He called out with a mighty voice: as in 5.2; 10.3.

The announcements that follow (verses 2-3 and 4-8) may be rendered in poetic forms (see Section F of the introduction, “Translating the Revelation to John,” pages 6 and following).

Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great: as in 14.8. This is what is called a “prophetic” past tense, announcing a future event as something that has already taken place.

In this verse Good News Translation begins to use a feminine pronoun when referring to Babylon. Revised Standard Version waits until the following verses to follow this pattern. Many languages cannot do this.

A dwelling place … a haunt: the Greek noun translated dwelling place appears also in Eph 2.22 and nowhere else in the New Testament. It is related to the verb “to dwell,” used frequently in this book (see 2.13; 3.10). The word translated haunt usually means a guarded place, a “prison” (see 2.10; 20.7). Here it seems to mean a place where unclean spirits and disgusting birds live undisturbed; it is a refuge, a guarded sanctuary for them. Haunt may also be translated in English as “lair,” a place where wild animals hide. Translators should attempt to find synonyms in their languages and say something like the English “It has become a refuge for … and the lair of…,” or combine the two and say “Demons and unclean (or, evil) spirits use it is as their lair.”

Demons … every foul spirit … every foul and hateful bird: this is a vivid picture of a city that has been destroyed and has no one living in it. See the similar pictures drawn of Babylon (Isa 13.19-23; Jer 50.39), Edom (Isa 34.11-15), and Nineveh (Zeph 2.13-15). For foul spirit (that is, “unclean spirit”) see 16.13; demons are the same as evil spirits. The foul and hateful birds are those birds that, according to the Law of Moses, Israelites could not eat; they were unclean (see Deut 14.12-18). The added epithet hateful describes these birds as disgusting, loathsome, repulsive. Perhaps the writer had bats in mind (which were classified in those days as birds).

TEXTUAL NOTE: instead of Revised Standard Version (and Good News Translation) a haunt of every foul and hateful bird, the UBS Greek New Testament has (following the order of words in the Greek text) “a haunt of every bird unclean (and a haunt of every beast unclean) and hateful.” Revised Standard Version and Good News Bible (and most other modern translations) do not include the material within parentheses. New Revised Standard Version, however, has “a haunt of every foul and hateful bird, a haunt of every foul and hateful beast,” which goes beyond the UBS Greek text by adding “and hateful” to “every bird.”

An alternative translation model for the quotation in this verse is:

• “The great city of Babylon is finished (or, collapsed). It is completely deserted (or, no people left in it). Demons and filthy spirits are now living in it (or, have made it their lair), all kinds of unclean (or, filthy) birds live there.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Revelation to John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1993. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .