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Word Studies

G5331 — pharmakeia (φαρμακεία) — "sorcery/witchcraft"

Original: φαρμακεία Transliteration: pharmakeía Part of Speech: feminine noun Definition: from pharmakon (a drug); medication ("pharmacy"), i.e. (by extension) magic/sorcery

Translations

  • "sorceries" (2x — Rev 9:21; 18:23)
  • "witchcraft" (1x — Gal 5:20)

Key Verses

  • Rev 18:23 "for by thy sorceries (pharmakeia) were all nations deceived"
  • Rev 9:21 "Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries (pharmakeia)"
  • Gal 5:20 Listed among works of the flesh: "witchcraft (pharmakeia)"

Significance for Rev 18

The word derives from pharmakon (drug/potion), connecting Babylon's deception to intoxication — the nations are "drugged" by her false doctrines. This connects to the wine imagery throughout Rev 17-18: the nations drink her wine (intoxication) through her pharmakeia (drugging deception). The OT parallel is Isa 47:9,12 where Babylon's "sorceries" and "enchantments" are the means of her power.

  • G5332 pharmakeus (sorcerer) — Rev 21:8; 22:15
  • G5333 pharmakos (sorcerer) — same root
  • H3785 kesheph (sorcery/witchcraft) — OT equivalent; 2Ki 9:22; Isa 47:9,12; Mic 5:12; Nah 3:4

G1831 — exerchomai (ἐξέρχομαι) — "come out"

Original: ἐξέρχομαι Transliteration: exérchomai Part of Speech: verb (222 BLB occurrences, 193 KJV occurrences) Definition: from ek (out of) and erchomai (to come); to issue, come forth, go out

Key Usage in Rev 18:4

Exelthate (Ἐξέλθατε) — 2nd Aorist Active IMPERATIVE, 2nd Person Plural - The aorist imperative conveys URGENCY — a decisive, immediate command - "Come out!" — not a suggestion but a command requiring immediate response - Same verb used in 2 Cor 6:17 (quoting Isa 52:11): "come out from among them" - Same verb in Acts 7:3 (God to Abraham): "Get thee out of thy country"

Revelation Occurrences

  • Rev 6:2 — rider on white horse "went forth" (exēlthen)
  • Rev 14:15,17,18,20 — angels "came out" of the temple
  • Rev 15:6 — seven angels "came out" of the temple
  • Rev 16:17 — voice "came out" of the temple
  • Rev 18:4 — "Come out (exelthate) of her, my people"
  • Rev 19:5,21 — voice "came out" of the throne; sword "went out" of mouth
  • Rev 20:8 — Satan "shall go out" to deceive the nations

OT "Come Out" Tradition

The separation imperative has a rich OT background: - Jer 51:6: "Flee out of the midst of Babylon" (Hebrew: nusu mittok bavel) - Jer 51:45: "My people, go ye out of the midst of her" (tse'u mittokah ammi) - Isa 48:20: "Go ye forth of Babylon" (tse'u mibavel) - Isa 52:11: "Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence" (suru suru tse'u misham)

G3458 — mylos (μύλος) — "millstone"

Original: μύλος Transliteration: mýlos Part of Speech: masculine noun Definition: a mill, millstone

All NT Occurrences (4 total)

  • Mat 18:6 — "a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea"
  • Mrk 9:42 — parallel to Mat 18:6
  • Rev 18:21 — "a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea"
  • Rev 18:22 — "the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee"

Significance

The millstone-into-sea motif creates a deliberate echo of Jesus' teaching about judgment (Mat 18:6/Mrk 9:42) AND the Seraiah symbolic act in Jer 51:63-64 where a stone is bound to a book and cast into the Euphrates with the pronouncement "Thus shall Babylon sink." The two images converge: drowning judgment (millstone around neck → depth of sea) and Babylon's sinking (stone → Euphrates).

G4172 — polis (πόλις) — "city"

Original: πόλις Transliteration: pólis Part of Speech: feminine noun (164 BLB, 155 KJV occurrences) Definition: a town, city

"Great City" (hē polis hē megalē) in Revelation

The formula "that great city" appears repeatedly in Rev 18 as a structural refrain: - Rev 18:10 — "Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city!" - Rev 18:16 — "Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen..." - Rev 18:18 — "What city is like unto this great city!" - Rev 18:19 — "Alas, alas, that great city..." - Rev 18:21 — "Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down"

Other Revelation "great city" references: - Rev 11:8 — "the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt" - Rev 14:8 — "Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city" - Rev 16:19 — "the great city was divided into three parts" - Rev 17:18 — "the woman which thou sawest is that great city"

Contrast with Holy City

  • Rev 21:2 — "holy city, new Jerusalem"
  • Rev 21:10 — "that great city, the holy Jerusalem"
  • Rev 22:19 — "holy city"

G1117 — gomos (γόμος) — "cargo/merchandise"

Original: γόμος Transliteration: gómos Part of Speech: masculine noun Definition: a load (as filling), a cargo

All NT Occurrences (3 total)

  • Acts 21:3 — "the ship was to unlade her burden (gomon)"
  • Rev 18:11 — "no man buyeth their merchandise (gomon) any more"
  • Rev 18:12 — "The merchandise (gomon) of gold, and silver..."

Significance

gomos denotes cargo — freight, the contents of a ship's hold. Its commercial specificity in Rev 18 connects the merchandise list to maritime trade. The merchants' lament centers on lost commerce — their gomon is unsold.

G2372 — thymos (θυμός) — "wrath/fury/passion"

Original: θυμός Transliteration: thymós Part of Speech: masculine noun (18 BLB occurrences) Definition: from thyō (to rush/breathe hard); passion, fierceness, indignation, wrath

Revelation Occurrences (10 of 18 total NT uses)

  • Rev 12:12 — dragon comes down "having great wrath (thymon)"
  • Rev 14:8 — "wine of the wrath (tou thymou) of her fornication"
  • Rev 14:10 — "wine of the wrath (tou thymou) of God"
  • Rev 14:19 — "winepress of the wrath (tou thymou) of God"
  • Rev 15:1 — "seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath (thymos) of God"
  • Rev 15:7 — "seven golden vials full of the wrath (tou thymou) of God"
  • Rev 16:1 — "pour out the vials of the wrath (tou thymou) of God"
  • Rev 16:19 — "the cup of the wine of the fierceness (tou thymou) of his wrath"
  • Rev 18:3 — "all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath (tou thymou) of her fornication"
  • Rev 19:15 — "the winepress of the fierceness (tou thymou) and wrath of Almighty God"

Significance for Rev 18

thymos in 18:3 echoes the identical phrase from 14:8 — "the wine of the thymos of her fornication." The nations are intoxicated by the passionate intensity of Babylon's false doctrines. The thymos is both Babylon's (her passionate deception) and God's (his passionate judgment).

G5590 — psyche (ψυχή) — "soul"

Original: ψυχή Transliteration: psychḗ Part of Speech: feminine noun (105 BLB occurrences) Definition: breath, spirit, the soul, life

Rev 18:13 Usage

"slaves, and souls (psychas) of men" — The genitive construction somaton kai psychas anthropon literally reads "bodies and souls of human beings." This may be: 1. A hendiadys (two words for one concept): "slave-bodies, that is, human souls" — emphasizing the dehumanization of slavery 2. Two distinct categories: physical slavery (bodies) AND spiritual captivity (souls) 3. An escalation: Babylon trades not only in human bodies but in human souls — spiritual bondage through false doctrine

  • Ezek 27:13 — Tyre "traded the persons (naphshoth = souls) of men" — the SAME phrase, using the Hebrew equivalent of psyche. John directly echoes Ezekiel's indictment of Tyre's slave trade.

G4983 — soma (σῶμα) — "body"

Original: σῶμα Transliteration: sōma Part of Speech: neuter noun (146 BLB occurrences) Definition: the body (as a sound whole)

Rev 18:13 Usage

soma appears only ONCE in Revelation — at 18:13, in the merchandise list's climax: "slaves (somaton, literally 'bodies') and souls of men." The word soma carries the meaning of a physical body, often a dead body or corpse (Mat 27:58; Mrk 15:43). In the commercial context, somaton means "slave-bodies" — human beings reduced to merchandise.

G2919 — krino (κρίνω) — "judge"

Original: κρίνω Transliteration: krínō

Rev 18:20 Usage

"ekrinen ho Theos to krima hymōn ex autēs" — "God has judged (ekrinen, Aorist Active Indicative) your judgment (krima) out of her." - The Aorist tense presents the judgment as COMPLETED — a done deed - krima (G2917) is the verdict/sentence, not the process - "your judgment" — the judgment that was AGAINST you (suffered by you) has now been turned ON her - The preposition "ex" (out of) indicates the judgment was extracted FROM Babylon

G3759 — ouai (οὐαί) — "woe/alas"

Original: οὐαί Transliteration: ouaí Definition: an exclamation of grief, woe, alas

Threefold Lamentation Refrain

The formula "Ouai ouai, hē polis hē megalē" ("Alas, alas, that great city") occurs THREE times in Rev 18: - v.10 — Kings: "Ouai ouai, hē polis hē megalē, Babylōn hē polis hē ischyra" - v.16 — Merchants: "Ouai ouai, hē polis hē megalē, hē peribeblēmenē byssinon..." - v.19 — Shipmasters: "Ouai ouai, hē polis hē megalē..."

Each is followed by "hoti mia hōra" ("for in one hour") — a structural refrain emphasizing the swiftness of judgment.