Revelation 17:7–12

⁷“Why are you amazed?” the angel asked me. “I will tell you the secret meaning of the woman and of the beast that carries her, the beast with seven heads and ten horns. ^8*That beast was once alive, but lives no longer; it is about to come up from the abyss and will go off to be destroyed. The people living on earth whose names have not been written before the creation of the world in the book of the living, will all be amazed as they look at the beast. It was once alive; now it no longer lives, but it will reappear.

⁹“This calls for wisdom and understanding. The seven heads are seven hills, on which the woman sits. They are also seven kings: ¹⁰five of them have fallen, one still rules, and the other one has not yet come; when he comes, he must rule only a little while. ¹¹And the beast that was once alive, but lives no longer, is itself an eighth king who is one of the seven and is going off to be destroyed.

^12*“The ten horns you saw are ten kings who have not yet begun to rule, but who will be given authority to rule as kings for one hour with the beast.