"And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more: The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones . . . and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men." (Revelation 18:11-13)

This day of mourning will follow the destruction of Babylon the great, a mighty commercial and political center which "shall be utterly burned with fire" because "her sins have reached unto heaven" 

 And what are those sins? And is "Babylon the Great" a literal city, the capital city of the empire of the beast in the last days? Or is it a metaphor depicting the wickedness of all such cities throughout the ages? Perhaps it is both. In any case, this Babylon harbors many forms of wickedness hated by God--fornications, sorceries, bloodshed, etc. But the chief characteristic of its wickedness is its devotion to commercialism above all else. "The merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies"