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Revelation 18 Bible study: Woe, woe, the great city

The chapter opens with "The earth was illuminated with his glory." (18:1), and near its end a mighty angel says, "The light of a lamp will shine no more at all in you." (18:23).

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“After these things, I saw another angel coming down out of the sky, having great authority. The earth was illuminated with his glory.”
Revelation 18:1 · World English Bible

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“Revelation 18 names fine linen, purple and scarlet both in the merchandise (18:12) and in what the great city wore (18:16).”

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What's really going on

Another angel coming down out of the sky

In the text

John says, "After these things, I saw another angel coming down out of the sky, having great authority. The earth was illuminated with his glory." (18:1) (tap illuminated). "He cried with a mighty voice, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, and she has become a habitation of demons, a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hated bird!" (18:2) "For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her sexual immorality, the kings of the earth committed sexual immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth grew rich from the abundance of her luxury.”" (18:3) (tap merchants and luxury). The angel's words run from 18:2 to the end of 18:3, and 18:3 begins with For. The rest of the chapter has another voice from heaven, the words of the kings, the merchants and those who gain their living by sea, and a mighty angel with a stone like a great millstone. These notes identify nothing in this chapter with any city, empire, economy, trade, nation, church, company, person or era, then or now: not Babylon the great, the great city, the kings of the earth, the merchants of the earth, their merchandise, the ship masters and mariners, or the people the voice from heaven speaks to. They reckon nothing from the chapter's one day or its one hour, give no time for anything in it, and apply none of it to anyone, then or now.

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  • The merchants of the earth
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The Greek word behind it

ἔμποροςemporossay EM-por-os

Strong's: "a (wholesale) tradesman". "the merchants of the earth grew rich" (18:3), "The merchants of the earth weep and mourn over her" (18:11), "The merchants of these things" (18:15), and "your merchants were the princes of the earth" (18:23): behind merchants each time is this noun. Revelation has it four times, all in this chapter, and the New Testament has it five times (counted in RP2018, and in all eight editions TAGNT compares).

For your group

Revelation 18 Bible study questions

  1. 1"God has remembered her iniquities" (18:5). When wrong seems to go unnoticed, what difference does it make to you that God remembers?
  2. 2"you will find them no more at all" (18:14). What is something you once wanted very much that didn't last? What did you learn from it?
  3. 318:22-23 name harpists and flute players, a craftsman, the sound of a mill, the light of a lamp, and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride. Which everyday things in your own week do you tend to take for granted?

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Last reviewed October 12, 2026. Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Hebrew and Greek words are checked against the original-language texts and public-domain lexicons. What we believe · Favor home