Revelation 17:3–18

³And ^ahe carried me away ^1bin the Spirit ^cinto a wilderness; and I saw a woman sitting on a ^dscarlet beast, full of ^eblasphemous names, having ^fseven heads and ten horns.

⁴The woman ^awas clothed in purple and scarlet, and ¹adorned with gold and precious ²stones and pearls, having in her hand ^ba gold cup full of abominations and of the unclean things of her immorality,

⁵and on her forehead a name was written, a ^amystery, “^bBABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF ^cTHE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.”

⁶And I saw the woman drunk with ^athe blood of the ¹saints, and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus. When I saw her, I wondered ²greatly.

⁷And the angel said to me, “Why ¹do you wonder? I will tell you the ^amystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the ^bseven heads and the ten horns.

⁸“^aThe beast that you saw ^bwas, and is not, and is about to ^ccome up out of the ^dabyss and ^1ego to destruction. And ^fthose who dwell on the earth, ^gwhose name has not been written in the book of life ^hfrom the foundation of the world, will ⁱwonder when they see the beast, that he was and is not and will come.

⁹“^aHere is the mind which has wisdom. The ^bseven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits,

¹⁰and they are seven ^akings; five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; and when he comes, he must remain a little while.

¹¹“The beast which ^awas and is not, is himself also an eighth and is one of the seven, and he ^bgoes to destruction.

¹²“The ^aten horns which you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but they receive authority as kings with the beast ^bfor one hour.

¹³“These have ^aone ¹purpose, and they give their power and authority to the beast.

Victory for the Lamb

¹⁴“These will wage ^awar against the Lamb, and the Lamb will ^bovercome them, because He is ^cLord of lords and King of kings, and ^dthose who are with Him are the ^ecalled and chosen and faithful.”

¹⁵And he ^*said to me, “The ^awaters which you saw where the harlot sits, are ^bpeoples and multitudes and nations and tongues.

¹⁶“And the ^aten horns which you saw, and the beast, these will hate the harlot and will make her ^bdesolate and ^cnaked, and will ^deat her flesh and will ^eburn her up with fire.

¹⁷“For ^aGod has put it in their hearts to execute His ¹purpose ²by ^bhaving a common purpose, and by giving their kingdom to the beast, until the ^cwords of God will be fulfilled.

¹⁸“The woman whom you saw is ^athe great city, which ¹reigns over the kings of the earth.”