For strong is GOD the Lord [God] who [judgeth] JUDGED her.—“Compare Rev. 17:17, where the event is expressly declared to have been overruled by God.” (Cook.) “And I will punish Bel in Babylon [the God of Babylon,—the Pope]; and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he hath swallowed up [he shall repudiate in his extremity the ‘great swelling words’ and blasphemous titles which he has long appropriated to himself—that he is the ‘infallible vicar,’ ‘vice‐gerent of Christ,’ ‘another God on earth,’ etc.], and the nations shall not flow together any more unto him. Yea, the wall of Babylon [the civil power that once defended it, and that in a measure does so still] shall fall.... Thus saith the Lord of Hosts: the broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken, and her high gates shall be burned with fire [shall be destroyed]; and the people shall labor in vain, and the folk in the fire [to prop and save the walls of Babylon], and they shall be weary.—Jer. 51:44, 58.”—D. 40. The people are already getting weary of supporting murderous governments. 18:9. And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication [and lived deliciously] with her.—In the illicit unions of Church and State the advantage, from a worldly viewpoint, has been on the side of the Church. She has compelled the State to cleanse her filthy linen while she proceeded to pollute another lot. Far from living deliciously, the horns have really hated the harlot for her impudent, shameless conduct. Shall [bewail her], WAIL and lament for her.—Not because they loved her, but because she was useful to them in keeping the people in ignorance and subjection.—Jer. 50:46; Ezek. 26:15 to 27:36. When they shall see the smoke of her burning.—When they witness her confusion and signs of imminent destruction as portrayed in the seventh plague—“the handwriting on the wall.”—Dan. 5:1‐9; Rev. 18:18; 19:3. 18:10. Standing afar off for fear of her torment.—Realizing that this is a question of interpretation of the Scriptures and not wishing to get entangled in it any more than absolutely necessary.—Jer. 51:30‐33. Saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city.—Alas, that great religious system that was always eager to affiliate with us and give a religious coloring to even wholesale murder by enticing its young men to enlist under our banners! For in one hour is thy judgment come.—In the one year 1917‐1918.—Rev. 17:12. 18:11. And the merchants of the earth.—Salesmen of religious goods—Popes, Cardinals, Archbishops, Bishops and smaller fry.—Ezek. 27:36; Isa. 23:8; 47:15; Rev. 18:3, 15, 23. Shall weep and mourn over her.—Saying, in substance, “What shall I do? for my lord taketh away from me the stewardship: I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed.”—Luke 16:3.