Revelation
Chapter 17
1 One of the seven angels, who had the seven bowls, came and spoke to me. He said, “Come here; I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute who sits on many waters.”
2 The rulers of the world have sinned with her, and the people of the world have become drunk with the wine of her sins.
3 He took me in the spirit to the desert, and I saw a woman sitting on a bright red beast covered with blasphemous names, with seven heads and ten horns.
4 The woman was dressed in purple and red, and decorated with gold, valuable gems, and pearls. She held a gold cup in her hand filled with disgusting things and the dirtiness of her sexual sins.
5 On her forehead was written a name: Mystery, Babylon the Great, the mother of prostitutes and evil things on Earth.
6 I saw the woman drunk on the blood of God’s holy people and the blood of those who died for Jesus. When I saw her, I was greatly amazed.
7 The angel asked me, “Why are you surprised? I will explain the secret of the woman and the beast she rides, the one with seven heads and ten horns.”
8 The creature you saw once existed, does not exist now, but will come up from the endless pit and will be destroyed. And the people living on earth whose names are not in the book of life since the world began will be amazed when they see the creature that existed, doesn’t exist now, but will still appear.
9 Here is a wise mind: The seven heads are seven hills that the woman sits on.
10 There are seven kings: five have fallen, one exists now, and one has not yet come; when he does come, he will stay for only a little while.
11 The creature that existed, no longer does, but is also the eighth and belongs to the seven, and it’s heading for destruction.
12 The ten horns you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom; but they get authority to rule as kings with the beast for a short time.
13 They all think the same and will give their power and strength to the beast.
14 They will fight against the Lamb, and the Lamb will defeat them because he is the ruler of all rulers and the king of all kings. Those with him are named, selected, and loyal.
15 He told me, “The waters you saw, where the prostitute sits, are people, crowds, nations, and languages.”
16 The ten horns you saw on the beast will hate the prostitute. They will leave her empty and bare, eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.
17 God has made them want to carry out his plan, to come together, and to hand over their power to the beast, until what God has said happens.
18 The woman you saw represents the big city that has power over the world’s rulers.