Double Double Retribution

Revelation 18:6 is made of two chiastic sentences that double back on each other.

A. Pay

B. her

B’. as also she 

A’. paid.

And:

A. Double double according to her works

B. in the cup 

C. she mixed 

C’. mix 

B’. her 

A’. double.

Verse 7 says that she is going to receive the opposite of what she took. She glorified herself and lived complacency, and the payback will be that she will be receive torment and mourning in return. Verse 7 also has a chiastic shape:

A. To the degree 

B. she glorified herself

C. and lived complacently

A.’ to the same degree

C’. give her torment

B’. and mourning.

Mourning is the opposite of glory; a widow’s mourning is the opposite of queendom.

The overall point is that her judgment is just, though in two different ways. On the one hand, she receives what she did and desired twice as much. On the other hand, she receives the opposite of what she grasped for. That is not a contradiction. God judges by giving what we want in spades, but what we want we do not want to the degree he gives it to us. We may think we want another’s blood, but when God gives us over to blood, we hate it.

Revelation is also playing on the rules for retribution and reciprocity in the Torah. For some sins, the punishment was to receive exactly what you had done; if you killed, you get killed. For other sins, the punishment required a double restitution; when you steal something, you not only have to restore it but have to suffer the loss of something of equal value. For other thefts, the punishment is four- or fivefold restitution (Exodus 22:1). The double double restitution required of the harlot means that she is guilty of stealing and slaughtering sheep. 

The description of the harlot’s punishment suns the gamut: It’s retribution, double retribution, quadruple retribution.