What Does Revelation 18:15 Mean?
The traders of these things, who grew rich from her, shall stand far off for the fear of her scourging, weeping and mourning.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing,THE KEY
Their wealth comes from Babylon, but their bodies stay far from her torment, the verse makes distance the measure of their bond.
THE MEANING
This speaks now wherever wealth binds you to an order of exchange: the merchants grow rich through her, then stand far away when her torment comes. They weep and mourn while remaining outside the danger, so grief and self-protection appear together. The verse shows how closely prosperity can be tied to a system its beneficiaries will not enter when it suffers.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie is that shared prosperity guarantees shared risk: here, the merchants share in her wealth but keep their distance from her torment.
THE ROOT
ἔμποροι
emporoi
GROWS FROM
ἐμπορ- (empor-; built on πόρος, poros)
Passage or route; ἔμπορος names a trader moving through routes for exchange.
“traders” in this verse is emporoi. The word places these people inside a channel of exchange, not merely beside a private fortune. They grow rich through her, then stay at a distance when her torment comes.
ALSO GROWS
emporeuomai: to trade, conduct business
ἐμπορεύομαι
This word family includes the act of trading that gives the merchants their place in the scene.
emporion: market, trading place
ἐμπόριον
The same family names a place of trade, making her luxury a commercial world that sustains them.
πλουτήσαντες
ploutēsantes
GROWS FROM
πλουτ-
plout-
Wealth or riches; πλουτέω means to become rich or be wealthy.
“made rich” in this verse is ploutēsantes. The Greek depicts them as having grown rich through her, so her abundance and theirs are braided together. Their fear arrives as that source of wealth faces torment.
ALSO GROWS
ploutos: wealth, riches
πλοῦτος
It names the abundance that their prosperity depends on.
plousios: rich, wealthy
πλούσιος
It describes the condition they receive through her.
ἀπὸ μακρόθεν
apo makrothen
GROWS FROM
μακρ-
makr-
Long or distant; μακρόθεν means from far away.
“afar off” in this verse is apo makrothen. The phrase fixes their posture as distance: they fear her torment from outside its reach. The same Greek phrase recurs for the shipmasters and traders in verse 17, extending that retreat across the commerce around her.
ALSO GROWS
makros: long, far
μακρός
This adjective carries the same idea of extended distance contained in μακρόθεν.
makran: far away, at a distance
μακράν
This related adverb uses the same distance stem, echoing how the merchants remain apart.
THE PATTERN
When a wealthy trading order falls, those who profited from it stand back and mourn the loss.
And the traders of the earth shall weep and mourn over her, for no one buys their cargo any longer.They will shave themselves bald for you, and gird with sackcloth, and weep for you with bitterness of living soul, with bitter wailing.Come now, you rich ones, weep and howl over the hardships coming upon you.THE THREAD
For in one hour such great wealth has been emptied. And every steersman, and every one who sails to a place, and sailors, and as many as work the sea, stood far off.Verse 17 repeats ἀπὸ μακρόθεν (apo makrothen), “from far away,” for shipmasters, sailors, and sea traders after her great riches vanish. The distance spreads from the merchants to the whole trading network as the source of their wealth collapses.
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