Revelation 18:19
And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.
Study Note
Study Note
The seafarers' lament over fallen Babylon — 'Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate' — draws directly on Ezekiel 26-27's elegy over Tyre, the great Phoenician commercial empire. The 'casting of dust on their heads' is an ancient mourning rite found in Joshua 7:6, Lamentations 2:10, and Ezekiel 27:30, connecting Babylon's fall to the biblical tradition of lamentation over fallen empires. The threefold 'in one hour' (18:10, 17, 19) emphasises the catastrophic speed of imperial collapse — a theological statement that earthly economic power is ontologically fragile however invincible it appears. Revelation's Babylon is Rome for the original audience, but the text has been regularly applied to every successive empire that organises itself around commercial power and religious coercion.
Other Translations
And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and mourning, saying, Woe, woe, the great city, wherein all that had their ships in the sea were made rich by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.
and they did cast dust upon their heads, and were crying out, weeping and sorrowing, saying, Woe, woe, the great city! in which were made rich all having ships in the sea, out of her costliness--for in one hour was she made waste.
And they put dust on their heads, and were sad, weeping and crying, and saying, Sorrow, sorrow for the great town, in which was increased the wealth of all who had their ships on the sea because of her great stores! for in one hour she is made waste.
Cross References
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