Revelation 17

1Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me. “Come,” he said, “I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who is seated on many waters.

2The kings of the earth committed sexual immorality with her, and those who live on the earth became drunk with the wine of her sexual immorality.”

3Then he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns.

4The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls. In her hand she held a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality.

5On her forehead was written a name, a mystery: “Babylon the great, the mother of prostitutes and of the abominations of the earth.”

6And I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the witnesses to Jesus. When I saw her, I was utterly amazed.

7But the angel said to me, “Why are you amazed? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, the one with 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 go to destruction. 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 amazed when they see the beast, because it was and is not and is to come.

9This calls for a mind that has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated.

10They are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come, and when he comes, he must remain only a little while.

11As for the beast that was and is not, it is itself an eighth, but it belongs to the seven, and it is going to destruction.

12The ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have not yet received royal power, but they receive authority as kings for one hour, along with the beast.

13These are of one mind, and they give their power and authority to the beast.

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

15Then he said to me, “The waters that you saw, where the prostitute is seated, are peoples and multitudes and nations and languages.

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

17For God has put it into their hearts to carry out his purpose, to be of one mind, and to give their royal power to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled.

18The woman that you saw is the great city that holds royal power over the kings of the earth.”