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Revelation 17

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The Judgment of the Great Harlot 1–6

1
And 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: ​
2
With 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. ​
3
So 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. ​
4
And 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:
5
And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. ​
6
And 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. ​

The Mystery of the Beast and the Woman 7–14

7
And 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.
8
The 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. ​
9
And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. ​
10
And 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. ​
11
And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition. ​
12
And 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. ​
13
These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.
14
These 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. ​

The Destruction of Babylon Foretold 15–18

15
And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. ​
16
And 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. ​
17
For 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.
18
And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth. ​

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for Revelation 17

Verse 1

the great whore that sitteth upon many waters — The guide is ‘one of the seven angels which had the seven vials’ (ch. 16). The same words introduce the other vision: ‘Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife’ (21:9). ‘Many waters’ echoes Jer 51:13, ‘O thou that dwellest upon many waters’, and is explained in v.15.

Verse 2

the wine of her fornication — The kings ‘committed fornication’ (porneuo) and the inhabitants were ‘made drunk’ (methuo). The cup is Babylon’s in Jeremiah, ‘a golden cup in the LORD’S hand, that made all the earth drunken’ (Jer 51:7); the wine returns in 14:8 and 18:3, where the merchants grow rich.

Verse 3

carried me away in the spirit — Apophero, to carry off. In Revelation it occurs only here and in 21:10, where John is carried to see ‘the holy Jerusalem’. These are two visions and two cities, each introduced by an angel of the vials. The beast has the seven heads and ten horns of the dragon (12:3) and of the sea-beast (13:1).

Verse 5

MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT — Musterion is a secret now disclosed, and the angel promises to ‘tell thee the mystery of the woman’ (v.7). The name is on her ‘forehead’ (metopon), as the Father’s name is on the foreheads of those with the Lamb (14:1). ‘Babylon the great’ is the name in the cry of 14:8 and 18:2.

Verse 6

drunken with the blood of the saints — The verb is that of v.2, where the earth is drunk on her wine, and here she is drunk on blood. ‘Martyrs’ is martus, witness, the word for Christ himself, ‘the faithful witness’ (1:5), and for Antipas, ‘my faithful martyr’ (2:13). ‘Great admiration’ is thauma, wonder, answered by the angel’s ‘Wherefore didst thou marvel?’ (v.7).

Verse 8

was, and is not — This reverses the title of God, ‘which is, and which was, and which is to come’ (1:4). The beast rises ‘out of the bottomless pit’ (abyssos), where the beast of 11:7 also has its origin, and goes to ‘perdition’ (apoleia). Those who wonder are the ones whose names are not in the book of life, as ‘all the world wondered after the beast’ (13:3).

Verse 9

the mind which hath wisdom — The call repeats 13:18, ‘Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding…’. The text calls the seven heads ‘seven mountains’ (oros) and, in v.10, kings. Scripture also calls Babylon a mountain, ‘O destroying mountain… which destroyest all the earth’ (Jer 51:25). Christian readers differ: many take the seven hills to be Rome, others read them as kingdoms.

Verse 10

seven kings: five are fallen, and one is — The count is given from a fixed standpoint: five ‘fallen’ (pipto), one ‘is’, one ‘not yet come’. ‘Must’ (dei) is the necessity of 1:1, ‘things which must shortly come to pass’. The chapter names none of the kings, and Christian readers have reckoned them differently.

Verse 11

the eighth, and is of the seven — Ogdoos, ‘eighth’, appears in Revelation only here and in 21:20. The beast is counted an eighth yet belongs to the seven, and it ‘goeth into perdition’ (apoleia), the word for Judas, ‘the son of perdition’ (John 17:12), and for ‘that man of sin’ (2 Thess 2:3).

Verse 12

the ten horns… ten kings — Daniel’s vision of the fourth kingdom has the same: ‘the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise’ (Dan 7:24). They have no kingdom yet, and their power with the beast lasts ‘one hour’ (hora), the word of 18:10: ‘in one hour is thy judgment come’.

Verse 14

Lord of lords, and King of kings — The Lamb ‘shall overcome’ (nikao), the verb of his own word, ‘even as I also overcame’ (3:21). The titles appear on his vesture in 19:16 and in 1 Tim 6:15. ‘Called, and chosen, and faithful’ (kletos, eklektos, pistos) are those ‘with him’, the called of Rom 8:30.

Verse 15

peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues — The angel interprets the ‘many waters’ of v.1 with four words (laos, ochlos, ethnos, glossa), the same kinds of people out of whom the Lamb redeemed his own, ‘out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation’ (5:9). The woman sits over them, as Babylon did in Jer 51:13.

Verse 16

make her desolate and naked — ‘Desolate’ is eremoo, built on eremos, the ‘wilderness’ of v.3; the verb is rendered ‘come to nought’ in 18:17 and ‘made desolate’ in 18:19. The penalty matches the law for a priest’s daughter who plays the whore, ‘burnt with fire’ (Lev 21:9), and Ezekiel’s, ‘discover thy nakedness… burn thine houses with fire’ (Ezek 16:37, 41).

Verse 18

that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth — Literally ‘which hath a kingdom over’ (echo, basileia), in the present tense. The ‘kings of the earth’ are those of v.2. The city is called Babylon in 16:19 and 18:10; the book’s other city is ‘the holy Jerusalem’ (21:10).