Revelation 18:10
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.
Study Note
Study Note
The merchants and kings standing 'far off, in fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, you great city, you mighty city, Babylon! For in a single hour your judgment has come' — is part of a sustained lament structure (18:9-19) that uses the merchant elegy genre to describe Rome's fall from the perspective of those who benefited from its economic order. The phrase 'in a single hour' (en mia hora) repeated through the laments (verses 10, 17, 19) emphasizes the catastrophic suddenness of the collapse of what appeared permanent and invulnerable. The 'standing far off' motif of those who mourn but dare not approach draws on the Old Testament pattern of those who witnessed divine judgment from a safe distance (compare Lamentations 1:17). The verse contributes to Revelation's sustained counter-narrative against Roman imperial confidence: the permanence Rome claimed is theological propaganda, and its collapse is the revelation of divine sovereignty over all historical power.
Other Translations
standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Woe, woe, the great city, Babylon, the strong city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
from afar having stood because of the fear of her torment, saying, Woe, woe, the great city! Babylon, the strong city! because in one hour did come thy judgment.
Watching from far away, for fear of her punishment, saying, Sorrow, sorrow for Babylon, the great town, the strong town! for in one hour you have been judged.
Cross References
And all Israel that were round about them fled at the cry of them: for they said, Lest the earth …
And, behold, here cometh a chariot of men, with a couple of horsemen. And he answered and said, Babylon is …
Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; …
Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: howl for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be …
We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake her, and let us go every one into his …
Alas for the day! for the day of the Lord is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty …
Therefore the Lord, the God of hosts, the Lord, saith thus; Wailing shall be in all streets; and they shall …
And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink …
And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power …
Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with …