This expression, and those which follow, are designed to denote the same thing under different images. The general meaning is, that there would be utter and final destruction. It would be as if death should come and cut off the inhabitants.
And mourning – As there would be where many were cut off by death.
And famine – As if famine raged within the walls of a besieged city, or spread over a land,
And she shall be utterly burned with fire – As completely destroyed as if she were entirely burned up. The certain and complete destruction of that formidable anti-Christian power is predicted under a great variety of emphatic images. See Rev 14:10-11; Rev 16:17-21; Rev 17:9, Rev 17:16. Perhaps in this so frequent reference to a final destruction of that formidable anti-Christian power by fire, there may be more intended than merely a figurative representation of its final ruin. There is some degree of probability, at least, that Rome itself will be literally destroyed in this manner, and that it is in this way that God intends to put an end to the papal power, by destroying what has been so long the seat and the center of this authority. The extended prevalence of this belief, and the grounds for it, may be seen from the following remarks:
(1) It was an early opinion among the Jewish rabbies that Rome would be thus destroyed. Vitringa, on the Apocalypse, cites some opinions of this kind; the Jewish expectation being founded, as he says, on the passage in Isa 34:9, as Edom was supposed to mean Rome. This chapter, says Kimchi, points out the future destruction of Rome, here called Bozra, for Bozra was a great city of the Edomites. This is, indeed, worthless as a proof or an interpretation of Scripture, for it is a wholly unfounded interpretation; it is of value only as showing that somehow the Jews entertained this opinion.
(2) The same expectation was entertained among the early Christians. Thus Mr. Gibbon (vol. i. p. 263, ch. xv.), referring to the expectations of the glorious reign of the Messiah on the earth (compare the notes on Rev 14:8), says, speaking of Rome as the mystic Babylon, and of its anticipated destruction: A regular series was prepared (in the minds of Christians) of all the moral and physical evils which can afflict a flourishing nation; intestine discord, and the invasion of the fiercest barbarians from the unknown regions of the north; pestilence and famine, comets and eclipses, earthquakes and inundations. All these were only so many preparatory and alarming signs of the great catastrophe of Rome, when the country of the Scipios and Caesars should be consumed by a flame from heaven, and the city of the seven hills, with her palaces, her temples, and her triumphal arches, should be buried in a vast lake of fire and brimstone. So even Gregory the Great, one of the most illustrious of the Roman pontiffs, himself says, acknowledging his belief in the truth of the tradition: Roma a Gentilibus non exterminabitur; sed tempestatibus, coruscis turbinibus, ac terrae motu, in se marcescet (Dial. Isa 2:15).
(3) Whatever may be thought of these opinions and expectations, there is some foundation for the opinion in the nature of the case:
(a) The region is adapted to this. It is not Aetna, the Lipari volcanic islands, Vesuvius, that alone offer visible indications of the physical adaptedness of Italy for such a catastrophe. The great Apennine mountain-chain is mainly volcanic in its character, and the country of Rome more especially is as strikingly so almost as that of Sodom itself. Thus the mineralogist Ferber, in his Tour in Italy, says: The road from Rome to Ostia is all volcanic ashes until within two miles of Ostia. From Rome to Tivoli I went on fields and hills of volcanic ashes or tufa. A volcanic hill in an amphitheatrical form includes a part of the plain over Albano, and a flat country of volcanic ashes and hills to Rome. The ground about Rome is generally of that nature, pp. 189, 191, 200, 234.
(b) Mr. Gibbon, with his usual accuracy, as if commenting on the Apocalypse, has referred to the physical adaptedness of the soil of Rome for such an overthrow. Speaking of the anticipation of the end of the world among the early Christians, he says: In the opinion of a general conflagration, the faith of the Christian very happily coincided with the tradition of the East, the philosophy of the Stoics, and the analogy of nature; and even the country, which, from religious motives, had been chosen for the origin and principal scene of the conflagration, was the best adapted for that purpose by natural and physical causes; by its deep caverns, beds of sulphur, and numerous volcanoes, of which those of Aetna, of Vesuvius, and of Lipari, exhibit a very imperfect representation, vol. i. p. 263, ch. xv. As to the general state of Italy, in reference to volcanoes, the reader may consult, with advantage, Lyells Geology, book ii. ch. 912. See also Murrays Encyclopaedia of Geography, book ii. ch. 2. Of the country around Rome it is said in that work, among other things: The country around Rome, and also the hills on which it is built, is composed of tertiary marls, clays, and sandstones, and intermixed with a preponderating quantity of granular and lithoidal volcanic tufas. The many lakes around Rome are formed by craters of ancient volcanoes. On the road to Rome is the Lake of Vico, formerly the Lacus Cimini, which has all the appearance of a crater.
The following extract from a recent traveler will still further confirm this representation: I behold everywhere – in Rome, near Rome, and through the whole region from Rome to Naples – most astounding proof, not merely of the possibility, but the probability, that the whole region of central Italy will one day be destroyed by such a catastrophe (by earthquakes or volcanoes). The soil of Rome is tufa, with a volcanic subterranean action going on. At Naples the boiling sulphur is to be seen bubbling near the surface of the earth. When I drew a stick along the ground, the sulphurous smoke followed the indentation; and it would never surprise me to hear of the utter destruction of the southern peninsula of Italy. The entire country and district is volcanic. It is saturated with beds of sulphur and the substrata of destruction. It seems as certainly prepared for the flames, as the wood and coal on the hearth are prepared for the taper which shall kindle the fire to consume them. The divine hand alone seems to me to hold the element of fire in check by a miracle as great as what protected the cities of the plain, until the righteous Lot had made his escape to the mountains (Townsends Tour in Italy in 1850).
For strong is the Lord God who judgeth her – That is, God has ample power to bring all these calamities upon her.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 8. Therefore shall her plagues come] Death, by the sword of her adversaries; mourning on account of the slaughter; and famine, the fruits of the field being destroyed by the hostile bands.
Utterly burned with fire] Of what city is this spoken? Rome pagan has never been thus treated; Alaric and Totilas burnt only some parts with fire. Rome papal has not been thus treated; but this is true of Jerusalem, and yet Jerusalem is not generally thought to be intended.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Therefore shall her plagues come in one day; as was threatened to old Babylon, Isa 47:9.
In one day; that is, in a short time.
Death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire; all manner of judgments, till she be fully consumed.
For strong is the Lord God who judgeth her; for she hath to do with a strong Lord: she thinks she hath secured herself from man, by interesting kings and princes in her quarrel; but it is the Lord that judgeth her, and she will find him strong enough to accomplish his word upon her.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
8. deathon herself, thoughshe thought herself secure even from the death of her husband.
mourninginstead of herfeasting.
famineinstead of herluxurious delicacies (Rev 18:3;Rev 18:7).
fire(See on Re17:16). Literal fire may burn the literal city of Rome, which issituated in the midst of volcanic agencies. As the ground was cursedfor Adam’s sin, and the earth under Noah was sunk beneath the flood,and Sodom was burnt with fire, so may Rome be. But as the harlot ismystical (the whole faithless Church), the burning may bemainly mystical, symbolizing utter destruction and removal. BENGELis probably right in thinking Rome will once more rise to power. Thecarnal, faithless, and worldly elements in all churches, Roman,Greek, and Protestant, tend towards one common center, and preparethe way for the last form of the beast, namely, Antichrist. ThePharisees were in the main sound in creed, yet judgment fell on themas on the unsound Sadducees and half-heathenish Samaritans. Sofaithless and adulterous, carnal, worldly Protestant churches, willnot escape for their soundness of creed.
the Lordso B, C,Syriac, and ANDREAS.But A and Vulgate omit. “Strong” is the meaning ofGod’s Hebrew name, “EL.”
judgethBut A, B, and Cread the past tense (Greek, “krinas“),”who hath judged her”: the prophetical past for thefuture: the charge in Re 18:4to God’s people to come out of her implies that the judgmentwas not yet actually executed.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Therefore shall her plagues come in one day,…. The seven last plagues, which will be in a very little time executed upon her, very speedily and very quickly, one after another, if not all together; and particularly the fifth vial may be respected, as well as the plagues that follow; see Isa 47:9
death; not the second death, which will not be till after the decisive battle at Armageddon, when the beast will be taken, and cast alive into the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death; but either the pestilence, which is called so, Re 6:8 or rather death by the sword, war, which will be brought upon her, and in which she and her children will be slain with the sword:
mourning; for the loss of her children, the destruction of the city of Rome itself, the seat of the beast, and for the darkness of his kingdom, the inhabitants of which shall be in such pain, as to gnaw their tongues for it:
famine; which generally attends war, at least sieges; and it looks as if Rome would be besieged awhile before it is destroyed, which will produce a grievous famine in it; this is opposed to her living deliciously, as well as the two former are to her notion of sitting a queen for ever, and knowing no sorrow:
and she shall be utterly burnt with fire; the burning of Rome has been attempted several times, by different persons, and has been burnt in part, but not wholly, [See comments on Re 17:16] but now it will be entirely destroyed by fire; either by fire from heaven, as Sodom and Gomorrah were; or by fire breaking out of the earth, it being very manifest that there are volcanos, burning mountains, and subterraneous fires in those parts, which seem to be so many preparations in nature for the burning of that city; or rather by the ten kings, who will set fire to it; and it may be by all these ways. The Jews have a notion, that, at the coming of the Messiah, Rome will be burnt a, as Sodom has been; you will find, say they b, that of Sodom and of that kingdom (Rome, of which they are speaking, and which they afterwards call the fourth kingdom), it is decreed concerning them both, that they “should be burnt with fire”; of Sodom, Ge 19:24 and of the fourth kingdom (Rome), Isa 34:9.
for strong is the Lord God that judgeth her; the Alexandrian copy reads, “that has judged”: and so the Syriac and Arabic versions; that is, has purposed and determined her destruction, and therefore it is unavoidable; he that has resolved upon it, and foretold it, and has condemned her to it, is the Lord God Almighty; and he is able to execute the sentence determined and pronounced, and it is impossible she should escape: it may be understood of Christ the mighty God, the Judge of quick and dead; see Jer 50:34.
a Zohar in Gen. fol. 74. 3. & in Numb. fol. 86. 1. b Yalkut Simeoni, par. 2. fol. 48. 2.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Therefore ( ). Because of her presumption added to her crimes.
In one day ( ). Symbolical term for suddenness like , in one hour (Rev 18:10; Rev 18:16; Rev 18:19). John has in mind still Isa 47:7-9.
Shall come (). Future active of . Her plagues are named (death, mourning, famine).
She shall be utterly burned (). Future passive of (perfective use of ).
With fire ( ). “In fire,” as in 17:16.
Which judged her ( ). Articular first aorist active participle of referring to (the Lord God). The doom of Babylon is certain because of the power of God.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Therefore shall her plagues come, etc. See Isa 47:8, 9.
Who judgeth [ ] . Read krinav judged.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Therefore shall her plagues come in one day.” (dia touto en mia hemera heksousin hai plegai autes) “Therefore (as just dues) there will come to her in one day,” in that day of his great wrath, Rev 6:17; Rev 18:10; Isa 47:9.
a) “Death” (thanatos) “death in its fulness,” to her, who in vain expected longevity, a long, extended life. Death reigns over her rather than delight.
b) “And mourning,” (kai penthos) “and sorrow,” for her rioting and drunkenness – mourning replaces mirth.
c) “And famine,” (kai limos) “also famine,” to replace her delicacies and dainties; famine follows feasting.
2) “And she shall be utterly burned with fire,” (kai en puri katakauthesetai) “She will be burned down and burned up,” consumed with fire when the Lord comes, “in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God,” Isa 13:19; 2Th 1:7-9; Rev 17:16. It shall be a sudden, consuming judgment.
3) “For strong is the Lord God who judgeth her,” (hoti ischuros kurios ho theos ho krinas auten) “Because strong is (exists) the Lord, the God, the one judging her,” who judges her – – the Great Babylon, Jer 50:34; Rev 11:17. In His judgment hands her strength will be near perfect weakness; Heb 10:31. Note the fury of the flood and the end of Sodom and Gomorrha.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(8) Therefore shall her plagues come . . .Read, For this cause in one day shall come her plagues, death and mourning . . . and with fire shall she be burnt, for strong is the Lord God who judged her. God, the mighty God, has passed sentence. She thought herself strong; she forgot the strength of the Almighty. Her plagues are four-fold, as though from every quarter her trouble came: death for her scorn of the prospect of widowhood; mourning, for her inordinate revelling; famine, for her abundance; and fire, the punishment of her fornication (Lev. 20:14; Lev. 21:9). (Comp. the series of contrasts in Isa. 3:24-26.)
THE LAMENT OF THE KINGS (Rev. 18:9-10).(Their words of lament are given in Rev. 18:10.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
8. Plagues Note on Rev 18:4.
One day Modification of Isa 47:9. Referring here, not so much to their suddenness as to their simultaneity in the end. Most commentators understand that her plagues came gradually, and even in chronological order.
Death mourning famine The united consequence of her plagues.
Burned with fire Jer 51:58.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Therefore in one day will her plagues come, death and mourning and famine, and she will be utterly burned with fire, for strong is the Lord God who judged her.’
This came upon Rome even though by that time it called itself a ‘Christian’ city. But it was still a cesspool of sin and its nature essentially Godless. It was only changed outwardly, not inwardly. Sin, whether in individuals or in great cities, will receive its inevitable consequence, and that consequence often comes suddenly. For however great the propagators of sin, the Lord God is greater.
Isaiah also declared that Babylon’s destruction would come ‘in one day’ (Isa 47:9). The description is typical of a besieged city, and the fate typical of ‘great cities’ through the ages – death, mourning, famine, then utterly burned with fire (compare ‘the smoke of her burning’ (v. 9; v. 18)). While we may tend to feel ourselves beyond it, it has even happened to great cities in our own day. Man can ever surprise us with his propensity for evil.
It is important to recognise, as you read this chapter through, that what is rejoiced over is the end of Great Babylon and what it represented. The people are in the background.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
8 Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.
Ver. 8. Therefore shall her plagues ] Security ushereth in destruction, God shall shoot at such with an arrow suddenly, and fetch them off, as he did the rich fool, Luk 12:16-21
Come in one day ] To confute their fond conceit of an eternal empire. See the like, Isa 48:9 . When the war began in Germany, A. D. 1619, it was reported, that a great brass image of the Apostle Peter (that had Tu es Petrus, &c., Thou art Peter, and upon this rock will I build my Church, engraven about it) standing in St Peter’s church at Rome, there was a great and massive stone fell down upon it, and so shattered it to pieces, that not a letter of that sentence was left legible, save these words, Aedificabo Ecclesiam meam, I will build my Church. This was ominous to that tottering title of Rome, and might have taught the popelings, that God is about to build his Church upon the ruins of their worm eaten title. The Lord thereby seemed to say the same unto them, that once he did to Israel by Ezekiel, “An end is come, the end is come, it watcheth for this, behold it is come,” Eze 7:6 . Sed surdis fabulam. This hath been long and loud rung in their ears, but they will not be warned.
Death ] That is, war, that deadly evil, called an evil, , Isa 45:7 ; “I make peace, and create evil,” that is, war: a woeful evil that hews its way through a wood of men, in a minute of time, from the mouth of a murderingpiece, and causeth thousands to exhale their breath without so much as “Lord, have mercy upon us.” Hence the poet:
” Omega nostrorum mors est, Mars Alpha malorum. “
And mourning ] . For the loss of dead friends.
And famine ] The usual concomitant of war, in sieges especially. See Trapp on “ Rev 6:5 “
For strong is the Lord ] Full able to effect it, seem it to Babel’s brats never so improbable or impossible.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Rev 18:8 . This drastic, ample punishment, though executed by subordinates in Rev 17:16-17 , is here (as in 5, 20) regarded on its divine side. God is strong, as well as guilty, glorious Rome (Rev 18:10 , cf. on Rev 6:15 ); and his strength is manifested in the huge shocks of history, as well as in creation (Rev 4:11 , Rev 5:13 ). Rome’s proud disregard of all that was mutable in human conditions is visited with condign retribution. The prophet sees not a decline and fall but a sudden collapse (Rev 18:10 ; Rev 18:16 ; Rev 18:19 ).
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Therefore = For this cause. Greek. dia (App-104. Rev 18:2) touto.
come. i.e. suddenly. Same word in 2Pe 3:10.
with. App-104.
strong = mighty, as verses: Rev 18:10, Rev 18:21. See Rev 18:2.
LORD. App-98.
judgeth. The texts read “judged”. App-122. The suddenness and completeness of Babylon’s judgment and disappearance from the face of the earth is the prominent feature of this prophecy, proving that that judgment has not yet taken place. Isa 13:20. Jer 50:13, Jer 50:39, Jer 50:40; Jer 51:29, Jer 51:37, Jer 51:43; &c., await fulfillment.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Rev 18:8. , strong) , LXX., , 2Sa 22:32, and everywhere.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
shall her: Rev 18:10, Rev 18:17, Rev 18:19, Isa 47:9-11, Jer 51:6
and she: Rev 18:9, Rev 17:18, Rev 19:3, Jer 51:58
for: Rev 11:17, Job 9:19, Psa 62:11, Isa 27:1, Jer 50:31, Jer 50:34, 1Co 10:22
Reciprocal: Exo 9:14 – send all Exo 13:9 – strong hand Num 31:10 – General Jos 6:24 – burnt Jdg 20:41 – were amazed 1Sa 26:10 – the Lord liveth Pro 14:13 – General Ecc 2:1 – I will Isa 1:24 – the mighty Isa 9:14 – in one day Isa 13:4 – the Lord Isa 13:9 – cruel Isa 14:6 – is persecuted Isa 14:13 – thou Isa 23:8 – Who hath Isa 28:2 – as a tempest Isa 32:13 – General Jer 50:24 – and thou wast Jer 50:25 – this Jer 50:32 – none Jer 50:40 – General Jer 51:8 – suddenly Eze 23:25 – thy residue Eze 28:18 – therefore Dan 7:11 – even Joe 2:11 – he is Oba 1:3 – saith Zec 1:15 – General Mar 8:36 – what Luk 1:51 – showed Luk 9:25 – what Luk 12:45 – to eat 1Th 5:3 – then 2Th 2:8 – whom Jam 4:9 – let Rev 17:16 – and burn
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Rev 18:8. With suddenness and fearfulness her plagues shall come upon her. In one day her glory shall be turned to shame. In the midst of her feasting an unseen hand shall write upon the wall of her banqueting-room that she is weighed in the balances and is found wanting, and that night she shall perish (comp. Isa 47:9), for mighty is the Lord God who judged her.
At this point three classes of persons are introduced to us, uttering their lamentations over the fall of Babylonkings (Rev 18:9-10), merchants (Rev 18:11-16), sailors (Rev 18:17-19). At Rev 18:20 there follows a general call to rejoice over what has happened to her. The whole is moulded upon the lamentation over Tyre in Ezekiel 26, 27, and is of unequalled pathos.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
In one swift movement, the queen, who boasted of being seated as in a perpetual reign, would be dead. She would be brought to mourning, just like a widow mourns, and famine would cause her real sorrow. She had overlooked her most powerful enemy, the Lord.
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books
Verse 8
In one day; suddenly. This and similar expressions, in Revelation 18:10,17,21, indicate, in the opinion of some commentators, that Jerusalem was the city intended; as the destruction of that city was sudden and overwhelming.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
18:8 Therefore shall her plagues come in {e} one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong [is] the Lord God who judgeth her.
(e) Shortly, and at one instant.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The "one day" may very well be literal (cf. Dan 5:1; Dan 5:3-5; Dan 5:30). "One day" also expresses suddenness, as does the "one hour" in Rev 18:10; Rev 18:16; Rev 18:19 (cf. Isa 47:9). Likewise we could interpret the burning literally (cf. Isa 47:14). Rebuilt Babylon and the cities that are the centers for this worldwide network of political, commercial activity will evidently burn up in the great earthquake (Rev 16:18-19). She will collapse suddenly, like the World Trade Center towers in New York City in 2001, not decline gradually. The strength of the Lord God will accomplish this destruction, but He will use means (Rev 17:16-17).