Chapter 17
1One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke
with me, saying, “Come here. I will show you the judgment of the great
prostitute who sits on many waters,
2with whom the kings of the earth
committed sexual immorality, and those who dwell in the earth were made
drunken with the wine of her sexual immorality.”
3He carried me away in
the Spirit into a wilderness. I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet-colored
animal, full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and ten horns.
4The
woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and decked with gold and precious
stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and
the impurities of the sexual immorality of the earth.
5And on her
forehead a name was written, “MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF THE
PROSTITUTES AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.”
6I saw the woman
drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of
Jesus. When I saw her, I wondered with great amazement.
7The angel said
to me, “Why do you wonder? I will tell you the mystery of the woman, and of
the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns.
8The beast that you saw was, and is not; and is about to come up out of
the abyss and to go into destruction. Those who dwell on the earth and whose
names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the
world will marvel when they see that the beast was, and is not, and shall
be present.364364TR reads “yet is” instead of “shall be present”
9Here
is the mind that has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which
the woman sits.
10They are seven kings. Five have fallen, the one is, the
other has not yet come. When he comes, he must continue a little while.
11The beast that was, and is not, is himself also an eighth, and is of
the seven; and he goes to destruction.
12The ten horns that you saw are
ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority as
kings, with the beast, for one hour.
13These have one mind, and they give
their power and authority to the beast.
14These will war against the
Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for he is Lord of lords, and King of
kings. They also will overcome who are with him, called and chosen and
faithful.”
15He said to me, “The waters which you saw, where the
prostitute sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and languages.
16The
ten horns which you saw, and the beast, these will hate the prostitute, and
will make her desolate, and will make her naked, and will eat her flesh, and
will burn her utterly with fire.
17For God has put in their hearts to do
what he has in mind, and to be of one mind, and to give their kingdom to the
beast, until the words of God should be accomplished.
18The woman whom
you saw is the great city, which reigns over the kings of the earth.”
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