1. Revelation 18:21 (ESV)
  2. Exposition

What is the meaning of “with violence”?

Revelation 18:21 (ESV)

21 Then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, “So will Babylon the great city be thrown down with violence, and will be found no more;

The Greek word used here suggests something uncontrollable, much like how the pigs ran down the hill in Matthew 8:32), how the crowds ganged up on Stephen in Acts 7:57, and how the crowds rushed into the theater in Acts 19:29 (in all cases same root). The use of the word indicates that there’s something so repulsive about Babylon that the angel throws her away so fiercely, so violently, so uncontrollably.