19:1–3 Now that the third woe is completed, the reader is ready to hear God’s concluding word that speaks of salvation rather than of judgment. These doxologies describe the logical response of worship to the angel’s earlier demand for the heavenly community to “Rejoice … O heaven/Rejoice, saints and apostles and prophets!” (18:20). They also form part of the heavenly liturgy of joy that is marked by the repeated acclamations of Hallelujah! (19:1, 3, 4, 6)—found only here in the NT but often in the OT Psalter where it means “Praise the Lord!” In the Psalter this invocation typically summoned the worshiping community to acknowledge God’s salvation, often from those situations characterized by their difficulty and evil—that is, from the very places represented by Babylon in Revelation.

The …