Revelation
17 And one of the seven angels that had the seven saucers came and talked with me, saying “Come here, I will show you the sentence of the great prostitute seated on a great water, 2 with whom the kings of the earth debauched themselves and the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her unchaste embraces”; 3 and he carried me away to a desert in the spirit. And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast full of names of blasphemy, with seven heads and ten horns; 4 and the woman was clad in purple and scarlet and jeweled with gold and precious stones and pearls, with a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and the filth of her prostitution, 5 and written on her forehead a name with a secret meaning, “Great Babylon, mother of the prostitutes and abominations of the earth.” 6 And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of God’s people and with the blood of Jesus’s witnesses. And great was my wonder at seeing her.
7* And the angel said to me “Why did you wonder? I will tell you the secret meaning of the woman and of the beast that carries her, that has the seven heads and the ten horns. 8* The beast that you saw was and is not, and is to come up out of the abyss, and goes to destruction; and those who live on the earth shall wonder, those whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, as they see how the beast was and is not and shall make its appearance. 9 Here is the mind that has wisdom. The seven heads are seven hills that the woman is seated on; 10 and they are seven kings—five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come, and must remain a little while when he does come. 11 And the beast that was and is not is himself an eighth and one of the seven, and goes to destruction. 12 And the ten horns that you saw are ten kings who had not yet received empire, but they do receive dominion as kings for one hour with the beast. 13 These are of one mind, and give their power and dominion to the beast. 14 These shall make war with the lamb, and the lamb shall defeat them, because he is Lord of Lords and King of Kings and those who are with him are called and chosen and faithful.”
15 And he said to me “The waters that you saw, where the prostitute is seated, are peoples and masses and races and languages. 16 And the ten horns that you saw, and the beast, these shall hate the prostitute and make her destitute and naked, and eat her flesh, and burn her in a fire; 17 for God has put it into their hearts to do what is in his mind, and to concur unanimously in giving their empire to the beast till God’s words are all done. 18 And the woman that you saw is the great city that has empire over the kings of the earth.”