Revelation 17 :: English Standard Version (ESV)

The Great Prostitute and the Beast

Rev 17:1Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who is seated on many waters,

Rev 17:2

Rev 17:2with whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality, and with the wine of whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth have become drunk.”

Rev 17:3

Rev 17:3And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns.

Rev 17:4

Rev 17:4The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality.

Rev 17:5

Rev 17:5And on her forehead was written a name of mystery: “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations.”

Rev 17:6

Rev 17:6And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.[fn] When I saw her, I marveled greatly.

Rev 17:7

Rev 17:7But the angel said to me, “Why do you marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman, and of the beast with seven heads and ten horns that carries her.

Rev 17:8

Rev 17:8The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to rise from the bottomless pit[fn] and go to destruction. And the dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel to see the beast, because it was and is not and is to come.

Rev 17:9

Rev 17:9This calls for a mind with wisdom: the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated;

Rev 17:10

Rev 17:10they are also seven kings, five of whom have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come, and when he does come he must remain only a little while.

Rev 17:11

Rev 17:11As for the beast that was and is not, it is an eighth but it belongs to the seven, and it goes to destruction.

Rev 17:12

Rev 17:12And the ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have not yet received royal power, but they are to receive authority as kings for one hour, together with the beast.

Rev 17:13

Rev 17:13These are of one mind, and they hand over their power and authority to the beast.

Rev 17:14

Rev 17:14They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful.”

Rev 17:15

Rev 17:15And the angel[fn] said to me, “The waters that you saw, where the prostitute is seated, are peoples and multitudes and nations and languages.

Rev 17:16

Rev 17:16And the ten horns that you saw, they and the beast will hate the prostitute. They will make her desolate and naked, and devour her flesh and burn her up with fire,

Rev 17:17

Rev 17:17for God has put it into their hearts to carry out his purpose by being of one mind and handing over their royal power to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled.

Rev 17:18

Rev 17:18And the woman that you saw is the great city that has dominion over the kings of the earth.”

See the ESV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).

ESV Footnotes

(17:6)

Greek the witnesses to Jesus

(17:8)

Greek the abyss

(17:15)

Greek he

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For more information on this translation, see the ESV Preface.