standing far away for the fear of her torment, saying, ‘Woe, woe, the great city, Babylon, the strong city! For your judgment has come in one hour.’
Parallel Translations
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standing far away for the fear of her torment, saying, ‘Woe, woe, the great city, Babylon, the strong city! For your judgment has come in one hour.’
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and shall stonde a farre of for feare of her punnysshment sayinge: Alas Alas that gret cite Babilon that myghty cite: For at won houre is her iudgment come.
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And shall stand a farre off for feare of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great citie Babylon, that mightie citie: for in one houre is thy iudgement come.
Cross-references (11)
Passages linked to Revelation 18:10 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Revelation 18:19 They cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and mourning, saying, ‘Woe, woe, the great city, in which all who had their ships in the sea were made rich by reason of her great wealth!’ For she is made desolate in one hour.
- Revelation 18:8 Therefore in one day her plagues will come: death, mourning, and famine; and she will be utterly burned with fire; for the Lord God who has judged her is strong.
- Revelation 18:15-17 The merchants of these things, who were made rich by her, will stand far away for the fear of her torment, weeping and mourning, saying, ‘Woe, woe, the great city, she who was dressed in fine linen, purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls! For in an hour such great riches are made desolate.’ Every ship master, and everyone who sails anywhere, and mariners, and as many as gain their living by sea, stood far away,
- Revelation 14:8 Another, a second angel, followed, saying, “Babylon the great has fallen, which has made all the nations to drink of the wine of the wrath of her sexual immorality.”
- Joel 1:15 Alas for the day! For the day of Yahweh is at hand, and it will come as destruction from the Almighty.
- Amos 5:16 Therefore Yahweh, the God of Armies, the Lord, says: “Wailing will be in all the wide ways; and they will say in all the streets, ‘Alas! Alas!’ and they will call the farmer to mourning, and those who are skillful in lamentation to wailing.
- Jeremiah 30:7 Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it. It is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he will be saved out of it.
- Jeremiah 51:8-9 Babylon has suddenly fallen and been destroyed! Wail for her! Take balm for her pain. Perhaps she may be healed. “We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed. Forsake her, and let’s each go into his own country; for her judgment reaches to heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies.
- Revelation 17:12 The ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority as kings with the beast for one hour.
- Numbers 16:34 All Israel that were around them fled at their cry; for they said, “Lest the earth swallow us up!”
- Isaiah 21:9 Behold, here comes a troop of men, horsemen in pairs.” He answered, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon; and all the engraved images of her gods are broken to the ground.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (13 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 10 Standing afar off for the fear of her…
10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
Ver. 10. Standing afar off] As fearing their own safety, they will not venture themselves for an old withered harlot, that is now (Lais-like) ready to be extinct in the last act of her uncleanness, Λαις τελευτωσ’ απεθανε βινουμενη. (Athenaeus, xiii.)
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For in one hour] God will make short work of it when once he begins, Rom 9:28. This should be an encouragement to Christian princes and states, to set upon the service. The pirates’ war was incredibili celeritate et temporis brevitate confectum, saith Austin, soon despatched; so shall this. Papists vaunt now of their temporal felicity, as a note of their Church, and make catalogues of the strange victories that the Catholics have had. Bellarmine brags, that vix unquam fuerunt haeretici superiores quando iusto proelio dimicatum est (tom. ii. lib. 4, cap. 14), the heretics scarcely ever had the day when it came to be tried in a just battle. But if all this had been true (as it is not), yet at last, in one hour shall their judgment come. See Rev 18:19; Rev 18:22. {See Trapp on "Rev 18:19"} {See Trapp on "Rev 18:22"}
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain As well as they loved her, they will not…
As well as they loved her, they will not come nigh her in the time of her torments; the fire will be too hot for them, they will only stand aloof off, and pity her, that so great and brave a city should be so suddenly ruined; such a gay and splendid church, so politicly founded and put together, should be in a sudden so broken to pieces.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Standing afar off for the fear of her torment,....…
Standing afar off for the fear of her torment,.... Lest they themselves should share in it, who have partook of her sins; either they will not be in a capacity to help her, or they will be dispirited, and will be in awe and dread of God's righteous judgments:
saying, alas! alas! that great city Babylon! that mighty city! it will aggravate their sorrow, when they reflect upon the former grandeur, magnificence, power, and authority, of the city and see of Rome, so often called in this book the great city; and so it is by other writers; the Jews call it so: they say (c), when the Messiah comes,
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"the kings of the world shall be gathered to , "the great city" of Rome; and the holy blessed God will cast upon them fire and hail, and great hail stones, (with which compare Rev 16:21), and they shall perish from the world, except those kings that do not come there.''
It is common with the Jewish writers to call the Roman empire Edom; and Magdiel, one of the dukes of Edom, Gen 36:43 who has his name from "greatness", is interpreted by one of their commentators (d) of Rome; the reason of which, another of them says (e), is because Rome is become great above all kingdoms: the mount of Esau in Oba 1:21 is interpreted , "that great city" of Esau, which is Rome (f), and the same epithet it has in the Talmud (g); and Porphyry calls it , "that great city", without making mention of its name, as here; so among the Latins (h), "Magnoe spes altera" Romae:
for in one hour is thy judgment come: the Ethiopic version reads, "the hour of her judgment"; the time of her punishment fixed by God; but the sense is, that her vengeance was suddenly come upon her; this is the judgment of the great whore, which the angel proposed to show to John, Rev 17:1.
(c) Zohar in Gen. fol. 74. 3. (d) Jarchi in Gen. xxxvi. 43. (e) Abarbinel in Dan. fol. 42. 3. (f) Jarchi in Obadiah, ver. 21. (g) T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 21. 2. (h) Servius in Virgil, Eclog. 6. p. 67.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Thou strong city - Rome was anciently termed by…
Thou strong city - Rome was anciently termed by its inhabitants, Valentia, that is, strong. And the word Rome itself, in Greek, signifies strength. This name was given it by the Greek strangers.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 10. Standing afar off] Beholding her desolations with…
Verse 10. Standing afar off] Beholding her desolations with wonder and astonishment, utterly unable to afford her any kind of assistance.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Standing afar off for the fear of her torment…
Standing afar off for the fear of her torment - Not daring to approach, to attempt to rescue and save her. They who had so long contributed to the support of the papal power, and who had, in turn, been upheld by that, would not now even attempt to rescue her, but would stand by and see her destroyed, unable to render relief.
Alas, alas, that great city Babylon - The language of lamentation that so great and so mighty a city should fall.
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For in one hour is thy judgment come - See the notes on Rev 18:8. The general sentiment here is, that, in the final ruin of papal Rome, the kings and governments that had sustained her, and had been sustained by her, would see the source of their power taken away, but that they would not, or could not attempt her rescue. There have been not a few indications already that this will ultimately occur, and that the papal power will be left to fall, without any attempt, on the part of those governments which have been so long in alliance with it, to sustain or restore it.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Alas! Alas! St. Augustine informs us, that the people…
Alas! Alas! St. Augustine informs us, that the people of the eastern provinces, and the remotest cities, mourned in a public manner on this occasion. (De Civ. Dei. lib. 1, chap. xxxiii.)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain God's judgments inspire fear even in the worldly, but…
God's judgments inspire fear even in the worldly, but it is of short duration, for the kings and great men soon attach themselves to the beast in its last and worst shape, as open Antichrist, claiming all that the harlot had claimed in blasphemous pretensions and more, and so making up to them for the loss of the harlot.
mighty--Rome in Greek means strength; though that derivation is doubtful.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 10. for the fear] i.e. because of their fear.…
10. for the fear] i.e. because of their fear. Their regret for her destruction is sincere, but does not make them forget themselves.
Alas, alas] The interjection is the same as is elsewhere rendered “Woe.” So in Rev_18:16.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Standing afar off for the fear of her torment,…
Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying. Unconsciously acting upon the command in ver. 4, "Come out of her... that ye receive not of her plagues." Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come; Woe, woe, the great city. (cf. the previous declaration of woe in Rev_8:13) In one hour (cf. ver. 8). Some writers understand the "one hour" to refer to the space of time during which the kings rule; (see Rev_17:12) but a comparison with ver. 8 leads to the conclusion that the meaning is "suddenly;" the contrast in a short time between the two positions of Babylon enhancing the fearfulness of the visitation.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain 10. Standing afar off. The picture represents these mourners…
10. Standing afar off. The picture represents these mourners looking from a great distance, afraid to approach nearer. For in one hour is thy judgment come. It has come suddenly.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain (See Scofield "Isa 13:1"), note 2.
Babylon
(See Scofield "Isa 13:1"), note 2.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 18:10 With a terrified sense of separation and abandonment…
18:10 With a terrified sense of separation and abandonment (see 18:15, 17), the kings stand at a distance in a futile attempt to avoid punishment.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.