People on earth, God’s saints included, are inclined to look up to the heavyweights of society and kowtow to them. This passage points up that kings and merchants, though perhaps rich and influential, are ultimately finite people who are as able to cry and lament as the little people of daily life are. It is of no advantage to be a respecter of persons (Psalm 49:5–6; Psalm 146:3).
9 Et tous les rois de la terre, qui se sont livrés avec elle à la débauche et au luxe, pleureront et se lamenteront à cause d'elle, quand ils verront la fumée de son embrasement.