Revelation 18:23

Contrast the εὑρέθη of 24 with the εὑρήσουσιν of Revelation 18:14 which in its canonical position is an erratic boulder. φαρμακίᾳ, primarily in the figurative O.T. sense already noticed (harlotry and magic spells, as in Yasna ix. 32). But a literal allusion is not to be excluded, in view of the antipathy felt by pious Jews and early Christians to magic and sorcery. As Rome represented the existing authorities under whose aegis these black arts managed to flourish, and as they were generally bound up with religion, it would not be unnatural to charge the Empire with promoting sorcery (Weinel 10). ἐπλαν. “Commerce, as having regard to purely worldly interests, is called harlotry” [Cheyne on Isaiah 23:17]. Sorcery, witchcraft, “fornication,” and the persecution of the righteous, are all manifestations of the lawlessness practised by Beliar working in men and kings (Asc. Isa. ii. 4, 5).