Revelation 17
17
The Great Prostitute and the Beast
1 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me, saying, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute, who sits on many waters, 2 with whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality, and those who live on the earth have become drunk with the wine of her sexual immorality.”
3 Then he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman seated on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and ten horns. 4 And the woman was clothed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls,* holding a golden cup in her hand that was full of filthy things and the defilements of her sexual immorality. 5 And on her forehead a name was written, a mystery: “Babylon the great, the mother of prostitutes and of the filthy things of the earth.” 6 And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus.
And upon seeing her, I marvelled greatly.* 7 And the angel said to me, “Why do you marvel? 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. 8 The beast which you saw was, and is not, and is going to come up from the bottomless pit and go into destruction. And those who live on the earth, whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, will be astounded when they see the beast which was, and is not, and will be present.
9 “Here is the mind that has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits,* and they are seven kings. 10 Five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come, but when he comes, he must remain a little while. 11 And the beast which was, and is not, is also himself an eighth, but is of the seven, and he goes into destruction.
12 “And the ten horns which you saw are ten kings, who have not yet received a kingdom, but they receive authority as kings for one hour with the beast. 13 These have one resolution, and they give their power and authority to the beast. 14 These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will prevail over them, because He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with Him are called and chosen and faithful.”
15 Then he said to me, “The waters which you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples and multitudes, and nations and languages. 16 And the ten horns which you saw, and the beast, these will hate the prostitute and make her desolate and naked, and they will eat her flesh and burn her up with fire. 17 For God has put it into their hearts to execute His purpose, to achieve a unified purpose,* and to give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God are brought to fulfilment. 18 And the woman whom you saw is the great city, which has authority over the kings of the earth.”
Notes
4 One ancient Greek manuscript ends the verse at this point
6 Greek And upon seeing her, marvelled with great marvel
9 Greek The seven heads are seven mountains where the woman sits on them
17 Greek For God has put it into their hearts to execute His purpose and to execute one purpose
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Revelation 17: AFINTLIT
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Copyright © 2026 Michael Adeyemi Adegbola. This Scripture text is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).
