Revelation 17:1–6
Babylon, the Prostitute on the Beast
17 One of the seven angelsr who had the seven bowlss came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the punishmentt of the great prostitute,u who sits by many waters.v 2 With her the kings of the earth committed adultery, and the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries.”w
3 Then the angel carried me away in the Spiritx into a wilderness.y There I saw a woman sitting on a scarletz beast that was covered with blasphemous namesa and had seven heads and ten horns.b 4 The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls.c She held a golden cupd in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries.e 5 The name written on her forehead was a mystery:f
babylon the greatg
the mother of prostitutesh
and of the abominations of the earth.
6 I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of God’s holy people,i the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus.
When I saw her, I was greatly astonished.