Devine Scripture

Revelation 18:13

What does Revelation 18:13 mean?

A plain-English look at Revelation 18:13 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.

What Revelation 18:13 means

The inventory continues with spices, incense, ointments, and the staples of feast and comfort—wine, oil, fine flour, wheat—then livestock, vehicles, and finally “slaves; and souls of men.” Here the mask drops. Babylon’s prosperity included the buying and selling of people. This phrase exposes the dehumanizing core of the system: human lives reduced to cargo. Luxury without justice inevitably consumes persons. God’s judgment targets not only excess but the exploitation that funds it. The climax of the list indicts a commerce that treats image-bearers as goods. The world’s finest perfumes cannot hide that the economy reeked of oppression and spiritual death.

Parallel translations

WEB

World English Bible · 2000

and cinnamon, and spice, and incense, and ointment, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and cattle, and sheep; and merchandise of horses and chariots and slaves; and souls of men.

KJV

King James Version · 1611

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.

ASV

American Standard Version · 1901

and cinnamon, and spice, and incense, and ointment, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and cattle, and sheep; and merchandise of horses and chariots and slaves; and souls of men.

BBE

Bible in Basic English · 1949

And sweet-smelling plants, and perfumes, and wine, and oil, and well crushed grain, and cattle and sheep; and horses and carriages and servants; and souls of men.

YLT

Young's Literal Translation · 1862

and cinnamon, and odours, and ointment, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and cattle, and sheep, and of horses, and of chariots, and of bodies and souls of men.

DRA

Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752

And cinnamon and odours and ointment 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.

DBY

Darby Bible · 1890

and cinnamon, and amomum, and incense, and unguent, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and cattle, and sheep, and of horses, and of chariots, and of bodies, and souls of men.

Context

The crescendo of the goods list lands on the darkest line—human beings as merchandise. This is the moral center of the economic indictment. The next verse will declare that the desired fruits are gone, signaling a permanent end to such trade. By placing “slaves; and souls of men” at the list’s end, the text makes clear that Babylon’s fall is about more than lost luxury; it is about divine justice for systemic exploitation. This prepares the reader to hear the finality of loss in the words that follow.

v.12merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stone, and pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet; and all thyine wood, and every vessel of ivory, and every vessel made of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble;

v.13This passage

v.14And the fruits which thy soul lusted after are gone from thee, and all things that were dainty and sumptuous are perished from thee, and men shall find them no more at all.

Cross references

Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.

  • Nehemiah 5:4

    There were also that said, We have borrowed money for the king’s tribute upon our fields and our vineyards.

  • 1 Kings 10:15

    besides that which the traders brought, and the traffic of the merchants, and of all the kings of the mingled people, and of the governors of the country.

  • Song of Solomon 5:5

    I rose up to open to my beloved; And my hands dropped with myrrh, And my fingers with liquid myrrh, Upon the handles of the bolt.

  • Song of Solomon 4:13

    Thy shoots are an orchard of pomegranates, with precious fruits; Henna with spikenard plants,

  • Ezekiel 27:13

    Javan, Tubal, and Meshech, they were thy traffickers; they traded the persons of men and vessels of brass for thy merchandise.

  • 2 Chronicles 9:9

    And she gave the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold, and spices in great abundance, and precious stones: neither was there any such spice as the queen of Sheba gave to king Solomon.

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