Revelation 18:23

23 And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived .

Revelation 18:23 Meaning and Commentary

Revelation 18:23

And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in
thee
Either for common use, or at feasts, or at marriages, which being kept at night, required candies, lamps, or torches; this shows that Babylon, or Rome, shall be deprived of everything, even of the least thing that is comfortable in life; see ( Jeremiah 25:10 ) this will be a just punishment upon her for her abuse of this blessing of life; so where wax candles in great numbers have been burning in the daytime, there will not be so much as a single candle to give light in the night; and where candles have been lighted up for the dead, there will not be one for the use of the living:

and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no
more at all in thee:
there will be no marrying, nor giving in marriage; no procreation of children, or propagation of posterity, in this place; which denotes the utter extirpation of the inhabitants of it; the phrases are taken from ( Jeremiah 7:34 ) ( 16:19 ) ( Jeremiah 25:10 Jeremiah 25:11 ) and this will be in righteous retaliation for the prohibition of marriage; which God has instituted, and is honourable, ( 1 Timothy 4:2 ) the reasons of Babylon's destruction follow:

for thy merchants were the great men of the earth:
in allusion to the merchants of Tyre, said to be princes, ( Isaiah 23:8 ) for by trading and dealing in the wares and merchandise of Rome, persons of mean extract, and of very low circumstances of life, have grown exceeding rich, and have equalled the princes of the earth; as for instance, Cardinal Wolsey here in England, a butcher's son at Ipswich; and on the other hand, the princes and great men of the earth have become Rome's merchants, and have thought it an high honour to get a cardinal's hat, as the Cardinals Albertus duke of Austria, Bourbon, Pool, and others, mentioned by Brightman:

for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived;
meaning her false doctrines, traditions, idolatry, superstition, and will worship, with which, as another Jezebel, she has bewitched, allured, and deceived the nations of the empire, and the kings thereof, ( Revelation 18:3 ) .

Revelation 18:23 In-Context

21 And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying , Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down , and shall be found no more at all.

22 And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee;

23 And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived .

24 And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.