cinnamon, spice, incense, perfume, frankincense, wine, olive oil, fine flour, wheat, cattle, sheep, and cargo of horses, carriages, slaves, and human lives.
Parallel translations
- WEB and cinnamon, incense, perfume, frankincense, wine, olive oil, fine flour, wheat, sheep, horses, chariots, and people’s bodies and souls.
- KJV And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men.
- BSB of cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, and frankincense; of wine, olive oil, fine flour, and wheat; of cattle, sheep, horses, and chariots; of slaves and souls of men.
- NKJV and cinnamon and incense, fragrant oil and frankincense, wine and oil, fine flour and wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, and bodies and souls of men.
- NLT She also bought cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, frankincense, wine, olive oil, fine flour, wheat, cattle, sheep, horses, wagons, and bodies—that is, human slaves.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The list ends with spices, food, animals, and 'people's bodies and souls.' Babylon trafficked even in human lives.
Overview
The catalogue climaxs with the trade in human beings, exposing the cruelty hidden within the city's commerce. By placing slaves last and naming their 'souls,' the text condemns the dehumanizing greed of the world-system. God's judgment vindicates the dignity of persons that godless markets trample, a concern fulfilled in the gospel's redemption of people from every nation.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 21
- Ezek 27:13Javan, Tubal, and Meshech, they were your traffickers; they traded the persons of men and vessels of brass for your merchandise.
- Amos 2:6Yahweh says: “For three transgressions of Israel, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they have sold the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes;
- 2 Pet 2:3In covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words: whose sentence now from of old doesn’t linger, and their destruction will not slumber.
- Neh 5:8I said to them, “We, after our ability, have redeemed our brothers the Jews that were sold to the nations; and would you even sell your brothers, and should they be sold to us?” Then they held their peace, and found not a word to say.
- Isa 50:1Yahweh says, “Where is the bill of your mother’s divorce, with which I have put her away? or to which of my creditors have I sold you? Behold, you were sold for your iniquities, and your mother was put away for your transgressions.
- Deut 24:7If a man is found stealing any of his brothers of the children of Israel, and he deals with him as a slave, or sells him; then that thief shall die. So you shall remove the evil from among you.
- Exod 21:16“Anyone who kidnaps someone and sells him, or if he is found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death.
- 1 Tim 1:10for the sexually immoral, for homosexuals, for slave-traders, for liars, for perjurers, and for any other thing contrary to the sound doctrine;
- Deut 28:68Yahweh will bring you into Egypt again with ships, by the way of which I told to you that you would never see it again. There you will sell yourselves to your enemies for male and female slaves, and nobody will buy you.
- Amos 8:6that we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes, and sell the sweepings with the wheat?’”
- John 12:3–8Mary, therefore, took a pound of ointment of pure nard, very precious, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the ointment.
- Song 5:5I rose up to open for my beloved. My hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with liquid myrrh, on the handles of the lock.
- 1 Kgs 10:15besides that which the traders brought, and the traffic of the merchants, and of all the kings of the mixed people, and of the governors of the country.
- 2 Chr 9:9She gave the king one hundred and twenty talents of gold, spices in great abundance, and precious stones. There was never before such spice as the queen of Sheba gave to king Solomon.
- 1 Kgs 10:25Year after year, every man brought his tribute, vessels of silver, vessels of gold, clothing, armor, spices, horses, and mules.
- Prov 7:17I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
- 1 Kgs 10:10She gave the king one hundred twenty talents of gold, and a very great quantity of spices, and precious stones. Never again was there such an abundance of spices as these which the queen of Sheba gave to king Solomon.
- Amos 6:6who drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the best oils; but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.
- Song 4:13–14Your shoots are an orchard of pomegranates, with precious fruits: henna with spikenard plants,
- Neh 5:4–5There were also some who said, “We have borrowed money for the king’s tribute using our fields and our vineyards as collateral.
- Song 1:3Your oils have a pleasing fragrance. Your name is oil poured out, therefore the virgins love you.
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Christ at the center
Revelation ends the story with the slain-yet-standing Lamb who is worthy, the Lion of Judah, the Alpha and Omega, the returning King who makes all things new and dwells with his people forever.
How Revelation 18:13 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.