What Does Revelation 18:21 Mean in the King James?
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.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The Greek gives the millstone and Babylon the same verb of casting, so the city itself becomes the second stone in the sea image.
THE MEANING
This verse speaks now: something can seem vast and still be brought down in a single stroke. The image carries the collapse all the way to disappearance, the city is cast into the sea and is found no more.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that great power must endure simply because it is great.
THE ROOT
ἔβαλεν
ebalen
GROWS FROM
βάλλω
ballō
to throw or cast
The angel ἔβαλεν, “cast,” the millstone; then Babylon βληθήσεται, “shall be thrown,” from the same root. English changes the form, while Greek makes the city’s downfall repeat the stone’s plunge.
ALSO GROWS
ekballō: to cast out or drive out
ἐκβάλλω
The compound keeps the force of throwing while adding expulsion, echoing Babylon’s removal from the scene.
kataballō: to cast down or throw down
καταβάλλω
This compound makes the downward movement explicit, the same direction carried by the city’s fall.
ὁρμήματι
hormēmati
GROWS FROM
ὁρμάω
hormaō
to rush or set in motion
The word translated “violence” belongs to a family of words for rushing and impetus. It gives the overthrow the force of a sudden launch, as the casting verb shows the city hurled from its place.
ALSO GROWS
hormē: impulse, onset, or rush
ὁρμή
This related noun carries the sense of a force beginning to move, sharpening the suddenness of the overthrow.
hormaō: to rush or set out
ὁρμάω
The verb gives the word-family its motion: Babylon’s end arrives with an impetus that sends it downward.
THE PATTERN
A structure’s apparent permanence does not prevent its complete removal.
And thou shalt say, Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise from the evil that I will bring upon her: and they shall be weary. Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.I will make thee a terror, and thou shalt be no more: though thou be sought for, yet shalt thou never be found again, saith the Lord GOD.And Jesus answering said unto him, Seest thou these great buildings? there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.THE THREAD
And thou shalt say, Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise from the evil that I will bring upon her: and they shall be weary. Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.The preceding verse binds a stone to a scroll and casts it into the Euphrates; this line interprets the image as Babylon sinking and never rising. Revelation returns to the same visual grammar of stone, water, city, and disappearance.
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