(May have brought this up before, but if not, at least it's being brought up, now:)

 

Revelation 18:7a How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, 

 

(So, is this describing a single city, or a nation, represented by a city?

One of the chief arguments against Mystery, Babylon possibly being considered a nation is that:)

 

Revelation 14:8 And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.

 

Revelation 17:18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

 

Revelation 18:10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.

  16 And 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!

  18 And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city!

  21 And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.

 

(That the word, “city”, can only mean city, and never represents an entire nation, and that Babylon always means the city.

However, in the scriptures, the city and the land are often considered together, as in the two chapters about Babylon in Jeremiah:)

 

Jeremiah 50:1 The word that the LORD spake against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet.

  12 Your mother shall be sore confounded; she that bare you shall be ashamed: behold, the hindermost of the nations shall be a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.

  18 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I have punished the king of Assyria.

 

(Babylon is called the hindermost of the nations, then it says the king of Babylon and his land, not simply his city.)

 

  26 Come against her from the utmost border, open her storehouses: cast her up as heaps, and destroy her utterly: let nothing of her be left.

 

(Cities have walls, but nations have borders.)

 

  28 The voice of them that flee and escape out of the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of the LORD our God, the vengeance of his temple.

  32 And the most proud shall stumble and fall, and none shall raise him up: and I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it shall devour all round about him.

 

(It says the land of Babylon, not simply the city, and that the land of Babylon has its own cities within it, as nations do.)

 

  38 A drought is upon her waters; and they shall be dried up: for it is the land of graven images, and they are mad upon their idols.

 

(Babylon is the land of graven images, not simply a city, but a nation.)

 

Jeremiah 51:2 And will send unto Babylon fanners, that shall fan her, and shall empty her land: for in the day of trouble they shall be against her round about.

 

(It says Babylon, her land, not simply a city, but a nation.)

 

  9 We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake her, and let us go every one into his own country: for her judgment reacheth unto heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies.

 

(When they leave Babylon for their own country, it was because they had been in the country of Babylon.)

 

  29 And the land shall tremble and sorrow: for every purpose of the LORD shall be performed against Babylon, to make the land of Babylon a desolation without an inhabitant.

 

(It says the land of Babylon, not simply a city, but a nation.)

 

  36 Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will plead thy cause, and take vengeance for thee; and I will dry up her sea, and make her springs dry.

  42 The sea is come up upon Babylon: she is covered with the multitude of the waves thereof.

  43 Her cities are a desolation, a dry land, and a wilderness, a land wherein no man dwelleth, neither doth any son of man pass thereby.

 

(The land, the nation, has her sea, and the land is flooded by the sea, and the land has her cities within it, as do nations.)

 

  47 Therefore, behold, the days come, that I will do judgment upon the graven images of Babylon: and her whole land shall be confounded, and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her.

 

(It says the whole land of Babylon, not simply a city, but a nation.)

 

  52 Wherefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will do judgment upon her graven images: and through all her land the wounded shall groan.

 

(It says the through all the land of Babylon, not simply a city, but a nation.)

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