Bible Commentary

Revelation 18:8

Revelation 18:8

The Pulpit Commentary · Joseph S. Exell and contributors · Public Domain

Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine. This is the retribution for her boasting in (cf. , "These two things shall come to thee in a moment in one day," etc.

). Alford says, "death, for her scorn of the prospect of widowhood; mourning, for her inordinate revelling; famine, for her abundance" (cf. ). The description is not to be taken literally, but is typical of a sudden and overwhelming reverse, viz.

that which will occur at the last judgment day (cf. the words of our Lord in ). Some writers see here an allusion to the second, third, and fourth seals (see .). And she shall he utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.

Who judged her; κρίνας is found in א, A, B, C, P, and others. This is the fulfilment of the predicted punishment of the harlot (). The last clause replies, as it were, to the boast in , "I sit as a queen," etc.

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