The Great Prostitute and the Beast

Revelation 17

One of the seven angels who held the seven bowls came and spoke with me, “Come here. I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who sits on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth committed sexual immorality and the inhabitants of the earth got drunk on the wine of her sexual immorality.” He carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness. I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet-colored beast that was full of blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns. The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and gilded with gold, precious stones, and pearls. She held in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immoralities. On her forehead was written a name, a mystery, “babylon the great the mother of prostitutes and of the abominations of the earth. I saw the woman was drunk on the blood of the saints and with the blood of the witnesses to Jesus. When I saw her, I marveled with great marvel.

The angel said to me, “Why do you marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast with the seven heads and the ten horns that carries her. The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to ascend from the abyss and to go to destruction. The inhabitants of the earth whose names have not been written in the scroll of life from the foundation of the world will marvel when they see that the beast was, and is not, and will come.

Here is the mind that has wisdom: The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits. They are seven kings. Five have fallen, the one is, and the other has not yet come, but when he comes, he must remain only a short time. The beast that was, and is not, is itself an eighth, and is from the seven and is going to destruction. The ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have not yet received an empire, but they will receive authority as kings with the beast for one hour. These have a single thought, and they give their power and authority to the beast. These will wage war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those who are with him are called, chosen, and faithful.” He said to me, “The waters which you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, crowds, ethnic groups, and tongues. The ten horns you saw, and the beast will hate the prostitute. They will make her desolate, will strip her naked, will eat her flesh, and will burn her with fire. For God has put in their hearts to execute ʜɪꜱ purpose, which is to have one purpose and to give their empire to the beast, until the words of God are completed. And the woman you saw is the great city which has kingship over the kings of the earth.”