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OET (OET-LV) saying:
Woe, woe, the city the great, you having_been_clothed in_linen, and purple, and scarlet, and having_been_gilded with gold, and stone precious, and pearl.
OET (OET-RV) saying, “That famous city that used to dress in fine linen and scarlet and be adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls has come to a bad end
In this section, three heavenly beings each announce something about Babylon. The first announcement is that the city is destroyed. Her riches and prosperity have been taken away.
The second announcement is that God’s people should leave Babylon before God destroys her. It also describes how kings and others mourn over the destroyed city.
The third announcement is that Babylon will never be built again.
Other examples of headings for this section are:
An angel announced that Babylon was destroyed, and some groups are sad
Announcements about the destruction of Babylon
Various people talk about Babylon
saying: “Woe, woe to the great city, clothed in fine linen and purple and scarlet…”: These words were probably spoken about Babylon, rather than to her. She is not addressed by the pronoun “you” in the following verses. For example:
saying, ‘Woe, woe, the great city, she who was clothed in fine linen… (NASB)
Woe, woe to the great city: The words naming the thing spoken about, the great city, are in the middle of the sentence. Many languages must have the great city first for a natural sentence and place the words Woe, woe at the end of the sentence. Also, many languages must locate the description of that thing immediately after naming the thing spoken to. For example:
O great city, clothed in fine linen and purple and scarlet, adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls—woe, woe!
saying: “Woe, woe to the great city,
and say, “How terrible, so terrible for her! Great city,
, they will say that there is great and terrible trouble for her!
saying: The BSB represents the Greek literally here. Some other English versions use the phrase “and cry out” to indicate the meaning of “speak with much emotion.” That meaning is implied here. See how you translated the word “cry” in 18:10.
Woe, woe: The word Woe is repeated to emphasize its meaning. But in some languages it is more natural not to repeat the word. If that is true in your language, you should emphasize the woe in a natural way. For example:
Great woe indeed!
See how you translated this phrase in 18:10.
the great city: The BSB literally represents the Greek here. Some English versions add the word “O” (as in the NIV84). In English it probably indicates a formal address, as speaking to someone of high status. Some English versions, like the BSB, do not add this word.
great: The city of Babylon is called great because at that time it was an important and famous city. It had a vast empire and great influence. See how you translated this word in 18:2.
clothed in fine linen and purple and scarlet,
clothed in beautiful linen cloth, purple cloth, and scarlet cloth,
She was like a woman who wore expensive flaxen clothes! She was like a woman who wore purple and bright red clothes
clothed in fine linen: The merchants speak about Babylon as if that city is a woman clothed in fine linen. Earlier, John saw Babylon figuratively as a woman (17:1–18).
In some languages it is not natural to refer to a city as a woman. If that is true in your language, you may want to change this metaphor into a simile. For example:
she was like a woman clothed in fine linen
fine linen: Here the word fine indicates that the linen was very good quality. See how you translated this phrase in 18:12.
purple and scarlet: This phrase refers to the colors of the cloth. Making purple and scarlet cloth was expensive at that time. For example:
expensive purple and scarlet clothing
See how you translated the words purple and scarlet in 18:12.
adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls!
and adorned with gold, jewels, and pearls!
decorated with gold, valuable stones, and beautiful pearls!
adorned: The Greek word that the BSB translates as adorned means “wearing.” A woman wore gold, precious stones and pearls in order to look beautiful. This word may refer to jewelry or to things fastened to the dress or both. Other ways to translate this word are:
decorated
glittering with (NIV)
See how you translated this word in 17:4.
gold and precious stones and pearls: See how you translated these words in 18:12.
Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor
ἡ περιβεβλημένη βύσσινον, καὶ πορφυροῦν, καὶ κόκκινον, καὶ κεχρυσωμένη ἐν χρυσίῳ, καὶ λίθῳ τιμίῳ, καὶ μαργαρίτῃ
¬the ¬the you ˓having_been˒_clothed ˱in˲_linen (Some words not found in SR-GNT: λέγοντες Οὐαί οὐαί ἡ πόλις ἡ μεγάλη ἡ περιβεβλημένη βύσσινον καί πορφυροῦν καί κόκκινον καί κεχρυσωμένη ἐν χρυσίῳ καί λίθῳ τιμίῳ καί μαργαρίτῃ)
The merchants are speaking as if the city of Babylon had literally been dressed in expensive clothing and adorned with jewels. They mean that the people of the city lived in luxury. Even if your language does not ordinarily use figures of speech, you may wish to preserve this figure of speech in your translation so that your readers can see how the merchants were speaking about Babylon. One way to do that would be to translate it as a simile, as UST does.
Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / activepassive
ἡ περιβεβλημένη βύσσινον, καὶ πορφυροῦν, καὶ κόκκινον, καὶ κεχρυσωμένη
¬the ¬the you ˓having_been˒_clothed ˱in˲_linen (Some words not found in SR-GNT: λέγοντες Οὐαί οὐαί ἡ πόλις ἡ μεγάλη ἡ περιβεβλημένη βύσσινον καί πορφυροῦν καί κόκκινον καί κεχρυσωμένη ἐν χρυσίῳ καί λίθῳ τιμίῳ καί μαργαρίτῃ)
If your language does not use this passive form, you could express the idea in active form or in another way that is natural in your language. Alternate translation: [that dressed in fine linen and purple and scarlet and adorned herself]
Note 3 topic: translate-unknown
βύσσινον, καὶ πορφυροῦν, καὶ κόκκινον & χρυσίῳ, καὶ λίθῳ τιμίῳ, καὶ μαργαρίτῃ
˱in˲_linen (Some words not found in SR-GNT: λέγοντες Οὐαί οὐαί ἡ πόλις ἡ μεγάλη ἡ περιβεβλημένη βύσσινον καί πορφυροῦν καί κόκκινον καί κεχρυσωμένη ἐν χρυσίῳ καί λίθῳ τιμίῳ καί μαργαρίτῃ)
See how you translated each of these terms in [18:12](../18/12.md).
18:1-24 This chapter contains seven poetic responses to the fall of Babylon (or Rome; see study note on 17:5).
OET (OET-LV) saying:
Woe, woe, the city the great, you having_been_clothed in_linen, and purple, and scarlet, and having_been_gilded with gold, and stone precious, and pearl.
OET (OET-RV) saying, “That famous city that used to dress in fine linen and scarlet and be adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls has come to a bad end
Note: The OET-RV is still only a first draft, and so far only a few words have been (mostly automatically) matched to the Hebrew or Greek words that they’re translated from.
Acknowledgements: The SR Greek text, lemmas, morphology, and VLT gloss are all thanks to the CNTR.
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