1. Revelation 18:24 (ESV)
  2. Exposition

What is significant about the change from second person (“you”) to third person (“her”)?

Revelation 18:24 (ESV)

24 And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all who have been slain on earth.”

The sudden occurrence of the pronoun her is jarring after the frequent use of you in the previous verses. It is as if the angel were talking to Babylon as she travels from hand to sea (Revelation 18:21–23), but by the time he gets to his third reason in Revelation 18:24, Babylon has disappeared beneath the waves, as slain as those whose blood she shed. As she is gone, speaking to her makes no more sense; now the angel speaks about her.