Revelation 19:2; The Great Whore Did Corrupt the Earth

Revelation 19:2 (KJV)  For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. 

The relative pronoun highlights the qualitative aspect of the harlot’s activities that prompted her judgment. The heart of her guilt centers in the fact that she “corrupt the earth with her fornication”, an unsavoury influence for which the prophecy has denounced her earlier (Revelation 14:8; 17:2; 18:3).

Revelation 14:8 (KJV)  And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. 

Revelation 17:2 (KJV)  With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. 

Revelation 18:3 (KJV)  For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. 

A strengthened form occurs in Revelation 11:18 and is a recollection of Jeremiah 51:25 where the prophet dwells on the destructive impact of Babylon. (Swete, Mounce)

Revelation 11:18 (KJV)  And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth. 

Jeremiah 51:25 (KJV)  Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, saith the LORD, which destroyest all the earth: and I will stretch out mine hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain. 

Another verb “hath avenged” celebrates God’s response to the harlot’s corrupting impact. God will exact vengeance from her for the blood of His servants. (Swete) This is a note sounded earlier in the angelic pronouncement of Revelation 18:24.

Revelation 18:24 (KJV)  And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth. 

It is a familiar theme in the song of Moses too (Deuteronomy 32:42-43).

Deuteronomy 32:42-43 (KJV)  I will make mine arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh; and thatwith the blood of the slain and of the captives, from the beginning of revenges upon the enemy. Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, and to his people. 

The impatient cry of Revelation 6:10 has now received its answer.

Revelation 6:10 (KJV)  And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? 

The wording of the present clause is very close to that of 2 Kings 9:7, which speaks of vengeance exacted from the hand of Jezebel for her killing of God’s servants. It view the vengeance as a penalty taken by force from a reluctant hand “at her hand”. (Alford, Bullinter, Charles, Moffatt). The term “servants” includes both saints and prophets of Revelation 18:24. This part of the song celebrates the implementation of judicial equity whereby the punishment suits the crime both in kind and in degree (Revelation 16:7). (Kiddle).

[Robert L. Thomas, Revelation 8-22 – An Exegetical Commentary, Moody Press, 1995, 358-359]