Revelation 17 (original) (raw)

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Chapter of the New Testament

Revelation 17
← chapter 16chapter 18 →
Revelation 13:16-14:4 on Papyrus 47 from the third century.
Book Book of Revelation
Category Apocalypse
Christian Bible part New Testament
Order in the Christian part 27

Revelation 17 is the seventeenth chapter of the Book of Revelation or the Apocalypse to John in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The book is traditionally attributed to John the Apostle,[1][2] but the identity of the author remains a point of academic debate.[3] This chapter describes the judgment of the Whore of Babylon ("Babylon the Harlot").[4]

The original text was written in Koine Greek. This chapter is divided into 18 verses.

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are among others:[5][a]

New Testament references

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The vision of the harlot (17:1–6a)

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After being mentioned only briefly in Revelation 14:8 and 16:19, Babylon is given a full description in this section.[8]

Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and talked with me, saying [to me], “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters,"[9]

The words "to me" do not appear in Codex Alexandrinus or in the Vulgate translation.[11]

with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication.”[12]

Lutheran Pietist theologian Johann Bengel notes a parallel with Tyre, which "committed fornication with the kingdoms of the earth" in Isaiah 23:17–18.[13]

A 1523 woodcut by Hans Burgkmair, for Martin Luther's translation of the New Testament, depicting the Whore of Babylon riding the seven-headed Beast (a hand-coloured copy)

And on her forehead a name was written:

MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT,

THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS

AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS

OF THE EARTH.[14]

The King James Version, New King James Version, and Young's Literal Translation (1862) include the word 'mystery' (or 'secret' - YLT) within her title, but in many other English translations the word is descriptive of the name: "a name of mystery" (Revised Standard Version, English Standard Version), "a name that has a secret meaning" (Good News Bible).[15]

I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.

And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement.[16]

This verse contains two descriptions of Christians which seem to refer to the same group (not two groups) of people.[8]

The interpretation of the harlot (17:6b–18)

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In response to John's astonishment at the vision of the harlot, an interpretation is given as much about the beast as about the harlot, because 'her fate is closely related to the career of the beast'.[8]

I could see that she was drunk—drunk with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus she had killed. I stared at her in horror.[17]

Then the angel said to me, “Why are you astonished? I will explain to you the mystery of the woman and of the beast, with the seven heads and the ten horns, that carries her.[18]

The beast, which you saw, was, and is not, and is to ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to destruction. Those who dwell on the earth whose names are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world will marvel when they see the beast that was, and is not, and is to come.[19]

Whereas one of Revelation's key designations for God is the term 'the one who was and who is and who is to come' (1:4, 8), in this verse the beast is twice described in a similar term, but with the significant different in the middle which is negative: 'is not', because unlike God, the beast is not eternal and his second coming "will prove a fraud" and "go to destruction".[8]

Here is the mind which has wisdom: The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits.[20]

There are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come. And when he comes, he must continue a short time.[21]

The beast that was, and is not, is himself also the eighth, and is of the seven, and is going to perdition.[22]

And the ten horns which you saw on the beast, these will hate the harlot, make her desolate and naked, eat her flesh and burn her with fire.[24]

For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.[26]

And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.[27]

  1. ^ The Book of Revelation is missing from Codex Vaticanus.[6]

  2. ^ Davids, Peter H (1982). I Howard Marshall and W Ward Gasque (ed.). New International Greek Testament Commentary: The Epistle of James (Repr. ed.). Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans. ISBN 0802823882.

  3. ^ Evans, Craig A (2005). Craig A Evans (ed.). Bible Knowledge Background Commentary: John, Hebrews-Revelation. Colorado Springs, Colo.: Victor. ISBN 0781442281.

  4. ^ F. L. Cross, The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997), 45

  5. ^ Bauckham 2007, p. 1289.

  6. ^ Elliott, J. K. "Revelations from the apparatus criticus of the Book of Revelation: How Textual Criticism Can Help Historians." Union Seminary Quarterly Review 63, no. 3-4 (2012): 1-23.

  7. ^ Claremont Coptic Encyclopaedia, Codex Vaticanus, accessed 29 September 2018

  8. ^ "Biblical concordances of Revelation 17 in the 1611 King James Bible".

  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i Bauckham 2007, p. 1300.

  10. ^ Revelation 17:1 NKJV

  11. ^ Meyer, H., Meyer's NT Commentary on Revelation 17, accessed 3 December 2018

  12. ^ Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary on Revelation 17, accessed 3 December 2018

  13. ^ Revelation 17:2 NKJV

  14. ^ Bengel, J. A., Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament on Revelation 17, accessed 3 October 2019

  15. ^ Revelation 17:5 NKJV

  16. ^ Revelation 17:5: Good News Translation

  17. ^ Revelation 17:6 NKJV

  18. ^ Revelation 17:6 TLB

  19. ^ Revelation 17:7 CSB

  20. ^ Revelation 17:8 MEV

  21. ^ Revelation 17:8 MEV

  22. ^ Revelation 17:10 NKJV

  23. ^ Revelation 17:11 NKJV

  24. ^ Note [a] on Revelation 17:11 in NKJV

  25. ^ Revelation 17:16 NKJV

  26. ^ Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges. Revelation 17. Accessed 28 April 2019.

  27. ^ Revelation 17:17 NKJV

  28. ^ Revelation 17:18 NKJV

Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Gill, John. Exposition of the Entire Bible (1746-1763).