Revelation 17

World English Bible 119 include this book

1 One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me, saying, “Come here. I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who sits on many waters,

2 with whom the kings of the earth committed sexual immorality. Those who dwell on the earth were made drunken with the wine of her sexual immorality.”

3 He carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness. I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet-colored beast, full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and ten horns.

4 The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of the sexual immorality of the earth.

5 And on her forehead a name was written, “MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF THE PROSTITUTES AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.”

6 I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. When I saw her, I wondered with great amazement.

7 The angel said to me, “Why do you wonder? 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 that you saw was, and is not; and is about to come up out of the abyss and to go into destruction. Those who dwell on the earth and whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel when they see that the beast was, and is not, and shall be present.

9 Here is the mind that has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits.

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

11 The beast that was, and is not, is himself also an eighth, and is of the seven; and he goes to destruction.

12 The ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority as kings with the beast for one hour.

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

14 These will war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those who are with him are called, chosen, and faithful.”

15 He said to me, “The waters which you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and languages.

16 The ten horns which you saw, they and the beast will hate the prostitute, will make her desolate, will strip her naked, will eat her flesh, and will burn her utterly with fire.

17 For God has put in their hearts to do what he has in mind, to be of one mind, and to give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God should be accomplished.

18 The woman whom you saw is the great city which reigns over the kings of the earth.”

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1 place named in this chapter.

Where this was written

Patmos attested The book states that John was on Patmos when he received the vision.

When this was written

The traditions broadly agree on this one.

Broad agreement: 92 AD–96 AD John of Patmos
Usually placed late in Domitian's reign, on the testimony of Irenaeus.

Who ruled Rome

Emperors reigning while this book is dated. Where the traditions differ, they often fall under different rulers.

Broad agreement

Domitian 81 AD–96 AD
An autocratic reign under which Revelation is traditionally placed, on the testimony of Irenaeus.
Nerva 96 AD–98 AD
A brief reign that eased the pressures of Domitian's last years.

Elsewhere in the world

Events overlapping the period this book is dated to (92 AD–96 AD).

1070 BC–350 AD The kingdom of Kush Africa
A Nubian power on the upper Nile that ruled Egypt itself as its twenty-fifth dynasty.
500 BC–500 AD The Nazca lines South America
Vast figures drawn on the Peruvian desert, visible only from the surrounding hills.
206 BC–220 AD The Han dynasty China
Four centuries of Chinese rule contemporary with the whole of Roman expansion.
150 BC–100 AD Roman concrete and the aqueducts Rome
Hydraulic concrete let Rome build harbours, domes and aqueducts that still stand.
100 BC–550 AD Teotihuacan Mesoamerica
A city of perhaps a hundred thousand people in the valley of Mexico, with monumental pyramids.
75 AD–94 AD Josephus writes his histories Levant
A Jewish commander turned Roman client whose account is the main narrative source for first-century Judea.
27 BC–100 AD Roman road and sea network matures Rome
Consolidated roads, harbours and suppressed piracy made long-distance travel unusually safe, a precondition for the rapid spread of early Christian communities.
81 AD–96 AD Reign of Domitian Rome
An autocratic reign under which Revelation is traditionally placed.

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