Paragraph 18:4–8

18:4a

I heard another voice from heaven say: The angel (18:1a) stopped speaking in 18:3c. Now John heard someone else speaking. The speaker was probably someone speaking on God’s behalf. Use a word or phrase that can refer to anyone in heaven. For example:

I heard someone else speaking from heaven. He said
-or-
I heard another person/being say from heaven ⌊on God’s behalf⌋

heaven: Here the word heaven refers to the place where God lives.

18:4b

Come out of her, My people: The phrase My people indicates to whom the voice was speaking. In some languages it is more natural to have this phrase at the beginning of the speech. For example:

My people, come out of her

Come out of her: This command warns believers to leave Babylon before the beast and the ten kings (17:16) destroy the city. But the warning is spoken after the angel describes Babylon as being destroyed (17:16, 18:2). So you may want to explain that in a footnote. An example footnote is:

This command warns believers to flee before Babylon is destroyed.

My people: This phrase refers to believers.

My: This word refers to God. These were God’s people. The voice was telling them God’s message.

18:4c

so that you will not share in her sins: The phrase so that introduces the purpose for the believers to leave the city. The believers should leave to make sure that they do not follow her sinful ways. Other ways to translate this clause are:

you do not take part in her sins (New Revised Standard Version)
-or-
you will not participate in her sins (New American Standard Bible)

share: Here the Greek word refers to doing something with someone as he is doing it. God does not want believers to follow Babylon and sin as she does. For example:

participate (New American Standard Bible)

18:4d

or contract any of her plagues: The conjunction or introduces another purpose for the believers to leave the city. If believers stay in the city, they might suffer the plagues that God will send upon her. Other ways to translate this clause are:

so that you do not suffer any of her plagues
-or-
you must not share in her punishment (Good News Translation)

her plagues: The word plagues refers to disasters that harm a lot of people. It can refer to diseases that kill many people. It can refer to locusts that damage many crops. Here the word probably refers to Babylon’s suffering in 17:16.

Some languages do not have a general word such as plagues. If that is true in your language, you may need to use a descriptive phrase. For example:

things that cause her people to suffer
-or-
things that cause much death in her

See how you translated the word plagues in 6:8 or 15:1.

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