Revelation 18:17: For 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.

In Revelation 18:17, the merchants of Babylon weep and wail¹ because so great riches is come to nought² (made desolate).³ When Babylon physically falls during the seventh Vial Plague of the Third Woe,⁴ world markets will collapse in one hour.⁵ Trillions of dollars in worldly wealth, which are the merchant goods of Babylon, will be suddenly devalued⁶ and become worthless around the globe.⁷

John uses the images of local and worldwide shipping industries to depict Babylon's economic fall and devastation.⁸ The collapse of these industries symbolically depicts the crash of the world's economy, which is foreshadowed in ancient prototype cities such as Nineveh, Babylon, and Tyre.⁹

John identifies four groups of mariners as the traffickers of Babylon's worldly goods. The first group consists of every shipmaster of large vessels on the open sea.¹⁰ The second group consists of the company in ships. These are called coasters with shipping routes close to the coastline.¹¹ Some scholars identify this group as travelers in general.¹² The third group consists of sailors, who are common seamen.¹³ The fourth group consists of as many as trade by sea, which refers to all others engaged in the maritime trade in any way.¹⁴ John uses the world number four (4) to list these groups of traffickers because this describes the economic crash as a universal and worldwide event.¹⁵ These traffickers include all types of modern commerce by planes, trains, trucks, and technologies.¹⁶ John simply lacked the modern terminology to describe them.¹⁷

John's vision uses images of mariners from the sea because the sea represents evil, wickedness, and chaos.¹⁸ This imagery complements the symbol of the Great Whore that sits on many waters in Revelation 17:1.¹⁹ The images of seafaring mariners may also relate to the Lord's curse upon the waters in the latter days found in Doctrine and Covenants Section 61.²⁰ John's imagery also alludes to the ancient city of Tyre that was built on an island in the midst of the sea.²¹ Tyre was the greatest center of trade and commerce in the ancient world²² until Alexander the Great destroyed the city after first constructing a remarkable causeway from the mainland to the island fortress.²³

Modern Babylon will fall as a worldwide center of commerce in the likeness of Tyre.²⁴ When that occurs the mariners of Babylon will stand afar off and mourn their personal loss just like the kings and merchants before them.²⁵

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

The four classes of mariners will see the destruction of Modern Babylon and the smoke of her burning‒that is, the place where she is burned.²⁶ They will be shocked at Babylon's fall,²⁷ saying: What city is like unto this great city!²⁸

Revelation 18:19: And 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.

The mariners seem to mourn most of all for Babylon's fall, perhaps because they are the largest collection of mourners when compared to the kings and merchants.²⁹ The mariners cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and to express their extraordinary lamentation.³⁰ Ezekiel used similar language to describe the grief of those that suffered worldly losses from the fall of Tyre.³¹ The mariners of Modern Babylon mourn for her loss together with the kings and merchants, saying: Alas, alas, that great city.³² The mariners mourn for the loss of their profitable shipping industry,³³ which made them rich by reason of her costliness and material excesses.³⁴

For the third time, John reports the certainty and suddenness of Babylon's physical fall, saying, in one hour is she made desolate.³⁵