John Gill Bible Commentary

O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed,.... By the determinate counsel and decree of God, and according to divine predictions; see Jer 50:1; so mystical Babylon, antichrist, and the man of sin, who therefore is called the son of perdition, Th2 2:3; because appointed to destruction, and shall certainly go into it, Rev 17:8; or "O thou destroyer", as the Targum, which paraphrases it thus, "Gabriel, the prince of Zion, said to the Babylonish nation that spoileth or destroyeth;'' which is true of literal Babylon, called the destroying mountain, Jer 51:25; and of mystical Babylon, the destroyer both of the bodies and souls of men, Rev 11:18; happy shall he be that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us; meaning Darius the Mede, as Kimchi; or rather, or however who must be added, Cyrus the Persian, as R. Obadiah; who were ordered by the Lord to retaliate her, and do as she had done to others, Jer 50:15; and in so doing pronounced happy, being the Lord's shepherd, raised up in righteousness to perform his pleasure, Isa 44:28; and here wished success by the godly Jews. In like manner the Christian princes will reward mystical Babylon, and be the happy instruments of her ruin, Rev 18:6.