Therefore, shall her plagues come in one day, death and mourning and famine. And she shall be burnt with the fire: because God is strong, who shall judge her.
δια τουτο εν μια ημερα ηξουσιν αι πληγαι αυτης θανατος και OMIT και πενθος και λιμος και εν πυρι κατακαυθησεται οτι ισχυρος κυριος ο θεος ο κρινας αυτην
5 Church Fathers comment on this verse
One day indicates either the suddenness and shortness of the time when mourning, ruin, and burning by fire will come upon this city through sword, famine, and plague, or the course of that day on which this city will suffer as foretold. When enemies take possession of a city, one day is enough to inflict every kind of oppression and many forms of death upon the conquered. God is almighty both to save those who have pleased Him and to punish unrepentant sinners.
In Isaiah it is said to her: "Come down and sit in the dust, virgin daughter of Babylon. Sit on the ground, daughter of the Chaldeans, for there is no throne. You shall no longer be called tender and luxurious" (Isa 47:1).
And a little later: "Sit silent and go into darkness, for you shall no longer be called mistress of kingdoms" (Isa 47:5).
And again: "You said, I shall be mistress forever, but you did not set this in your mind, nor did you consider what would come afterward. But now hear this, you delicate one, who dwell securely, who say in your heart: I am, and there is none like me.
I shall not sit as a widow, and I shall not know the loss of children. But suddenly, in one day, both these things shall come upon you, loss of children and widowhood" (Isa 47:7-9).
Who does not understand that these things, brought together, form entirely one and the same prophecy, and proclaim one universal event?
It is said, "Render to her double according to her sins." Yet through the all-wise Moses the Lord also commanded us, "Do not take vengeance twice for the same thing" (Nah 1:9).
How, then, will He render double? "Double" does not mean a twofold quantity. Rather, God, being loving toward mankind and good, punishes far less than is deserved. He considers that He has rendered double even when He renders only a part, and not only double, but sevenfold.
Knowing this, the prophet said, "Return sevenfold into the bosom of our neighbors the reproach with which they reproached Thee, O Lord" (Ps 78:12). In his petition he implored God for a sevenfold punishment of the enemies according to their deserts.
In like manner it is said, "Render to her," who received glory in this life and gave herself to pleasures, and did not consider the will of God. For she says, "I shall never lose the kingdom," since her being a widow signifies the loss of the kingdom.
"And I shall not see sorrow!" Therefore, because of her boasting, calamities will at once overtake her. For the Lord God is mighty, and no one will hinder Him from applying judgment and punishment to her. And we shall be able to be freed from her by the grace of Christ.
All these future events are connected with the Second Coming. Then, after the examination of the last judgment, the society of the ungodly will be cast out and receive its just reward. Those who sinned in time will undergo punishment in eternity.
This is what the words mean: "Render to her double" and "prepare for her double." Whoever enjoyed passing pleasures will undergo eternal torments.
In the Psalm the Lord foretells that He will deliver His own from this usury: "From usury and injustice He will redeem their souls" (Ps 71:14).
Moreover, it is said of them that they will be burned with eternal fire and tormented by hunger. This will happen when those who now hunger and thirst for righteousness receive incorruptible riches.
The ungodly will surely die, because God has abandoned them. For it is known that, as the body dies when the soul leaves it, so the soul dies when God leaves it.
This is the weeping of which Christ says in the Gospel: "Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep" (Lk 6:25).
To show that God desires to preserve His own from these plagues, it is said, "lest you share in her plagues." It is as though he said, "Since you renounced their will and were not like them in their sins, you will not receive an equal punishment."
We cannot escape these plagues by our own efforts, because this can be granted to us only by the goodness of God.
Yet, keeping the proper order, the Holy Spirit declares that those whose hearts were not captive through consent to vice do not undergo the torments of the ungodly at all: "The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and no torment will touch them" (Wis 3:1).
The suddenness and speed with which God's punishment will overtake Babylon will be astonishing.
Passages read together with this verse.
Greek text, 26 words with lemma, transliteration and Strong’s number. Tap to expand.
THEOSIS