Revelation 17

Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me. He said, "Come here. I will show you how the great prostitute will be judged. She sits on many waters.

1And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:

NoteThe King James "vials" does not mean narrow glass tubes. The Greek word is for a wide shallow bowl, the kind used for pouring out wine or incense, and these are the seven bowls of chapter 16. "Whore" translates a word meaning prostitute. Calling a city a prostitute was a standard figure in the Hebrew prophets for a city that had broken faith or sold itself, used of Tyre and Nineveh and of Jerusalem itself. "Sitteth upon many waters" repeats Jeremiah's description of ancient Babylon, a city set among the canals and branches of the Euphrates; verse 15 turns the image to a different sense.

2The kings of the earth have slept with her, and the people who live on the earth have gotten drunk on the wine of her sexual sin."

2With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.

Note"Committed fornication" translates a verb for sexual immorality in general. The prophets used it for a nation's dealings with other nations and their gods, so the figure covers trade, alliance and worship as much as sex. Being "made drunk" with her wine is the same figure: the peoples are besotted rather than literally intoxicated.

3So the angel carried me away by the Spirit into the desert. There I saw a woman sitting on a bright red beast. The beast was covered with names that insulted God, and it had seven heads and ten horns.

3So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.

Note"In the spirit" describes the state John is in, carried off in vision rather than bodily. "Wilderness" means empty, unfarmed country, not woodland. The Greek behind "blasphemy" covers any insulting or slanderous speech, and here the insults are aimed at God; Roman coins and inscriptions gave emperors titles such as divine, lord and savior. The beast with seven heads and ten horns is the beast of chapter 13, and the picture of horned beasts standing for empires goes back to Daniel 7.

4The woman was dressed in purple and bright red cloth. She was covered with gold, precious stones, and pearls. In her hand she held a gold cup full of disgusting things and the filth of her sexual sin.

4And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:

NotePurple and scarlet were the two most costly dyes in the ancient world, purple squeezed from a sea snail and scarlet from a crushed insect. Both marked wealth and office, and purple in particular was the color of Roman magistrates and emperors. "Decked" simply means adorned. "Abominations" translates a word for what is detestable, used throughout the Greek Old Testament above all for idols.

5On her forehead a name was written, and the name was a secret: BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES AND OF THE DISGUSTING THINGS OF THE EARTH.

5And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

NoteThe capital letters are the King James way of showing an inscription. "Mystery" does not mean a puzzle: the Greek word means a secret now being disclosed, and it may be part of the written name or may be a label telling the reader that the name is symbolic. Babylon was the empire that destroyed Jerusalem and its temple in 587 BC; by the first century both Jewish and Christian writers used the name as a cover word for Rome, which had destroyed the temple again in AD 70. Roman writers mention prostitutes wearing a headband with their name on it.

6I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of God's people, the blood of those who were killed because they spoke up for Jesus. When I saw her, I was completely amazed.

6And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.

Note"Saints" translates a word meaning those set apart for God, that is, ordinary members of the churches, not a special class of heroes. "Martyrs" translates a word that at this date simply meant witnesses, people who testify; because so many who testified were killed, the word later narrowed to its modern sense. "I wondered with great admiration" has reversed since 1611: admiration then meant amazement or astonishment, not approval. John is staggered, not impressed.

7The angel said to me, "Why are you amazed? I will explain to you the secret of the woman, and of the beast that carries her, the one with the seven heads and ten horns.

7And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.

8The beast you saw once was, and now is not, and it is about to come up out of the deep pit and then go to its destruction. The people who live on the earth will be amazed when they see the beast that was, and is not, and yet will be. These are the people whose names were not written in the book of life from the time the world was made.

8The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.

NoteThe "bottomless pit" is the abyss, pictured in this book as a shaft or prison under the earth. "Perdition" in the King James means ruin or destruction, the outcome rather than a place. "The book of life" is a register of citizens, a civic image familiar from ancient cities that kept rolls of who belonged. The phrase "was, and is not, and yet is" is built to echo the way God is described earlier in the book, "which is, and which was, and which is to come."

9This calls for a mind with wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, and the woman sits on them.

9And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.

Note"Here is the mind which hath wisdom" is a signal that a riddle follows, the same marker used at 13:18. The Greek word translated "mountains" equally means hills, and Rome was known everywhere as the city on seven hills, a fact celebrated in Roman poetry and stamped on Roman coins. The next verse reads the same seven as kings, so the riddle is meant to carry both senses at once.

10They are also seven kings. Five of them have fallen, one is ruling now, and the other has not come yet. When he does come, he must stay only a short time.

10And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.

NoteTo first readers "kings" would mean Roman emperors. Which five have fallen depends on where the count starts, with Julius Caesar or with Augustus, and on whether the three short lived emperors of AD 69 are counted; the text gives no key, and the ambiguity is in the original. "A short space" means a short time.

11The beast that was, and is not, is himself an eighth king. He belongs to the seven, and he is going to his destruction.

11And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.

NoteThe King James "is of the seven" renders a phrase meaning out of the seven, so the eighth both belongs to that series and is not simply the next one in it.

12The ten horns you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom. But they will receive authority to rule as kings for one hour, together with the beast.

12And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.

Note"Have received no kingdom as yet" means they do not rule anything at the time of the vision. "One hour" is a figure for a very brief and fixed stretch of time, not sixty minutes; Roman readers knew the pattern of client kings who held power only as long as the empire allowed it.

13These kings all have one purpose. They will hand over their power and authority to the beast.

13These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.

14They will go to war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will defeat them, because he is Lord of lords and King of kings. Those who are with him have been called, chosen, and are faithful."

14These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.

Note"Lord of lords, and King of kings" is a Hebrew way of forming a superlative, meaning highest lord of all and king above every king. The Old Testament uses it of God, and Persian and other eastern rulers claimed it for themselves.

15Then the angel said to me, "The waters you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, crowds, nations, and languages.

15And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.

16The ten horns you saw on the beast will hate the prostitute. They will leave her ruined and stripped bare. They will eat her flesh and burn her with fire.

16And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.

NoteStripping a woman bare in public is the punishment the prophets describe for an unfaithful wife, as in Ezekiel 16 and 23. Burning was the penalty set in Leviticus 21:9 for a priest's daughter who prostituted herself, and burning was also what Rome itself did to captured cities. "Eat her flesh" echoes the death of Jezebel, whose body was eaten by dogs in 2 Kings 9. Where the King James has the ten horns "upon the beast," the oldest Greek manuscripts read "the ten horns and the beast," which makes the beast one of those who turn on her.

17God put it in their hearts to carry out his purpose, so that they agree together to give their kingdom to the beast, until God's words are fulfilled.

17For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.

18And the woman you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth."

18And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

Note"Reigneth" is present tense, pointing at a power ruling as John writes. To his first readers, the one great city that ruled the kings of the earth could only be Rome.