“Holy Holy Holy is the Lord God, the All-Powerful, 8
Who was and who is, and who is still to come!”
18:21 Then 9 one powerful angel picked up a stone like a huge millstone, threw it into the sea, and said,
“With this kind of sudden violent force 10
Babylon the great city will be thrown down 11
and it will never be found again!
1 tn Or “who is victorious”; traditionally, “who overcomes.”
2 tn Grk “I will make him,” but the pronoun (αὐτόν, auton, “him”) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated here.
3 tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.
4 sn This description of the city of my God is parenthetical, explaining further the previous phrase and interrupting the list of “new names” given here.
5 tn Grk “six wings apiece,” but this is redundant with “each one” in English.
6 tn Some translations render ἔσωθεν (eswqen) as “under [its] wings,” but the description could also mean “filled all around on the outside and on the inside with eyes.” Since the referent is not available to the interpreter, the exact force is difficult to determine.
7 tn Or “They never stop saying day and night.”
8 tn On this word BDAG 755 s.v. παντοκράτωρ states, “the Almighty, All-Powerful, Omnipotent (One) only of God…(ὁ) κύριος ὁ θεὸς ὁ π. …Rv 1:8; 4:8; 11:17; 15:3; 16:7; 21:22.”
sn A quotation from (or an allusion to) Isa 6:3.
9 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.
10 tn On ὅρμημα ({ormhma) BDAG 724 s.v. states, “violent rush, onset ὁρμήματι βληθήσεται Βαβυλών Babylon will be thrown down with violence Rv 18:21.” L&N 68.82 refers to the suddenness of the force or violence.
11 sn Thrown down is a play on both the words and the action. The angel’s action with the stone illustrates the kind of sudden violent force with which the city will be overthrown.