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 18:15

18:15 The merchants who sold ⁸  these things, who got rich from her, will stand a long way off because they are afraid of her torment. They will weep ⁹  and mourn,

Revelation 18:20

18:20 (Rejoice over her, O heaven,

and you saints and apostles and prophets,

for God has pronounced judgment ¹⁰  against her on your behalf!) ¹¹ 

Revelation 18:23

18:23 Even the light from a lamp

will never shine in you again!

The voices of the bridegroom and his bride

will never be heard in you again.

For your merchants were the tycoons of the world,

because all the nations ¹²  were deceived by your magic spells! ¹³ 

Revelation 13:16-17

13:16 He also caused ¹⁴  everyone (small and great, rich and poor, free and slave ¹⁵ ) to obtain a mark on their right hand or on their forehead. 13:17 Thus no one was allowed to buy ¹⁶  or sell things ¹⁷  unless he bore ¹⁸  the mark of the beast – that is, his name or his number. ¹⁹ 

Isaiah 23:1-15

The Lord Will Judge Tyre

23:1 Here is a message about Tyre:

Wail, you large ships, ²⁰ 

for the port is too devastated to enter! ²¹ 

From the land of Cyprus ²²  this news is announced to them.

23:2 Lament, ²³  you residents of the coast,

you merchants of Sidon ²⁴  who travel over the sea,

whose agents sail over 23:3 the deep waters! ²⁵ 

Grain from the Shihor region, ²⁶ 

crops grown near the Nile ²⁷  she receives; ²⁸ 

she is the trade center ²⁹  of the nations.

23:4 Be ashamed, O Sidon,

for the sea ³⁰  says this, O fortress of the sea:

“I have not gone into labor

or given birth;

I have not raised young men

or brought up young women.” ³¹ 

23:5 When the news reaches Egypt,

they will be shaken by what has happened to Tyre. ³² 

23:6 Travel to Tarshish!

Wail, you residents of the coast!

23:7 Is this really your boisterous city ³³ 

whose origins are in the distant past, ³⁴ 

and whose feet led her to a distant land to reside?

23:8 Who planned this for royal Tyre, ³⁵ 

whose merchants are princes,

whose traders are the dignitaries ³⁶  of the earth?

23:9 The Lord who commands armies planned it –

to dishonor the pride that comes from all her beauty, ³⁷ 

to humiliate all the dignitaries of the earth.

23:10 Daughter Tarshish, travel back to your land, as one crosses the Nile;

there is no longer any marketplace in Tyre. ³⁸ 

23:11 The Lord stretched out his hand over the sea, ³⁹ 

he shook kingdoms;

he ⁴⁰  gave the order

to destroy Canaan’s fortresses. ⁴¹ 

23:12 He said,

“You will no longer celebrate,

oppressed ⁴²  virgin daughter Sidon!

Get up, travel to Cyprus,

but you will find no relief there.” ⁴³ 

23:13 Look at the land of the Chaldeans,

these people who have lost their identity! ⁴⁴ 

The Assyrians have made it a home for wild animals.

They erected their siege towers, ⁴⁵ 

demolished ⁴⁶  its fortresses,

and turned it into a heap of ruins. ⁴⁷ 

23:14 Wail, you large ships, ⁴⁸ 

for your fortress is destroyed!

23:15 At that time ⁴⁹  Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, ⁵⁰  the typical life span of a king. ⁵¹  At the end of seventy years Tyre will try to attract attention again, like the prostitute in the popular song: ⁵² 

Isaiah 47:15

47:15 They will disappoint you, ⁵³ 

those you have so faithfully dealt with since your youth. ⁵⁴ 

Each strays off in his own direction, ⁵⁵ 

leaving no one to rescue you.”

Ezekiel 26:17-21

26:17 They will sing this lament over you: ⁵⁶ 

“‘How you have perished – you have vanished ⁵⁷  from the seas,

O renowned city, once mighty in the sea,

she and her inhabitants, who spread their terror! ⁵⁸ 

26:18 Now the coastlands will tremble on the day of your fall;

the coastlands by the sea will be terrified by your passing.’ ⁵⁹ 

26:19 “For this is what the sovereign Lord says: When I make you desolate like the uninhabited cities, when I bring up the deep over you and the surging ⁶⁰  waters overwhelm you, 26:20 then I will bring you down to bygone people, ⁶¹  to be with those who descend to the pit. I will make you live in the lower parts of the earth, among ⁶²  the primeval ruins, with those who descend to the pit, so that you will not be inhabited or stand ⁶³  in the land of the living. 26:21 I will bring terrors on you, and you will be no more! Though you are sought after, you will never be found again, declares the sovereign Lord.”

Ezekiel 27:27-36

27:27 Your wealth, products, and merchandise, your sailors and captains,

your ship’s carpenters, ⁶⁴  your merchants,

and all your fighting men within you,

along with all your crew who are in you,

will fall into the heart of the seas on the day of your downfall.

27:28 At the sound of your captains’ cry the waves will surge; ⁶⁵ 

27:29 They will descend from their ships – all who handle the oar,

the sailors and all the sea captains – they will stand on the land.

27:30 They will lament loudly ⁶⁶  over you and cry bitterly.

They will throw dust on their heads and roll in the ashes; ⁶⁷ 

27:31 they will tear out their hair because of you and put on sackcloth,

and they will weep bitterly over you with intense mourning. ⁶⁸ 

27:32 As they wail they will lament over you, chanting:

“Who was like Tyre, like a tower ⁶⁹  in the midst of the sea?”

27:33 When your products went out from the seas,

you satisfied many peoples;

with the abundance of your wealth and merchandise

you enriched the kings of the earth.

27:34 Now you are wrecked by the seas, in the depths of the waters;

your merchandise and all your company have sunk ⁷⁰  along with you. ⁷¹ 

27:35 All the inhabitants of the coastlands are shocked at you,

and their kings are horribly afraid – their faces are troubled.

27:36 The traders among the peoples hiss at you;

you have become a horror, and will be no more.’”

Zephaniah 1:11

1:11 Wail, you who live in the market district, ⁷² 

for all the merchants ⁷³  will disappear ⁷⁴ 

and those who count money ⁷⁵  will be removed. ⁷⁶ 

Zephaniah 1:18

1:18 Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them

in the day of the Lord’s angry judgment.

The whole earth ⁷⁷  will be consumed by his fiery wrath. ⁷⁸ 

Indeed, ⁷⁹  he will bring terrifying destruction ⁸⁰  on all who live on the earth.” ⁸¹ 

[18:3]  ¹ tn Or “all the Gentiles” (the same Greek word may be translated “Gentiles” or “nations”).

[18:3]  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.

[18:3]  ³ tn See the notes on the words “passion” in Rev 14:8 and “wrath” in 16:19.

[18:3]  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.

[18:9]  ⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.

[18:9]  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.”

[18:9]  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.

[18:15]  ⁸ tn Grk “the merchants [sellers] of these things.”

[18:15]  ⁹ tn Grk “her torment, weeping.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started in the translation by supplying the words “They will” here.

[18:20]  ¹⁰ tn On the phrase “pronounced judgment” BDAG 567 s.v. κρίμα 4.b states, “The OT is the source of the expr. κρίνειν τὸ κρ. (cp. Zech 7:9; 8:16; Ezk 44:24) ἔκρινεν ὁ θεὸς τὸ κρίμα ὑμῶν ἐξ αὐτῆς God has pronounced judgment for you against her or God has pronounced on her the judgment she wished to impose on you (HHoltzmann, Hdb. 1893 ad loc.) Rv 18:20.”

[18:20]  ¹¹ tn Grk “God has judged a judgment of you of her.” Verse 20 is set in parentheses because in it the saints, etc. are addressed directly in the second person.

[18:23]  ¹² tn Or “all the Gentiles” (the same Greek word may be translated “Gentiles” or “nations”).

[18:23]  ¹³ 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.”

[13:16]  ¹⁴ tn Or “forced”; Grk “makes” (ποιεῖ, poiei).

[13:16]  ¹⁵ tn See the note on the word “servants” in 1:1.

[13:17]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “and that no one be able to buy or sell.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation. Although the ἵνα (Jina) is left untranslated, the English conjunction “thus” is used to indicate that this is a result clause.

[13:17]  ¹⁷ tn The word “things” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context. In the context of buying and selling, food could be primarily in view, but the more general “things” was used in the translation because the context is not specific.

[13:17]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “except the one who had.”

[13:17]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “his name or the number of his name.”

[23:1]  ²⁰ tn Heb “ships of Tarshish.” This probably refers to large ships either made in or capable of traveling to the distant western port of Tarshish.

[23:1]  ²¹ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “for it is destroyed, from a house, from entering.” The translation assumes that the mem (מ) on בַּיִת (bayit) was originally an enclitic mem suffixed to the preceding verb. This assumption allows one to take בַּיִת as the subject of the preceding verb. It is used in a metaphorical sense for the port city of Tyre. The preposition min (מִן) prefixed to בּוֹא (bo’) indicates negative consequence: “so that no one can enter.” See BDB 583 s.v. מִן 7.b.

[23:1]  ²² tn Heb “the Kittim,” a designation for the people of Cyprus. See HALOT 504-05 s.v. כִּתִּיִּים.

[23:2]  ²³ tn Or “keep quiet”; NAB “Silence!”

[23:2]  ²⁴ map For location see Map1 A1; JP3 F3; JP4 F3.

[23:3]  ²⁵ tc The Hebrew text (23:2b-3a) reads literally, “merchant of Sidon, the one who crosses the sea, they filled you, and on the deep waters.” Instead of מִלְאוּךְ (mil’ukh, “they filled you”) the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a reads מלאכיך (“your messengers”). The translation assumes an emendation of מִלְאוּךְ to מַלְאָכָו (mal’akhav, “his messengers”), taking the vav (ו) on וּבְמַיִם (uvÿmayim) as improperly placed; instead it should be the final letter of the preceding word.

[23:3]  ²⁶ tn Heb “seed of Shihor.” “Shihor” probably refers to the east branch of the Nile. See Jer 2:18 and BDB 1009 s.v. שִׁיחוֹר.

[23:3]  ²⁷ tn Heb “the harvest of the Nile.”

[23:3]  ²⁸ tn Heb “[is] her revenue.”

[23:3]  ²⁹ tn Heb “merchandise”; KJV, ASV “a mart of nations”; NLT “the merchandise mart of the world.”

[23:4]  ³⁰ tn J. N. Oswalt (Isaiah [NICOT], 1:430-31) sees here a reference to Yam, the Canaanite god of the sea. He interprets the phrase מָעוֹז הַיָּם (ma’oz hayyam, “fortress of the sea”) as a title of Yam, translating “Mighty One of the Sea.” A more traditional view is that the phrase refers to Sidon.

[23:4]  ³¹ tn Or “virgins” (KJV, ASV, NAB, NASB).

[23:5]  ³² tn Heb “they will be in pain at the report of Tyre.”

[23:7]  ³³ tn Heb “Is this to you, boisterous one?” The pronoun “you” is masculine plural, like the imperatives in v. 6, so it is likely addressed to the Egyptians and residents of the coast. “Boisterous one” is a feminine singular form, probably referring to the personified city of Tyre.

[23:7]  ³⁴ tn Heb “in the days of antiquity [is] her beginning.”

[23:8]  ³⁵ tn The precise meaning of הַמַּעֲטִירָה (hamma’atirah) is uncertain. The form is a Hiphil participle from עָטַר (’atar), a denominative verb derived from עֲטָרָה (’atarah, “crown, wreath”). The participle may mean “one who wears a crown” or “one who distributes crowns.” In either case, Tyre’s prominence in the international political arena is in view.

[23:8]  ³⁶ tn Heb “the honored” (so NASB, NRSV); NIV “renowned.”

[23:9]  ³⁷ tn Heb “the pride of all the beauty.”

[23:10]  ³⁸ tc This meaning of this verse is unclear. The Hebrew text reads literally, “Cross over your land, like the Nile, daughter of Tarshish, there is no more waistband.” The translation assumes an emendation of מֵזַח (mezakh, “waistband”) to מָחֹז (makhoz, “harbor, marketplace”; see Ps 107:30). The term עָבַר (’avar, “cross over”) is probably used here of traveling over the water (as in v. 6). The command is addressed to personified Tarshish, who here represents her merchants. The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a has עבדי (“work, cultivate”) instead of עִבְרִי (’ivri, “cross over”). In this case one might translate “Cultivate your land, like they do the Nile region” (cf. NIV, CEV). The point would be that the people of Tarshish should turn to agriculture because they will no longer be able to get what they need through the marketplace in Tyre.

[23:11]  ³⁹ tn Heb “his hand he stretched out over the sea.”

[23:11]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “the Lord.” For stylistic reasons the pronoun (“he”) has been used in the translation here.

[23:11]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “concerning Canaan, to destroy her fortresses.” NIV, NLT translate “Canaan” as “Phoenicia” here.

[23:12]  ⁴² tn Or “violated, raped,” the point being that Daughter Sidon has lost her virginity in the most brutal manner possible.

[23:12]  ⁴³ tn Heb “[to the] Kittim, get up, cross over; even there there will be no rest for you.” On “Kittim” see the note on “Cyprus” at v. 1.

[23:13]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “this people [that] is not.”

[23:13]  ⁴⁵ tn For the meaning of this word, see HALOT 118 s.v. *בַּחוּן.

[23:13]  ⁴⁶ tn Or “laid bare.” For the meaning of this word, see HALOT 889 s.v. ערר.

[23:13]  ⁴⁷ sn This verse probably refers to the Assyrian destruction of Babylon.

[23:14]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “ships of Tarshish.” See the note at v. 1.

[23:15]  ⁴⁹ tn Or “in that day” (KJV). The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[23:15]  ⁵⁰ sn The number seventy is probably used in a stereotypical, nonliteral sense here to indicate a long period of time that satisfies completely the demands of God’s judgment.

[23:15]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “like the days of a king.”

[23:15]  ⁵² tn Heb “At the end of seventy years it will be for Tyre like the song of the prostitute.”

[47:15]  ⁵³ tn Heb “So they will be to you”; NIV “That is all they can do for you.”

[47:15]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “that for which you toiled, your traders from your youth.” The omen readers and star gazers are likened to merchants with whom Babylon has had an ongoing economic relationship.

[47:15]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “each to his own side, they err.”

[26:17]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “and they will lift up over you a lament and they will say to you.”

[26:17]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “O inhabitant.” The translation follows the LXX and understands a different Hebrew verb, meaning “cease,” behind the consonantal text. See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel [WBC], 2:72, and D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:43.

[26:17]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “she and her inhabitants who placed their terror to all her inhabitants.” The relationship of the final prepositional phrase to what precedes is unclear. The preposition probably has a specifying function here, drawing attention to Tyre’s inhabitants as the source of the terror mentioned prior to this. In this case, one might paraphrase verse 17b: “she and her inhabitants, who spread their terror; yes, her inhabitants (were the source of this terror).”

[26:18]  ⁵⁹ tn Heb “from your going out.”

[26:19]  ⁶⁰ tn Heb “many.”

[26:20]  ⁶¹ tn Heb “to the people of antiquity.”

[26:20]  ⁶² tn Heb “like.” The translation assumes an emendation of the preposition כְּ (kÿ, “like”), to בְּ (bÿ, “in, among”).

[26:20]  ⁶³ tn Heb “and I will place beauty.” This reading makes little sense; many, following the lead of the LXX, emend the text to read “nor will you stand” with the negative particle before the preceding verb understood by ellipsis; see L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:73. D. I. Block (Ezekiel [NICOT], 2:47) offers another alternative, taking the apparent first person verb form as an archaic second feminine form and translating “nor radiate splendor.”

[27:27]  ⁶⁴ tn Heb “your repairers of damage.” See v. 9.

[27:28]  ⁶⁵ tn Compare this phrase to Isa 57:20 and Amos 8:8. See M. Greenberg, Ezekiel (AB), 2:561.

[27:30]  ⁶⁶ tn Heb “make heard over you with their voice.”

[27:30]  ⁶⁷ tn Note a similar expression to “roll in the ashes” in Mic 1:10.

[27:31]  ⁶⁸ tn Heb “and they will weep concerning you with bitterness of soul, (with) bitter mourning.”

[27:32]  ⁶⁹ tn As it stands, the meaning of the Hebrew text is unclear. The translation follows the suggestion of M. Dahood, “Accadian-Ugaritic dmt in Ezekiel 27:32,” Bib 45 (1964): 83-84. Several other explanations and emendations have been offered. See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:83, and D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:85-86, for a list of options.

[27:34]  ⁷⁰ tn Heb “fallen.”

[27:34]  ⁷¹ tn Heb “in the midst of you.”

[1:11]  ⁷² tn Heb “in the Mortar.” The Hebrew term מַכְתֵּשׁ (makhtesh, “mortar”) is apparently here the name of a low-lying area where economic activity took place.

[1:11]  ⁷³ tn Or perhaps “Canaanites.” Cf. BDB 489 s.v. I and II כְּנַעֲנִי. Translators have rendered the term either as “the merchant people” (KJV, NKJV), “the traders” (NRSV), “merchants” (NEB, NIV), or, alternatively, “the people of Canaan” (NASB).

[1:11]  ⁷⁴ tn Or “be destroyed.”

[1:11]  ⁷⁵ tn Heb “weigh out silver.”

[1:11]  ⁷⁶ tn Heb “be cut off.” In the Hebrew text of v. 11b the perfect verbal forms emphasize the certainty of the judgment, speaking of it as if it were already accomplished.

[1:18]  ⁷⁷ tn Or “land” (cf. NEB). This same word also occurs at the end of the present verse.

[1:18]  ⁷⁸ tn Or “passion”; traditionally, “jealousy.”

[1:18]  ⁷⁹ tn Or “for.”

[1:18]  ⁸⁰ tn Heb “complete destruction, even terror, he will make.”

[1:18]  ⁸¹ tn It is not certain where the Lord’s words end and the prophet’s words begin. It is possible that Zephaniah begins speaking in the middle of v. 17 or at the beginning of v. 18 (note the third person pronouns referring to the Lord).