Standing afar off for fear of her torments, saying: Alas! alas! that great city, Babylon, that mighty city: for in one hour is thy judgment come.
απο μακροθεν εστηκοτες δια τον φοβον του βασανισμου αυτης λεγοντες ουαι ουαι η πολις η μεγαλη βαβυλων η πολις η ισχυρα οτι μια ωρα ηλθεν η κρισις σου
3 Church Fathers comment on this verse
We think the kings of the earth are called rulers, as the Psalmist also said concerning Jerusalem: "Behold, its princes gathered together" (Ps 2:2). He says of those who have fallen away from the divine commandments that they will weep when they see or hear of its desolation and burning, and when they are horrified by what has suddenly happened in so short a time.
The kings, in doing repentance, do not bewail the evil of luxury, for they sinned with her. Rather, they know that the prosperity of the world is perishing, through which they served their pleasures.
Or this means that, since what they once loved for luxury begins to disappear among them, those who pursue luxury are destroyed by one another, like smoke from impending Gehenna.
"Standing afar off," John says, "for fear of her torment." They stand afar off not in body, but in spirit, since each fears for himself. He sees another suffering through slander and through the power of the proud.
He says, "Woe, woe to you, great city Babylon, mighty city! For in one hour your curse has come." The Spirit names the city. Truly, they mourn this world, utterly destroyed in so short a time, and all the zeal they invested has decayed and vanished.
Unrestrained and luxurious life bore the fruits that became the cause of Babylon's fall. Perhaps, in an allegorical sense, the sea is the present life, shaken by many disturbances. Those trading in it are all who feel at home in this life as fish do in water.
Passages read together with this verse.
Greek text, 28 words with lemma, transliteration and Strong’s number. Tap to expand.
THEOSIS