CHAPTER 17
1 And one of the seven angels came, that had seven vials, and spake with me, and said, Come thou, I shall show to thee the damnation of the great whore, that sitteth on many waters,
2 with which kings of the earth did fornication; and they that dwell in the earth be made drunk of the wine of her lechery.
3 And he took me [away] into desert in Spirit. And I saw a woman sitting on a red beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads, and ten horns.
4 And the woman was environed with purple, and red, and over-gilded with gold, and precious stone, and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand, full of abominations and uncleanness of her fornication.
5 And a name written in the forehead of her, Mystery, Babylon the great, mother of fornications, and of abominations of the earth.
6 And I saw a woman drunken of the blood of saints, and of the blood of martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I wondered with great wondering.
7 And the angel said to me, Why wonderest thou? I shall say to thee the sacrament, that is, privy signification, of the woman, and of the beast that beareth her, that hath seven heads and ten horns.
8 The beast which thou seest [or thou sawest], was, and is not; and she shall ascend or go up from [the] deepness, and she shall go into perishing. And men dwelling in earth shall wonder, whose names be not written in the book of life from the making of the world, seeing the beast, that was, and is not.
9 And this is the wit, who that hath wisdom. The seven heads be seven hills, on which the woman sitteth,
10 and kings seven be [or and be seven kings]. Five have felled down, and one is, and another cometh not yet. And when he shall come, it behooveth him to dwell a short time.
11 And the beast that was, and is not, and she is the eighth, and is of the seven, and shall go into perishing.
12 And the ten horns which thou hast seen, be ten kings, that yet have not taken kingdom; but they shall take power as kings, one hour after the beast.
13 These have one counsel, and shall betake their virtue and power to the beast.
14 These shall fight with the lamb, and the lamb shall overcome them; for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings; and they that be with him, be called, [and] chosen, and faithful.
15 And he said to me, The waters which thou hast seen, where the whore sitteth, be peoples, and folks, and languages.
16 And the ten horns that thou hast seen in the beast, these shall [hate the fornicary woman, or whore, and shall] make her desolate and naked, and shall eat the fleshes of her, and shall burn altogether her with fire [or shall burn her altogether with fire].
17 For God gave into the hearts of them, that they do that that is pleasant to him [or before him], that they give their kingdom to the beast, till the words of God be ended.
18 And the woman whom thou hast seen, is the great city, that hath kingdom on the kings of the earth.