For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.
Parallel translations
- WEB for her sins have reached to the sky, and God has remembered her iniquities.
- KJV For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.
- BSB For her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.
- NASB for her sins have piled up as high as heaven, and God has remembered her offenses.
- NLT For her sins are piled as high as heaven, and God remembers her evil deeds.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. No accumulated evil escapes His notice.
Overview
The image of sins reaching the sky recalls the tower of Babel and shows the immense weight of Babylon's guilt. God 'remembering' means He now acts in judgment, for nothing is forgotten before Him. This assures the persecuted that injustice is recorded and will be addressed by a righteous God.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Gen 18:20–21Yahweh said, “Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous,
- Ezra 9:6and I said, “My God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to you, my God; for our iniquities have increased over our head, and our guiltiness has grown up to the heavens.
- Jer 51:9“We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed. Forsake her, and let us each go into his own country; for her judgment reaches to heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies.
- Rev 16:19The great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. Babylon the great was remembered in the sight of God, to give to her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.
- Jonah 1:2“Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach against it, for their wickedness has come up before me.”
- 2 Chr 28:9But a prophet of Yahweh was there, whose name was Oded; and he went out to meet the army that came to Samaria, and said to them, “Behold, because Yahweh, the God of your fathers, was angry with Judah, he has delivered them into your hand, and you have slain them in a rage which has reached up to heaven.
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Christ at the center
Revelation ends the story with the slain-yet-standing Lamb who is worthy, the Lion of Judah, the Alpha and Omega, the returning King who makes all things new and dwells with his people forever.
How Revelation 18:5 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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