Revelation 18:3

18:3 For all the nations ¹  have fallen ²  from

the wine of her immoral passion, ³ 

and the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality with her,

and the merchants of the earth have gotten rich from the power of her sensual behavior.” ⁴ 

Revelation 18:9

18:9 Then ⁵  the kings of the earth who committed immoral acts with her and lived in sensual luxury ⁶  with her will weep and wail for her when they see the smoke from the fire that burns her up. ⁷ 

Revelation 12:9

12:9 So ⁸  that huge dragon – the ancient serpent, the one called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world – was thrown down to the earth, and his angels along with him.

Revelation 13:13-16

13:13 He ⁹  performed momentous signs, even making fire come down from heaven in front of people ¹⁰  13:14 and, by the signs he was permitted to perform on behalf of the beast, he deceived those who live on the earth. He told ¹¹  those who live on the earth to make an image to the beast who had been wounded by the sword, but still lived. 13:15 The second beast ¹²  was empowered ¹³  to give life ¹⁴  to the image of the first beast ¹⁵  so that it could speak, and could cause all those who did not worship the image of the beast to be killed. 13:16 He also caused ¹⁶  everyone (small and great, rich and poor, free and slave ¹⁷ ) to obtain a mark on their right hand or on their forehead.

Revelation 17:2

17:2 with whom the kings of the earth committed sexual immorality and the earth’s inhabitants got drunk with the wine of her immorality.” ¹⁸ 

Revelation 17:5

17:5 On ¹⁹  her forehead was written a name, a mystery: ²⁰  “Babylon the Great, the Mother of prostitutes and of the detestable things of the earth.”

Revelation 21:8

21:8 But to the cowards, unbelievers, detestable persons, murderers, the sexually immoral, and those who practice magic spells, ²¹  idol worshipers, ²²  and all those who lie, their place ²³  will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. ²⁴  That ²⁵  is the second death.”

Revelation 22:15

22:15 Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers ²⁶  and the sexually immoral, and the murderers, and the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood! ²⁷ 

Revelation 22:2

22:2 flowing down the middle of the city’s ²⁸  main street. ²⁹  On each side ³⁰  of the river is the tree of life producing twelve kinds ³¹  of fruit, yielding its fruit every month of the year. ³²  Its leaves are for the healing of the nations.

Revelation 9:1

9:1 Then ³³  the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky ³⁴  to the earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the abyss. ³⁵ 

Isaiah 47:9

47:9 Both of these will come upon you

suddenly, in one day!

You will lose your children and be widowed. ³⁶ 

You will be overwhelmed by these tragedies, ³⁷ 

despite ³⁸  your many incantations

and your numerous amulets. ³⁹ 

Nahum 3:4

Taunt against the Harlot City

3:4 “Because ⁴⁰  you have acted like a wanton prostitute ⁴¹  –

a seductive mistress who practices sorcery, ⁴² 

who ⁴³  enslaves ⁴⁴  nations by her harlotry, ⁴⁵ 

and entices peoples by her sorcery ⁴⁶  –

Acts 8:11

8:11 And they paid close attention to him because he had amazed them for a long time with his magic.

¹ tn Or “all the Gentiles” (the same Greek word may be translated “Gentiles” or “nations”).

² tc ‡ Several mss (א A C 1006* 1611 1841 2030 Ï^K), including the best witnesses, read “have fallen” (πεπτώκασιν or πέπτωκαν [peptwkasin or peptwkan]). The singular πέπτωκεν (peptwken), which is better grammatically with the neuter plural subject πάντα τὰ ἔθνη (panta ta eqnh, “all the nations”), is read by 1854 2062 pc; 2042 pc read πεπότικεν (pepotiken). A few mss (1006^c 2329 pc latt sy^h) read “have drunk” (πέπωκαν/πεπώκασιν, pepwkan/pepwkasin); the singular πέπωκεν (pepwken) is read by P 051 1 2053* al. The more difficult reading and that which has the best ms support is “have fallen.” That it is not too difficult is evidenced by the fact that the great majority of Byzantine minuscules, which have a tendency to smooth out problems, left it stand as is. Nonetheless, it is somewhat difficult (TCGNT 683 says that this reading is “scarcely suitable in the context”), and for that reason certain mss seem to have changed it to “have drunk” to agree with the idea of “wine” (οἴνου, oinou). One can understand how this could happen: A scribe coming to the text and seeing the term “wine” expects a verb of drinking. When he sees “have fallen” and knows that in Greek the verbs “have fallen” and “have drunk” are spelled similarly, he concludes that there has been a slip of the pen in the ms he is using, which he then seeks to correct back to the “have drunk” reading. This appears to be more reasonable than to conclude that three early uncials (i.e., א A C) as well as a great number of other witnesses all felt the need to change “have drunk” (πέπωκαν) to “have fallen” (πέπτωκαν), even if “fallen” occurs in the immediate context (“fallen, fallen, [ἔπεσεν ἔπεσεν, epesen epesen] Babylon the great” in the preceding verse). The preferred reading, on both external and internal grounds, is “have fallen,” and thus the Seer intends to focus on the effects of wine, namely, a drunken stupor.

³ tn See the notes on the words “passion” in Rev 14:8 and “wrath” in 16:19.

⁴ tn According to BDAG 949 s.v. στρῆνος and στρηνιάω, these terms can refer either to luxury or sensuality. In the context of Rev 18, however (as L&N 88.254 indicate) the stress is on gratification of the senses by sexual immorality, so that meaning was emphasized in the translation here.

⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.

⁶ tn On the term ἐστρηνίασεν (estrhniasen) BDAG 949 s.v. στρηνιάω states, “live in luxury, live sensually Rv 18:7. W. πορνεύειν vs. 9.”

⁷ tn Grk “from the burning of her.” For the translation “the smoke from the fire that burns her up,” see L&N 14.63.

⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the result of the war in heaven.

⁹ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

¹⁰ tn This is a generic use of ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo"), referring to both men and women.

¹¹ tn Grk “earth, telling.” This is a continuation of the previous sentence in Greek.

¹² tn Grk “it”; the referent (the second beast) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹³ tn Grk “it was given [permitted] to it [the second beast].”

¹⁴ tn Grk “breath,” but in context the point is that the image of the first beast is made to come to life and speak.

¹⁵ tn Grk “of the beast”; the word “first” has been supplied to specify the referent.

¹⁶ tn Or “forced”; Grk “makes” (ποιεῖ, poiei).

¹⁷ tn See the note on the word “servants” in 1:1.

¹⁸ tn This is the same word translated “sexual immorality” earlier in the verse, but here the qualifier “sexual” has not been repeated for stylistic reasons.

¹⁹ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

²⁰ tn Some translations consider the word μυστήριον (musthrion, “mystery”) a part of the name written (“Mystery Babylon the Great,” so KJV, NIV), but the gender of both ὄνομα (onoma, “name”) and μυστήριον are neuter, while the gender of “Babylon” is feminine. This strongly suggests that μυστήριον should be understood as an appositive to ὄνομα (“a name, i.e., a mystery”).

²¹ tn On the term φαρμακεία (farmakeia, “magic spells”) see L&N 53.100: “the use of magic, often involving drugs and the casting of spells upon people – ‘to practice magic, to cast spells upon, to engage in sorcery, magic, sorcery.’ φαρμακεία: ἐν τῇ φαρμακείᾳ σου ἐπλανήθησαν πάντα τὰ ἔθνη ‘with your magic spells you deceived all the peoples (of the world)’ Re 18:23.”

²² tn Grk “idolaters.”

²³ tn Grk “their share.”

²⁴ tn Traditionally, “brimstone.”

²⁵ tn Grk “sulfur, which is.” The relative pronoun has been translated as “that” to indicate its connection to the previous clause. The nearest logical antecedent is “the lake [that burns with fire and sulfur],” although “lake” (λίμνη, limnh) is feminine gender, while the pronoun “which” (ὅ, Jo) is neuter gender. This means that (1) the proper antecedent could be “their place” (Grk “their share,”) agreeing with the relative pronoun in number and gender, or (2) the neuter pronoun still has as its antecedent the feminine noun “lake,” since agreement in gender between pronoun and antecedent was not always maintained, with an explanatory phrase occurring with a neuter pronoun regardless of the case of the antecedent. In favor of the latter explanation is Rev 20:14, where the phrase “the lake of fire” is in apposition to the phrase “the second death.”

²⁶ tn On the term φάρμακοι (farmakoi) see L&N 53.101.

²⁷ tn Or “lying,” “deceit.”

²⁸ tn Grk “its”; the referent (the city, the new Jerusalem) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

²⁹ tn The Greek word πλατεῖα (plateia) refers to a major (broad) street (L&N 1.103).

³⁰ tn Grk “From here and from there.”

³¹ tn Or “twelve crops” (one for each month of the year).

³² tn The words “of the year” are implied.

³³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.

³⁴ tn Or “from heaven” (the same Greek word means both “heaven” and “sky”).

³⁵ tn On this term BDAG 2 s.v. ἄβυσσος 2 states, “netherworld, abyss, esp. the abode of the dead Ro 10:7 (Ps 106:26) and of demons Lk 8:31; dungeon where the devil is kept Rv 20:3; abode of the θηρίον, the Antichrist 11:7; 17:8; of ᾿Αβαδδών (q.v.), the angel of the underworld 9:11…φρέαρ τῆς ἀ. 9:1f; capable of being sealed 9:1; 20:1, 3.”

³⁶ tn Heb “loss of children and widowhood.” In the Hebrew text the phrase is in apposition to “both of these” in line 1.

³⁷ tn Heb “according to their fullness, they will come upon you.”

³⁸ tn For other examples of the preposition bet (בְּ) having the sense of “although, despite,” see BDB 90 s.v. III.7.

³⁹ sn Reference is made to incantations and amulets, both of which were important in Mesopotamian religion. They were used to ward off danger and demons.

⁴⁰ tn The preposition מִן (min) on מֵרֹב (merov; Heb “from the abundance of harlotries”) is causal: “because of; in consequence of” (HALOT 598 מִן 6; BDB 579-80 s.v. מִן 2.e). See, e.g., Exod 2:23; 15:23; Deut 7:7; 2 Sam 3:11, 37; Job 22:4; Isa 6:4; 43:4; 53:5; Ezek 28:5, 18; Nah 1:5; Zech 2:8; see also IBHS 213 §11.2.11.d; R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 58, §319. The causal sense is supported by the LXX’s ἀπό (apo, “from, because of”). Most English versions adopt the causal sense (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NJPS).

⁴¹ tn Heb “Because of the many harlotries of the harlot.” The MT connects v. 4 with vv. 5-6; however, the LXX connects v. 4 with vv. 1-3. The Masoretic division is followed by NRSV and NJPS; the LXX division is followed by KJV and NIV; and the NASB division equivocates on the issue. It is best to connect v. 4 with vv. 5-6 (following the MT) because: (1) vv. 1-3 constitute a self-contained woe-oracle; and (2) the theme of the harlot unifies vv. 4-6: the accusation against the harlot (v. 4) and the stereotypical punishment of the harlot (vv. 5-6).

⁴² tn Heb “fair of form, a mistress of sorceries.”

⁴³ tn Heb “she.” This has been translated as a relative pronoun for stylistic reasons. The shift from 2nd person feminine singular (“you”) to 3rd person feminine singular (“she”) is an example of heterosis of persons, a common literary/poetic device used in Hebrew poetry and prophetic literature.

⁴⁴ tc The MT reads the Qal participle הַמֹּכֶרֶת (hammokheret) which is derived from מָכַר (makhar, “to sell, to betray”): “the one who sells/betrays [nations].” The MT is supported by the LXX. The Dead Sea Scrolls read הממכרת (4QpNah 2:7): “the one who sells/betrays [nations]” (see DJD 5:38). Dahood repoints the MT as a Hophal participle, הַמֻּכֶּרֶת (hammukkeret) from נָכַר (nakhar, “to know, to recognize”): “the one who is known [by the nations for her harlotries]” (M. Dahood, “Causal Beth and the Root NKR in Nahum 3.4,” Bib 52 [1971]: 395-96). The BHS editors suggest emending the MT, due to metathesis, to הַכֹּמֶרֶת (hakkomeret) from II כמר (“to ensnare”; HALOT 482 s.v. II כמר) which is related to Assyrian kamaru [A] (“to ensnare”): “The one who ensnares [nations].” The related nouns “snare; net” (מִכְמָר, mikhmar) and “net” (מִכְמֶרֶת, mikhmeret) are used as metaphors of the wicked destroying their victims (Ps 141:10; Isa 51:20; Hab 1:15, 16). This approach is adopted by NJPS: “who ensnared nations.” Others suggest emending to the Qal participle הַכֹּמֶרֶת from III כמר (“to destroy, to overthrow”; BDB 485 s.v. III כמר) related to Assyrian kamaru [B] (“to destroy; to annihilate”): “the one who destroys nations.” The MT may be retained due to strong external support (LXX and 4QpNah) and adequate internal support; the conjectural emendations are unnecessary.

⁴⁵ tn Heb “the one who sells nations by her harlotries.”

⁴⁶ tn Heb “and clans by her sorceries.”