The sound of harpers … shall be heard in thee no more: this can be said more naturally: “No one will ever again hear harpists (or, people) playing their harps in your streets” or “No one will ever again hear in your streets the music of harps.” For harpers see 14.2.

Minstrels: in current American English this word does not mean “musicians” or “singers,” which are better terms. The Greek word means “skilled in the arts,” especially music.

Flute players and trumpeters: flutes and trumpets are wind instruments. This phrase can be more naturally expressed by “those who play flutes and those who play trumpets” or “those who blow flutes and those who blow trumpets.”

A craftsman of any craft: this refers to skilled workers as opposed to common laborers (see Acts 19.24, 38).

The sound of the millstone shall be heard in thee no more: this is a way of saying that mills won’t be grinding any grain (because there will be no grain to grind).

Alternative translation models for this verse are:

• Never again, Babylon, will there be music in your streets, the music of harps and of singers, the music of flutes and of trumpets. All your skilled workers will disappear, and your mills will have no grain to grind.

Or:

• … no one will hear people plucking strings of a harp, or people singing, or people blowing flutes or trumpets. All….

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 .