It is not clear to whom God is speaking. At the beginning of verse 4 God speaks to his people in Babylon; but it does not seem likely that here God is telling his people to treat Babylon as she has treated them. So the command in this verse (repeated three times) may be directed to those who will destroy the city, either the angels or the ten kings of 17.16. But the Greek text itself gives no indication that the command in verse 6 is directed to someone else, and it would not be appropriate for a translation to add that information to the text. But the information can be given in a footnote.

Render to her as she herself has rendered: this means to do to her what she has done to others (the negative version of the “Golden Rule”). For this use of the verb “to give,” see Rom 12.17; 1 Peter 3.9. And for the whole passage see similar expressions in Psa 28.4; 137.8; Jer 50.15, 29. Another way of expressing this clause is “Whatever bad things the people of this city have done to others, you should do to them.”

Repay her double for her deeds: this intensifies the command in line 1: “pay her back two times as much as she has done” (see Isa 40.2; Jer 16.18).

The third line says the same thing as the second line, using the figure of a cup filled with strong drink: “fill her cup with a drink twice as strong as the drink she gave others.” The phrase double draught does not refer to the amount, “twice as much wine,” but to its potency, “twice as strong” (see the language of 14.10).

An alternative translation model for this verse is:

• You must do bad things to Babylon just as she did to others. In fact, you should do twice as many bad things to her. You must pour wine into her cup that is twice as strong as the drink she prepared for others to drink.

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 .