1172. Verses 18-19. And they cried out when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What is like this great city? And they cast dust upon their heads, and cried out, weeping and mourning, saying, Woe, woe, that great city, wherein all that had ships in the sea were made rich by her costliness, for in one hour they were devastated. 18. "And they cried out when they saw the smoke of her burning" signifies grief of mind because of direful falsities, when they saw the punishment on account of those direful falsities that flowed from their lives (n. 1173); "saying, What is like this great city," signifies astonishment that that doctrine and religious persuasion were thus destroyed (n. 1174). 19. "And they cast dust upon their heads and cried out, weeping and mourning," signifies confession that by a life according to that religious persuasion and its doctrine they were condemned (n. 1175); "saying, Woe, woe, that great city, wherein all that had ships in the sea were made rich by her costliness," signifies lamentation over the doctrine and religious persuasion by which all who confirmed them by reasonings from the natural man had made gains (n. 1176); "for in one hour they were devastated" signifies over the loss and destruction of all things (n. 1177).