Revelations 18:15-19 do you think this was about 9/11?

Question

I have heard some say it was, they say the Ships and merchants stand for wealth and trade of that time, to update it would be like saying Wall street now. verse 17 says in 1 hour
Just wondering what you think,
15The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing,
16And saying, Alas, alas that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls!
17For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
18And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city!
19And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.

I just thought it was interesting, it had a few words like "in one hour" same time as WTC collapse, "ashes" on their heads, people weeping for her, about the money trade etc.
I'm not saying it's so, just asking.

Answer 1

If you really want to talk about Bible passages referring to 9/11, try Joel 2:30-31:

30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.

There was certainly blood, fire, and pillars of smoke (the Twin Towers), and the smoke in New York and around the Pentagon certainly made it a lot darker in those areas, and the soot in the air gave the Moon a reddish hue (ever seen shots of the Moon at night whenever someone was photographing a wildfire?).

Answer 2

No.

I got the answer from the book at the website below, on pages 399-401.


verse 15: These "merchants” are not only those who promote and gain from buying and selling material goods, but include “merchants” who profit off those in need of spiritual or psychological help. Whether these spiritual merchants receive their income hourly, weekly, monthly, yearly, by stipend, or through their transportation, health care, or other benefits, provided for free by those deceived into believing their contrived positions of spiritual and emotional value, [when Christ comes,] they will bewail the end of their authority and income, and hope others will not remember (“stand afar off for the fear”) how they had once deceived the world.

verse 16-19:

In the writings of the prophet Ezekiel, a vivid description is given that depicts what will take place when the Lord reveals himself (truth) to the world. By reading both texts, one soon realizes that the prophets use real situations as representations of real truths. The metaphors John has chosen to borrow from Ezekiel are easy to understand when they are read in context after reading the book.

If you want to understand all of Revelations, you can read the book also. It is free to download from the site below.

Answer 3

No, it is talking about the Harlot, Babylon the Great the world empire of false religion.


Compare Rev.18:1-3 with Rev.17:3-6, 15-18
18
1 After these things I saw another angel descending from heaven, with great authority; and the earth was lighted up from his glory. 2 And he cried out with a strong voice, saying: “She has fallen! Babylon the Great has fallen, and she has become a dwelling place of demons and a lurking place of every unclean exhalation and a lurking place of every unclean and hated bird! 3 For because of the wine of the anger of her fornication all the nations have fallen [victim], and the kings of the earth committed fornication with her, and the traveling merchants of the earth became rich due to the power of her shameless luxury.”

17
3 And he carried me away in [the power of the] spirit into a wilderness. And I caught sight of a woman sitting upon a scarlet-colored wild beast that was full of blasphemous names and that had seven heads and ten horns. 4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and was adorned with gold and precious stone and pearls and had in her hand a golden cup that was full of disgusting things and the unclean things of her fornication. 5 And upon her forehead was written a name, a mystery: “Babylon the Great, the mother of the harlots and of the disgusting things of the earth.” 6 And I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of the holy ones and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus.

17
15 And he says to me: “The waters that you saw, where the harlot is sitting, mean peoples and crowds and nations and tongues. 16 And the ten horns that you saw, and the wild beast, these will hate the harlot and will make her devastated and naked, and will eat up her fleshy parts and will completely burn her with fire. 17 For God put [it] into their hearts to carry out his thought, even to carry out [their] one thought by giving their kingdom to the wild beast, until the words of God will have been accomplished. 18 And the woman whom you saw means the great city that has a kingdom over the kings of the earth.”

Answer 4

9/11 has nothing to do with that passage. That passage is about the destruction of Babylon as the center of world commerce, worship, and govt in The Great Tribulation. It takes place at some unknown point in the future. It is prophecy.

Answer 5

Interpretation is a dangerous thing and this could be interpreted for many different occasions in history. The pieces fit if you want them to but this could be used for say the wall street crash for example. However, I like your thinking and happily take the 2 points. Thank you very much.

Answer 6

No, not at all. Just like many other parts of the Bible, if you believe you're reading metaphor, you can interpret it many different ways and make it say about whatever you want. For all we know, these verses refer to World War II.

Most of parts of the Bible are way too poetic to be taken literally, and Revelation could be referring to things 10,000 years in the future, or maybe in the past, but probably it's not happening right now.

People will use the Bible to say whatever they want it to say. The passage above is so vague it could refer to me going to work yesterday...

Please tell me which parts remind you of New York City and the crashes on 9/11...I can't see any references when I read it, so please help me out....

Answer 7

If god wanted to prophesize about the 9/11 tragedy, why wouldn't he just say.

"And there shall be two great towers that reach up past the clouds in the sky that the people had built, and then lo, like two birds of prey, man made flying machines with come crashing into them and hundreds upon hundreds shall DIE, and the entire nation of these two towers shall weep for their great loss."

Or something like that

Answer 8

If you were sad enough to study Harry Potter you could probably find a smilar series of paragraphs.

Answer 9

Anybody can take anything out of the Bible totally out of context and apply it to whatever they want.

Answer 10

The Book of Revelations should be looked at as a warning for our times.