Greek word · G4480
ῥέδα
reda
carriage
A four-wheeled travelling carriage or wagon. The Latin raeda is itself borrowed from Gaulish (Celtic). It occurs only here in the New Testament and not in the LXX.
Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·
What it means
From G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).
In depth
From the study of Revelation 18:13
- Range of meaning
A four-wheeled travelling carriage or wagon. The Latin raeda is itself borrowed from Gaulish (Celtic). It occurs only here in the New Testament and not in the LXX.
- Against the English
KJV, YLT and WEB "chariots" suggest war or racing chariots. BSB and NIV "carriages" are correct.
- How it drifted
Older translators reached for a familiar biblical word (chariots appear throughout the Old Testament as war vehicles) instead of a rare Latin loanword for road coaches.
- Used elsewhere in the period
The Roman teacher of rhetoric Quintilian (Institutio Oratoria 1.5.57) names raeda as a word of Gallic origin. The satirists Juvenal (Satire 3.10) and Martial mention the raeda as the coach in which well-off Romans travelled with their baggage and household.
Where it appears
Revelation · 1
-
Revelation 18:13 ῥεδῶν of chariots
of cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, and frankincense; of wine, olive oil, fine flour, and wheat; of cattle, sheep, horses, and carriages; of bodies and souls of slaves.
Here: "[Cargo] of carriages." A raeda was a four-wheeled travelling coach, a Gallic word borrowed through Latin. It means comfortable road transport for people of means, not war chariots.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.