Bible Strands
Revelation 18:11
And the merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her, because there is no one left to buy their cargo—
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator describes the reaction of the earth's merchants immediately after Babylon's sudden judgment, following the kings' distant cry of woe in Revelation 18:10. The merchants stand at a distance in fear as the city's commercial system collapses in a single hour.
The words — ἔμποροι (emporoi) literally means "merchants" or "traders," while κλαίουσιν (klaiousin) and πενθοῦσιν (penthousin) denote intense weeping and mourning. These terms mark a public, visceral response to total economic ruin rather than personal loss.
The thread — This commercial collapse parallels the judgment on Tyre in Ezekiel 27:27, where merchants and sailors sink into the sea, and follows the nations' intoxication with Babylon's immorality in Revelation 18:3. The sudden trade halt also fulfills the prophecy that no lamp light or marriage voices will remain in the city in Revelation 18:23.
Why it lands — The text states that global commerce ceases when divine judgment removes the city's market, leaving no buyers for the cargo listed in Revelation 18:12. Readers must confront the fragility of economic systems and evaluate their own dependence on temporal wealth.
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 merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more:
Cross-references
- Revelation 18:3 All the nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her immorality. The kings of the earth were immoral with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown wealthy from the extravagance of her luxury.”
- Ezekiel 27:27 Your wealth, wares, and merchandise, your sailors, captains, and shipwrights, your merchants and all the warriors within you, with all the other people on board, will sink into the heart of the sea on the day of your downfall.
- Revelation 18:23 The light of a lamp will never shine in you again, and the voices of a bride and bridegroom will never call out in you again. For your merchants were the great ones of the earth, because all the nations were deceived by your sorcery.”
- Ezekiel 26:17 Then they will lament for you, saying, “How you have perished, O city of renown inhabited by seafaring men—she who was powerful on the sea, along with her people, who imposed terror on all peoples!
- Zephaniah 1:11 Wail, O dwellers of the Hollow, for all your merchants will be silenced; all who weigh out silver will be cut off.
- Revelation 13:16 And the second beast required all people, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their forehead,
- Revelation 18:15 The merchants who sold these things and gained their wealth from her will stand at a distance, in fear of her torment. They will weep and mourn,
- Revelation 18:20 Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you saints and apostles and prophets, because God has pronounced for you His judgment against her.
- Isaiah 23:1 This is the burden against Tyre: Wail, O ships of Tarshish, for Tyre is laid waste, without house or harbor. Word has reached them from the land of Cyprus.
- Isaiah 47:15 This is what they are to you—those with whom you have labored and traded from youth—each one strays in his own direction; not one of them can save you.