Revelation 11:8

11:8 Their ¹  corpses will lie in the street ²  of the great city that is symbolically ³  called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was also crucified.

Revelation 17:2-5

17:2 with whom the kings of the earth committed sexual immorality and the earth’s inhabitants got drunk with the wine of her immorality.” ⁴  17:3 So ⁵  he carried me away in the Spirit ⁶  to a wilderness, ⁷  and there ⁸  I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns. 17:4 Now ⁹  the woman was dressed in purple and scarlet clothing, ¹⁰  and adorned with gold, ¹¹  precious stones, and pearls. She held ¹²  in her hand a golden cup filled with detestable things and unclean things from her sexual immorality. ¹³  17:5 On ¹⁴  her forehead was written a name, a mystery: ¹⁵  “Babylon the Great, the Mother of prostitutes and of the detestable things of the earth.”

Revelation 18:3

18:3 For all the nations ¹⁶  have fallen ¹⁷  from

the wine of her immoral passion, ¹⁸ 

and the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality with her,

and the merchants of the earth have gotten rich from the power of her sensual behavior.” ¹⁹ 

Revelation 18:10

18:10 They will stand a long way off because they are afraid of her torment, and will say,

“Woe, woe, O great city,

Babylon the powerful city!

For in a single hour your doom ²⁰  has come!”

Revelation 18:18

18:18 and began to shout ²¹  when they saw the smoke from the fire that burned her up, ²²  “Who is like the great city?”

Revelation 18:21

18:21 Then ²³  one powerful angel picked up a stone like a huge millstone, threw it into the sea, and said,

“With this kind of sudden violent force ²⁴ 

Babylon the great city will be thrown down ²⁵ 

and it will never be found again!

Revelation 19:2

19:2 because his judgments are true and just. ²⁶ 

For he has judged ²⁷  the great prostitute

who corrupted the earth with her sexual immorality,

and has avenged the blood of his servants ²⁸  poured out by her own hands!” ²⁹ 

Jeremiah 51:7

51:7 Babylonia had been a gold cup in the Lord’s hand.

She had made the whole world drunk.

The nations had drunk from the wine of her wrath. ³⁰ 

So they have all gone mad. ³¹ 

Ezekiel 16:15-22

16:15 “‘But you trusted in your beauty and capitalized on your fame by becoming a prostitute. You offered your sexual favors to every man who passed by so that your beauty ³²  became his. 16:16 You took some of your clothing and made for yourself decorated high places; you engaged in prostitution on them. You went to him to become his. ³³  16:17 You also took your beautiful jewelry, made of my gold and my silver I had given to you, and made for yourself male images and engaged in prostitution ³⁴  with them. 16:18 You took your embroidered clothing and used it to cover them; you offered my olive oil and my incense to them. 16:19 As for my food that I gave you – the fine flour, olive oil, and honey I fed you – you placed it before them as a soothing aroma. That is exactly what happened, declares the sovereign Lord.

16:20 “‘You took your sons and your daughters whom you bore to me and you sacrificed them ³⁵  as food for the idols to eat. As if your prostitution not enough, 16:21 you slaughtered my children and sacrificed them to the idols. ³⁶  16:22 And with all your abominable practices and prostitution you did not remember the days of your youth when you were naked and bare, kicking around in your blood.

Nahum 3:19

3:19 Your destruction is like an incurable wound; ³⁷ 

your demise is like a fatal injury! ³⁸ 

All who hear what has happened to you ³⁹  will clap their hands for joy, ⁴⁰ 

for no one ever escaped your endless cruelty! ⁴¹ 

¹ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

² tn The Greek word πλατεῖα (plateia) refers to a major (broad) street (L&N 1.103).

³ tn Grk “spiritually.”

⁴ tn This is the same word translated “sexual immorality” earlier in the verse, but here the qualifier “sexual” has not been repeated for stylistic reasons.

⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of the angel’s invitation to witness the fate of the prostitute.

⁶ tn Or “in the spirit.” “Spirit” could refer either to the Holy Spirit or the human spirit, but in either case John was in “a state of spiritual exaltation best described as a trance” (R. H. Mounce, Revelation [NICNT], 75).

⁷ tn Or “desert.”

⁸ tn The word “there” is not in the Greek text, but is supplied for stylistic reasons.

⁹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the detailed description of the woman, which is somewhat parenthetical in nature.

¹⁰ tn The word “clothing” is supplied to clarify that the words “purple” and “scarlet” refer to cloth or garments rather than colors.

¹¹ tn Grk “gilded with gold” (an instance of semantic reinforcement, see L&N 49.29).

¹² tn Grk “pearls, having in her hand.” Due to the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

¹³ tc Several mss (including 1611 1854 2053 Ï^K pc) read “sexual immorality on/of the earth” (πορνείας τῆς γῆς, porneia" th" gh") instead of “her sexual immorality.” Other mss (א sy^h** [co]) read “her sexual immorality and the earth’s” (πορνείας αὐτῆς καὶ τῆς γῆς, porneia" aujth" kai th" gh"). The translation is a rendering of πορνείας αὐτῆς, found in {A 1006 2344 al}. It seems that the first reading “sexuality immorality on/of the earth” was a scribal mistake in which letters may have been confused (auths would have been read as thsghs), or was perhaps influenced by the presence of “of the world” (τῆς γῆς) at the end of v. 5. The original wording seems to be “her sexual immorality”; codex א has conflated the two readings.

¹⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

¹⁵ tn Some translations consider the word μυστήριον (musthrion, “mystery”) a part of the name written (“Mystery Babylon the Great,” so KJV, NIV), but the gender of both ὄνομα (onoma, “name”) and μυστήριον are neuter, while the gender of “Babylon” is feminine. This strongly suggests that μυστήριον should be understood as an appositive to ὄνομα (“a name, i.e., a mystery”).

¹⁶ tn Or “all the Gentiles” (the same Greek word may be translated “Gentiles” or “nations”).

¹⁷ tc ‡ Several mss (א A C 1006* 1611 1841 2030 Ï^K), including the best witnesses, read “have fallen” (πεπτώκασιν or πέπτωκαν [peptwkasin or peptwkan]). The singular πέπτωκεν (peptwken), which is better grammatically with the neuter plural subject πάντα τὰ ἔθνη (panta ta eqnh, “all the nations”), is read by 1854 2062 pc; 2042 pc read πεπότικεν (pepotiken). A few mss (1006^c 2329 pc latt sy^h) read “have drunk” (πέπωκαν/πεπώκασιν, pepwkan/pepwkasin); the singular πέπωκεν (pepwken) is read by P 051 1 2053* al. The more difficult reading and that which has the best ms support is “have fallen.” That it is not too difficult is evidenced by the fact that the great majority of Byzantine minuscules, which have a tendency to smooth out problems, left it stand as is. Nonetheless, it is somewhat difficult (TCGNT 683 says that this reading is “scarcely suitable in the context”), and for that reason certain mss seem to have changed it to “have drunk” to agree with the idea of “wine” (οἴνου, oinou). One can understand how this could happen: A scribe coming to the text and seeing the term “wine” expects a verb of drinking. When he sees “have fallen” and knows that in Greek the verbs “have fallen” and “have drunk” are spelled similarly, he concludes that there has been a slip of the pen in the ms he is using, which he then seeks to correct back to the “have drunk” reading. This appears to be more reasonable than to conclude that three early uncials (i.e., א A C) as well as a great number of other witnesses all felt the need to change “have drunk” (πέπωκαν) to “have fallen” (πέπτωκαν), even if “fallen” occurs in the immediate context (“fallen, fallen, [ἔπεσεν ἔπεσεν, epesen epesen] Babylon the great” in the preceding verse). The preferred reading, on both external and internal grounds, is “have fallen,” and thus the Seer intends to focus on the effects of wine, namely, a drunken stupor.

¹⁸ tn See the notes on the words “passion” in Rev 14:8 and “wrath” in 16:19.

¹⁹ tn According to BDAG 949 s.v. στρῆνος and στρηνιάω, these terms can refer either to luxury or sensuality. In the context of Rev 18, however (as L&N 88.254 indicate) the stress is on gratification of the senses by sexual immorality, so that meaning was emphasized in the translation here.

²⁰ tn Or “judgment,” condemnation,” “punishment.” BDAG 569 s.v. κρίσις 1.a.β states, “The word oft. means judgment that goes against a person, condemnation, and the sentence that follows…ἡ κ. σου your judgment Rv 18:10.”

²¹ tn Here the imperfect ἔκραζον (ekrazon) has been translated ingressively.

²² tn Grk “from the burning of her, saying.” For the translation “the smoke from the fire that burned her up,” see L&N 14.63. Here the participle λέγοντες (legontes, “saying”) has not been translated because it is redundant in contemporary English.

²³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.

²⁴ tn On ὅρμημα ({ormhma) BDAG 724 s.v. states, “violent rush, onset ὁρμήματι βληθήσεται Βαβυλών Babylon will be thrown down with violence Rv 18:21.” L&N 68.82 refers to the suddenness of the force or violence.

²⁵ sn Thrown down is a play on both the words and the action. The angel’s action with the stone illustrates the kind of sudden violent force with which the city will be overthrown.

²⁶ tn Compare the similar phrase in Rev 16:7.

²⁷ tn Or “has punished.” See BDAG 568 s.v. κρίνω 5.b.α, describing the OT background which involves both the vindication of the innocent and the punishment of the guilty.

²⁸ tn See the note on the word “servants” in 1:1.

²⁹ tn Grk “from her hand” (referring to her responsibility in causing the blood of God’s followers to be shed).

³⁰ tn The words “of her wrath” are not in the Hebrew text but are supplied in the translation to help those readers who are not familiar with the figure of the “cup of the Lord’s wrath.”

³¹ tn Heb “upon the grounds of such conditions the nations have gone mad.”

³² tn Heb “it” (so KJV, ASV); the referent (the beauty in which the prostitute trusted, see the beginning of the verse) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

³³ tc The text as written in the MT is incomprehensible (“not coming [plural] and he will not”). Driver has suggested a copying error of similar-sounding words, specifically לֹא (lo’) for לוֹ (lo). The feminine participle בָאוֹת (va’ot) has also been read as the feminine perfect בָאת (va’t). See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 1:228, n. 15.b, and D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:486, n. 137.

³⁴ tn Or perhaps “and worshiped them,” if the word “prostitution” is understood in a figurative rather than a literal sense (cf. CEV, NLT).

³⁵ sn The sacrifice of children was prohibited in Lev 18:21; 20:2; Deut 12:31; 18:10.

³⁶ tn Heb “and you gave them, by passing them through to them.” Some believe this alludes to the pagan practice of making children pass through the fire.

³⁷ tc The MT reads the hapax legomenon כֵּהָה (kehah, “relief, alleviation”). On the other hand, the LXX reads ἴασις (iasi", “healing”) which seems to reflect a reading of גֵּהָה (gehah, “cure, healing”). In the light of the LXX, the BHS editors suggest emending the MT to גֵּהָה (gehah) – which occurs only once elsewhere (Prov 17:22) – on the basis of orthographic and phonological confusion between Hebrew כ (kaf) and ג (gimel). This emendation would produce the common ancient Near Eastern treaty-curse: “there is no cure for your wound” (e.g., Hos 5:13); see HALOT 461 s.v. כֵּהָה; K. J. Cathcart, “Treaty-Curses and the Book of Nahum,” CBQ 35 (1973): 186; D. Hillers, Treaty-Curses and the Old Testament Prophets, 64-66.

³⁸ tn Heb “your injury is fatal.”

³⁹ tn Heb “the report of you.”

⁴⁰ tn Heb “will clap their hands over you.”

⁴¹ tn Heb “For who ever escaped…?”