Revelation 18:3

Where I have a verb meaning to fall, rather than to drink, in Revelation 18:3, this is because the Novum Testamentum Graece (NA27), following later manuscripts, has πέπωκαν, a form of the verb πινω which would mean they drank, but the older manuscripts have a verb for fall. According to the apparatus in the NA27, the codices Siniaticus, Alexandrinus and Ephraimi Syri, as well as the Majority Text manuscripts of the Koine Greek tradition (as opposed to those of Andreas of Caesareia) all have either πέπτωκαν or πέπτωκασιν, forms of the verb πιπτω which would be they have fallen. The NA27 does not indicate which manuscripts have πέπτωκαν, which does not seem to be a valid form, so I may conjecture that perhaps that is why they chose to follow those later manuscripts which have πέπωκαν.

However instead of making that assumption, I am persuaded that the scribe or scribes who used the form πέπτωκαν had indeed meant to write they have fallen, but conjugated the verb incorrectly, or perhaps only differently. The stem is more significant than the ending, in my opinion.

The -καν ending is recognized as a proper perfect third person plural ending for πινω (to drink) and other verbs, and it cannot be ruled out that it may have been used by a scribe or scribes for πιπτω, which is made evident in a comparison of the conjugations below.

From the Kata Biblon Wiki:

Perfect active indicative conjugations of πιπτω in first, second and third persons:

πεπτώκᾰμεν, πεπτωκας, πεπτωκασι(ν).

Perfect active indicative conjugations of πινω in first, second and third persons:

πεπωκα, πεπωκας, πεπωκαν. (This last form is labeled “perf act ind 3rd pl alt” compare the chart from Wikitionary)

From Wiktionary:

Perfect active indicative conjugations of πιπτω in first, send and third person:

πεπτωκα, πεπτώκᾰτε, πεπτώκᾱσῐ(ν).

Perfect active indicative conjugations of πινω in first, send and third person:

πεπώκᾰμεν, πεπώκᾰτε, πεπώκᾱσῐ(ν). (This last form is the same as the proper ending given for πιπτω above.)

So if it is recognized that in the writings of the New Testament, the 3rd person plural form of πινω may have been shortened to πεπωκαν from πεπώκᾱσῐν, which is evident comparing these forms here and seeing the “alt” label for πεπωκαν at Kata Biblon, then I would assert that the same thing could have happened in the case of πιπτω, where in some manuscripts the form πέπτωκαν appears, and in others πέπτωκασιν.

Therefore we shall follow the manuscripts which have πέπτωκαν or πέπτωκασιν and retain the reading of fall rather than drink in Revelation 18:3. Life should teach us that when we get drunk, we fall, either literally or in this case, figuratively.