And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great. (Revelation 16:18)
A literal earthquake, as the remainder of v. 18 implies (see on v. 1; cf. vs. 20, 21), but accompanied by a figurative earthquake, which shatters mystical Babylon (v. 19). As a literal earthquake leaves a literal city in ruins, so a figurative earthquake brings ruin and desolation to “great Babylon” (see on chs. 17:16; 18:6-8, 21).