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Revelation 18:5

King James Version (KJV)

“In our prayers we talk to God, in our Bible study God talks to us, and we had better let God do most of the talking.”
— D.L. Moody

Scripture focus

For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.

Revelation 18:5 — KJV

Commentary

Commentary on Revelation 18:5

Theological / Devotional

Her sins. See on Rev. 18:4; cf. Jer. 50:14.

Reached. Gr. kollaō, literally, “to glue together,” “to fasten firmly together.” The sins of Babylon are depicted as a mountainous mass reaching upward, compact and glued together.

Unto heaven. As the figurative mountain pierces the sky, so the criminal career of “Babylon the great” (see on ch. 17:6) arises before God, calling for retribution (Rev. 16:19; cf. Gen. 11:4, 5; 18:20, 21; Ezra 9:6; Jer. 51:9; Dan. 5:26, 27; Jonah 1:2). Perhaps there is an allusion here to the tower of Babel (Gen. 11:4).

Remembered. God’s long’suffering is about to end and His judgment upon mystical Babylon about to be executed (see on ch. 16:19). As applied to God, the word “remembered” commonly denotes that He is on the point of rewarding men for a particular course of action, whether good or evil (see Gen. 8:1; Ex. 2:24; Ps. 105:42; etc.).

Her iniquities. That is, her wicked acts and their consequent results, most particularly, the specific crimes charged against her in chs. 17 and 18 (see on chs. 17:6; 18:6, 7).

By SdaBc