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Giovedi, 28 marzo 2024 - San Castore di Tarso ( Letture di oggi)

Revelation 18


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1After this, I saw another angel come down from heaven, with great authority given to him; the earthshone with his glory.2At the top of his voice he shouted, 'Babylon has fal en, Babylon the Great has fallen, and has becomethe haunt of devils and a lodging for every foul spirit and dirty, loathsome bird.3Al the nations have drunk deep of the wine of her prostitution; every king on the earth has prostitutedhimself with her, and every merchant grown rich through her debauchery.'4Another voice spoke from heaven; I heard it say, 'Come out, my people, away from her, so that you donot share in her crimes and have the same plagues to bear.5Her sins have reached up to the sky, and God has her crimes in mind: treat her as she has treatedothers.6She must be paid double the amount she exacted. She is to have a doubly strong cup of her ownmixture.7Every one of her pomps and orgies is to be matched by a torture or an agony. I am enthroned asqueen, she thinks; I am no widow and wil never know bereavement.8For that, in one day, the plagues wil fal on her: disease and mourning and famine. She wil be burnedto the ground. The Lord God who has condemned her is mighty.'9'There will be mourning and weeping for her by the kings of the earth who have prostituted themselveswith her and held orgies with her. They see the smoke as she burns,10while they keep at a safe distance through fear of her anguish. They wil say: Mourn, mourn for thisgreat city, Babylon, so powerful a city, in one short hour your doom has come upon you.11'There wil be weeping and distress over her among al the traders of the earth when no one is left tobuy their cargoes of goods;12their stocks of gold and silver, jewels and pearls, linen and purple and silks and scarlet; al thesandalwood, every piece in ivory or fine wood, in bronze or iron or marble;13the cinnamon and spices, the myrrh and ointment and incense; wine, oil, flour and corn; their stocksof cattle, sheep, horses and chariots, their slaves and their human cargo.14'Al the fruits you had set your hearts on have failed you; gone for ever, never to return again, is yourlife of magnificence and ease.15'The traders who had made a fortune out of her wil be standing at a safe distance through fear of heranguish, mourning and weeping.16They wil be saying: Mourn, mourn for this great city; for al the linen and purple and scarlet that youwore, for al your finery of gold and jewels and pearls;17your huge riches are al destroyed within a single hour.' Al the captains and seafaring men, sailorsand all those who make a living from the sea kept a safe distance,18watching the smoke as she burned, and crying out, 'Has there ever been a city as great as this!'19They threw dust on their heads and said, with tears and groans: 'Mourn, mourn for this great citywhose lavish living has made a fortune for every owner of a sea-going ship, ruined within a single hour.20'Now heaven, celebrate her downfall, and all you saints, apostles and prophets: God has givenjudgement for you against her.'21Then a powerful angel picked up a boulder like a great mil stone, and as he hurled it into the sea, hesaid, 'That is how the great city of Babylon is going to be hurled down, never to be seen again.22Never again in you will be heard the song of harpists and minstrels, the music of flute and trumpet;never again wil craftsmen of every skill be found in you or the sound of the handmil be heard;23never again wil shine the light of the lamp in you, never again wil be heard in you the voices ofbridegroom and bride. Your traders were the princes of the earth, al the nations were led astray by your sorcery.24In her was found the blood of prophets and saints, and all the blood that was ever shed on earth.'