Revelation 18:18

18 as they watched the smoke from her burning and kept crying out: "Who is like the great city?"^[a]

Revelation 18:18 Meaning and Commentary

Revelation 18:18

And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning
(See Gill on Revelation 18:9)

saying, what city is like unto this great city?
as before for magnificence and grandeur, so now for sorrow, desolation, and ruin; nor was any city like it for power and authority, for pride and luxury, for idolatry and superstition, blasphemy and impenitence; the like the sailors say of Tyre, ( Ezekiel 27:30 ) from whence this and other expressions are borrowed in this lamentation.

Revelation 18:18 In-Context

16 saying: Woe, woe, the great city, clothed in fine linen, purple, and scarlet, adorned with gold, precious stones, and pearls;

17 because in a single hour such fabulous wealth was destroyed! And every shipmaster, seafarer, the sailors, and all who do business by sea, stood far off

18 as they watched the smoke from her burning and kept crying out: "Who is like the great city?"

19 They threw dust on their heads and kept crying out, weeping, and mourning: Woe, woe, the great city, where all those who have ships on the sea became rich from her wealth; because in a single hour she was destroyed.

20 Rejoice over her, heaven, and you saints, apostles, and prophets, because God has executed your judgment on her!

Footnotes

• [a]. Ezk 27:32