Bible Strands
Revelation 16:19
The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed. And God remembered Babylon the great and gave her the cup of the wine of the fury of His wrath.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator records the immediate aftermath of the seventh bowl judgment, following an unprecedented earthquake that has shaken the earth since humanity's beginning. The vision addresses the heavenly court and the church, detailing the collapse of political and spiritual opposition.
The words — The text states that the great city egeneto (was) divided into three parts, with tria (three) specifying the exact nature of the rupture. This precise numerical division marks the completion of the judgment rather than a partial or reversible damage.
The thread — The division of the great city directly parallels the description of the woman ruling over the kings of the earth (Revelation 17:18) and the declaration that God has remembered her iniquities (Revelation 18:5). The giving of the cup of wrath anticipates the lament over the mighty city of Babylon (Revelation 18:10) and confirms that divine judgment executes the accumulated sins recorded in heaven (Revelation 18:5).
Why it lands — The text states that God actively remembers Babylon the great and delivers the cup of His wrath, leaving no political or spiritual structure intact. Readers must acknowledge that divine judgment is deliberate, numerically precise, and fully executed against systems that persist in rebellion.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.
Cross-references
- Revelation 17:18 And the woman you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth.”
- Revelation 18:5 For her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.
- Revelation 18:10 In fear of her torment, they will stand at a distance and cry out: “Woe, woe to the great city, the mighty city of Babylon! For in a single hour your judgment has come.”
- Revelation 18:21 Then a mighty angel picked up a stone the size of a great millstone and cast it into the sea, saying: “With such violence the great city of Babylon will be cast down, never to be seen again.
- Revelation 18:2 And he cried out in a mighty voice: “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a lair for demons and a haunt for every unclean spirit, every unclean bird, and every detestable beast.
- Revelation 18:16 saying: “Woe, woe to the great city, clothed in fine linen and purple and scarlet, adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls!
- Jeremiah 25:15 This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, said to me: “Take from My hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink from it.
- Jeremiah 25:26 all the kings of the north, both near and far, one after another—all the kingdoms on the face of the earth. And after all of them, the king of Sheshach will drink it too.
- Daniel 4:30 the king exclaimed, “Is this not Babylon the Great, which I myself have built as a royal residence by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?”
- Revelation 11:8 Their bodies will lie in the street of the great city—figuratively called Sodom and Egypt—where their Lord was also crucified.