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Rev 18:13. Ἄμωμον, amomum) A kind of shrub, the wood of which affords a sweet odour. [This reading is not to be omitted. Amomum is pleasing to the people of Italy.[202]-Not. Crit.]- καὶ κτήνη, καὶ πρόβατα, and beasts of burden, and sheep) These kinds differ, as בקר and צאן among the Hebrews. Thus צאן ובקר, Jeremiah 31 (Gr. 38) 12, ΚΑῚ ΚΤΗΝῶΝ ΚΑῚ ΠΡΟΒΆΤΩΝ. One of the LXX., or, as the Talmudical treatise respecting the scribes teaches, according to the number or the books of Moses, one of the five, translators has plainly expressed the passage of Gen 46:34, ἐρεῖτε, ἄνδρες κτηνοτρόφοι ἐσμὲν-βδέλυγμα γὰρ ἐστιν Αἰγυπτίοις πᾶς ποιμὴν προβάτων.-ῥεδῶν) Vulg. rhedarum. רכב, LXX., ἍΡΜΑ, which noun is found also, ch. Rev 11:9. עגלה is rendered by LXX. often, ἍΜΑΞΑ. But ῬΈΔΗ is to be found in no writer, who wrote in Greek before John. Nor does the particular object itself appear to have been known to the Greeks: for different nations delight in different forms of vehicles. Neither is rheda, or, according to Isidore, reda, a Greek word, as Andreas of Cæsareia sufficiently teaches on this passage, explaining ῬΈΔΑΝ, for the sake of the Greeks, by ὌΧΗΜΑ, as Theophylact does ΚΟΥΣΤΩΔΊΑΝ, by ΦΥΛΑΚῊΝ, Mat 27:65. Nor did rheda sound with less novelty among the Greeks, than that word ὄχημα would sound in the Latin language. It is owing to this that the Greek copyists wrote in this place ῥεδῶν with such variations.[203] The modern Greek version, ἀμάξια. Many Gallic words prevailed, as rheda, which Cicero uses, says Quintil. l. i. c. 5; but Isidore: the reda is a kind of four-wheeled carriage; these the ancients called retæ, because they had rotæ [wheels]: l. xx. 12. The Arabian version, better acquainted with Greek than with Latin, substituted of mules and camels. The word thus introduced into the Latin state, and therefore become Latin, is not without design used in this passage. This stricture indeed attacks Rome, and the luxury which is peculiar to Rome. Jerome on Isaiah 66 : With Gallic waggon, and war-chariots, and horses of Cappadocia and Spain; and carriages of Italy [REDIS ITALIÆ], etc. On the Hebrews, meant by the use of Hebrew words, comp. note on ch. Rev 7:4.- καὶ σωμάτων, καὶ ψυχὰς ἀνθρώπων) The Greeks often say σώματα instead of slaves: Tob 10:10 (11), σώματα καὶ κτήνη καὶ ἀργύριον: and thus LXX., Gen 36:6, πάντα τὰ σώματα τοῦ οἴκου αὐτοῦ. The same again, Eze 27:13, ἐνεμπορεύονταί σοι ἐν ψυχαῖς ἀνθρώπων. In both these passages נפש and אדם נפש are the words in the Hebrew. Ψυχαὶ ἀνθρώπων are used for carcases, the dead, Num 9:6; Num 19:11, but also for the living, Lev 24:17, especially captives or slaves, Num 31:35; Num 31:40; Num 31:46. In this passage, where merchants are introduced complaining, the bodies are slaves, used for carrying merchandise or their masters: the souls of men are slaves, in so far as they are in themselves counted as merchandise.
[202] AC Vulg. Syr. read ἄμωμον. B Memph. h omit it.-E.
[203] Many wrote it ῥαιδῶν. But ABC ῥεδῶν.-E.