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Text -- Revelation 17:1-15 (NET)

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The Great Prostitute and the Beast
17:1 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke to me. “Come,” he said, “I will show you the condemnation and punishment of the great prostitute who sits on many waters, 17:2 with whom the kings of the earth committed sexual immorality and the earth’s inhabitants got drunk with the wine of her immorality.” 17:3 So he carried me away in the Spirit to a wilderness, and there I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns. 17:4 Now the woman was dressed in purple and scarlet clothing, and adorned with gold, precious stones, and pearls. She held in her hand a golden cup filled with detestable things and unclean things from her sexual immorality. 17:5 On her forehead was written a name, a mystery: “Babylon the Great, the Mother of prostitutes and of the detestable things of the earth.” 17:6 I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints and the blood of those who testified to Jesus. I was greatly astounded when I saw her. 17:7 But the angel said to me, “Why are you astounded? I will interpret for you the mystery of the woman and of the beast with the seven heads and ten horns that carries her. 17:8 The beast you saw was, and is not, but is about to come up from the abyss and then go to destruction. The inhabitants of the earth– all those whose names have not been written in the book of life since the foundation of the world– will be astounded when they see that the beast was, and is not, but is to come. 17:9 (This requires a mind that has wisdom.) The seven heads are seven mountains the woman sits on. They are also seven kings: 17:10 five have fallen; one is, and the other has not yet come, but whenever he does come, he must remain for only a brief time. 17:11 The beast that was, and is not, is himself an eighth king and yet is one of the seven, and is going to destruction. 17:12 The ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but will receive ruling authority as kings with the beast for one hour. 17:13 These kings have a single intent, and they will give their power and authority to the beast. 17:14 They will make war with the Lamb, but the Lamb will conquer them, because he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those accompanying the Lamb are the called, chosen, and faithful.” 17:15 Then the angel said to me, “The waters you saw (where the prostitute is seated) are peoples, multitudes, nations, and languages.
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Names, People and Places, Dictionary Themes and Topics

Names, People and Places:
 · Babylon a country of Babylon in lower Mesopotamia


Dictionary Themes and Topics: REVELATION OF JOHN | PERDITION | NUMBER | Martyr | MYSTERY | Harlot | FREELY | ESCHATOLOGY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT, I-V | DRUNKENNESS | DAMN; DAMNATION; DAMNABLE | Colour | CRIME; CRIMES | COLOR; COLORS | Babylon | BABYLON IN THE NEW TESTAMENT | Animals | Angel | Abomination | AUTHORITY IN RELIGION | ANTICHRIST | more
Table of Contents

Word/Phrase Notes
Robertson , Vincent , Wesley , JFB , Clarke , Defender , TSK

Word/Phrase Notes
Barnes , Poole , PBC , Haydock , Gill

Verse Notes / Footnotes
NET Notes , Geneva Bible

Verse Range Notes
TSK Synopsis , MHCC , Matthew Henry , Barclay , Constable , College

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Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per phrase)

Robertson: Rev 17:1 - -- I will show thee ( deixō soi ). Future active of deiknumi . It is fitting that one of the seven angels that had the seven bowls should explain the ...

I will show thee ( deixō soi ).

Future active of deiknumi . It is fitting that one of the seven angels that had the seven bowls should explain the judgment on Babylon (Rev 16:19) already pronounced (Rev 14:8). That is now done in chapters Rev 17; 18.

Robertson: Rev 17:1 - -- The judgment of the great harlot ( to krima tēs pornēs tēs megalēs ). The word krima is the one used about the doom of Babylon in Jer 51:9....

The judgment of the great harlot ( to krima tēs pornēs tēs megalēs ).

The word krima is the one used about the doom of Babylon in Jer 51:9. Already in Rev 14:8 Babylon is called the harlot. Pornēs is the objective genitive, "the judgment on the great harlot."

Robertson: Rev 17:1 - -- That sitteth upon many waters ( tēs kathēmenēs epi hudatōn pollōn ). Note triple use of the article tēs . In Jer 51:13 we have eph' hudas...

That sitteth upon many waters ( tēs kathēmenēs epi hudatōn pollōn ).

Note triple use of the article tēs . In Jer 51:13 we have eph' hudasi pollois (locative in place of genitive as here). Babylon got its wealth by means of the Euphrates and the numerous canals for irrigation. Rome does not have such a system of canals, but this item is taken and applied to the New Babylon in Rev 17:15. Nahum (Nah 3:4) calls Nineveh a harlot, as Isaiah (Isa 23:16.) does Tyre.

Robertson: Rev 17:2 - -- The kings of the earth ( hoi basileis tēs gēs ). Repeated in Rev 1:5; Rev 6:15; Rev 17:18; Rev 18:3, Rev 18:9; Rev 19:19; Rev 21:24 and "the king...

The kings of the earth ( hoi basileis tēs gēs ).

Repeated in Rev 1:5; Rev 6:15; Rev 17:18; Rev 18:3, Rev 18:9; Rev 19:19; Rev 21:24 and "the kings of the inhabited earth"(Rev 16:14) either for human rulers in general or the vassal kings absorbed by the Roman Empire.

Robertson: Rev 17:2 - -- Committed fornication ( eporneusan ). First aorist active indicative of porneuō . "In purchasing the favour of Rome by accepting her suzerainty and...

Committed fornication ( eporneusan ).

First aorist active indicative of porneuō . "In purchasing the favour of Rome by accepting her suzerainty and with it her vices and idolatries"(Swete).

Robertson: Rev 17:2 - -- Were made drunken ( emethusthēsan ). First aorist passive indicative of methuskō , old verb (from methu ), as in Luk 12:45, here only in the Apo...

Were made drunken ( emethusthēsan ).

First aorist passive indicative of methuskō , old verb (from methu ), as in Luk 12:45, here only in the Apocalypse. Cf. Isa 51:7 and pepotiken in Rev 14:8. See Rev 18:3.

Robertson: Rev 17:3 - -- He carried me away ( apēnegken me ). Second aorist active indicative of apopherō , to bear away, prophetic aorist. This verb is used of angels at...

He carried me away ( apēnegken me ).

Second aorist active indicative of apopherō , to bear away, prophetic aorist. This verb is used of angels at death (Luk 16:22) or in an ecstasy (Rev 21:10 and here).

Robertson: Rev 17:3 - -- In the Spirit ( en pneumati ). Probably his own spirit, though the Holy Spirit is possible (Rev 1:10; Rev 4:2; Rev 21:10), without Paul’ s uncer...

In the Spirit ( en pneumati ).

Probably his own spirit, though the Holy Spirit is possible (Rev 1:10; Rev 4:2; Rev 21:10), without Paul’ s uncertainty (2Co 12:2). Cf. Eze 3:14.; Eze 8:3; Eze 11:24.

Robertson: Rev 17:3 - -- Into a wilderness ( eis erēmon ). In Isa 21:1 there is to horama tēs erēmou (the vision of the deserted one, Babylon), and in Isa 14:23 Babyl...

Into a wilderness ( eis erēmon ).

In Isa 21:1 there is to horama tēs erēmou (the vision of the deserted one, Babylon), and in Isa 14:23 Babylon is called erēmon . John may here picture this to be the fate of Rome or it may be that he himself, in the wilderness (desert) this side of Babylon, sees her fate. In Rev 21:10 he sees the New Jerusalem from a high mountain.

Robertson: Rev 17:3 - -- Sitting ( kathēmenēn ). Present middle participle of kathēmai as in Rev 17:1. "To manage and guide the beast"(Vincent).

Sitting ( kathēmenēn ).

Present middle participle of kathēmai as in Rev 17:1. "To manage and guide the beast"(Vincent).

Robertson: Rev 17:3 - -- Upon a scarlet-coloured beast ( epi thērion kokkinon ). Accusative with epi here, though genitive in Rev 17:1. Late adjective (from kokkos , a pa...

Upon a scarlet-coloured beast ( epi thērion kokkinon ).

Accusative with epi here, though genitive in Rev 17:1. Late adjective (from kokkos , a parasite of the ilex coccifera ), a crimson tint for splendour, in Rev 17:3, Rev 17:4; Rev 18:12, Rev 18:16; Mat 27:28; Heb 9:19.

Robertson: Rev 17:3 - -- Full of names of blasphemy ( gemonta onomata blasphēmias ). See Rev 13:1 for "names of blasphemy"on the seven heads of the beast, but here they cov...

Full of names of blasphemy ( gemonta onomata blasphēmias ).

See Rev 13:1 for "names of blasphemy"on the seven heads of the beast, but here they cover the whole body of the beast (the first beast of Rev 13:1; Rev 19:20). The harlot city (Rome) sits astride this beast with seven heads and ten horns (Roman world power). The beast is here personified with masculine participles instead of neuter, like thērion (gemonta accusative singular, echōn nominative singular, though some MSS. read echonta ), construction according to sense in both instances. The verb gemō always has the genitive after it in the Apocalypse (Rev 4:6, Rev 4:8; Rev 5:8; Rev 15:7; Rev 17:4; Rev 21:9) save here and apparently once in Rev 17:4.

Robertson: Rev 17:4 - -- Was arrayed ( ēn peribeblēmenē ). Periphrastic past perfect indicative of periballō , to fling round one.

Was arrayed ( ēn peribeblēmenē ).

Periphrastic past perfect indicative of periballō , to fling round one.

Robertson: Rev 17:4 - -- In purple and scarlet ( porphuroun kai kokkinon ). Accusative retained after this passive verb of clothing, as so often. Porphurous is old adjectiv...

In purple and scarlet ( porphuroun kai kokkinon ).

Accusative retained after this passive verb of clothing, as so often. Porphurous is old adjective for purple (from porphura ), in N.T. only here and Joh 19:2, Joh 19:5. See preceding verse for kokkinos .

Robertson: Rev 17:4 - -- Decked ( kechrusōmenē ). Perfect passive participle of chrusoō , old verb, to gild, to adorn with gold, here alone in N.T.

Decked ( kechrusōmenē ).

Perfect passive participle of chrusoō , old verb, to gild, to adorn with gold, here alone in N.T.

Robertson: Rev 17:4 - -- With gold and precious stone and pearls ( chrusiōi kai lithōi timiōi kai margaritais ). Instrumental case. Chrusiōi is cognate with the par...

With gold and precious stone and pearls ( chrusiōi kai lithōi timiōi kai margaritais ).

Instrumental case. Chrusiōi is cognate with the participle. Lithōi timiōi is collective (Rev 18:12, Rev 18:16; Rev 21:19). There is a zeugma also with margaritais (Rev 18:12, Rev 18:16; Rev 21:21), for which word see Mat 7:6. Probably John is thinking of the finery of the temple prostitutes in Asia Minor.

Robertson: Rev 17:4 - -- Full of abominations ( gemon bdelugmatōn ). Agreeing with potērion , "cup"(neuter singular accusative). Some MSS. read gemōn (nominative masc...

Full of abominations ( gemon bdelugmatōn ).

Agreeing with potērion , "cup"(neuter singular accusative). Some MSS. read gemōn (nominative masculine like echōn in Rev 17:3, quite irregular). For bdelugmatōn (genitive after gemon ) see Mat 24:15; (Mar 13:14), common in the lxx for idol worship and its defilements (from bdelussō , to render foul), both ceremonial and moral. See Jer 15:7.

Robertson: Rev 17:4 - -- Even the unclean things of her fornication ( kai ta akatharta tēs porneias autēs ). Either the accusative after gemon as in Rev 17:3 (and full ...

Even the unclean things of her fornication ( kai ta akatharta tēs porneias autēs ).

Either the accusative after gemon as in Rev 17:3 (and full of the unclean things of her fornication) or the object of echousa , like potērion .

Robertson: Rev 17:5 - -- Upon her forehead a name written ( epi to metōpon autēs onoma gegrammenon ). Roman harlots wore a label with their names on their brows (Seneca, ...

Upon her forehead a name written ( epi to metōpon autēs onoma gegrammenon ).

Roman harlots wore a label with their names on their brows (Seneca, Rhet. I. 2. 7; Juvenal VI. 122f.), and so here. In Rev 19:16 Christ has a name on his garments and on his thigh, while in Rev 14:1; Rev 22:4 the redeemed have the name of God on their foreheads. There is undoubtedly a contrast between this woman here and the woman in chapter Rev 12.

Robertson: Rev 17:5 - -- Mystery ( mustērion ). Either in apposition with onoma or as part of the inscription on her forehead. In either case the meaning is the same, tha...

Mystery ( mustērion ).

Either in apposition with onoma or as part of the inscription on her forehead. In either case the meaning is the same, that the name Babylon is to be interpreted mystically or spiritually (cf. pneumatikōs Rev 11:8) for Rome.

Robertson: Rev 17:5 - -- The Mother of the Harlots and of the Abominations of the Earth ( Hē Mētēr tōn Pornōn kai tōn Bdelugmatōn tēs Gēs ). The Metropolis ...

The Mother of the Harlots and of the Abominations of the Earth ( Hē Mētēr tōn Pornōn kai tōn Bdelugmatōn tēs Gēs ).

The Metropolis of the Empire is the mother of harlotry and of the world’ s idolatries. Charles quotes Tacitus ( Ann. XV. 44) about Rome as the city " quo cuncta undique atrocia aut pudenda confluunt celebranturque ."

Robertson: Rev 17:6 - -- Drunken with the blood of the saints ( methuousan ek tou haimatos toÌ„n hagioÌ„n ). Present active feminine accusative singular participle of methuoÌ...

Drunken with the blood of the saints ( methuousan ek tou haimatos tōn hagiōn ).

Present active feminine accusative singular participle of methuō , old verb, to be drunk (Mat 24:49).

Robertson: Rev 17:6 - -- Of the martyrs of Jesus ( tōn marturōn Iēsou ). "Witnesses"(Rev 2:13) for Jesus (objective genitive) unto blood (Rev 16:6; Rev 18:24) and so ma...

Of the martyrs of Jesus ( tōn marturōn Iēsou ).

"Witnesses"(Rev 2:13) for Jesus (objective genitive) unto blood (Rev 16:6; Rev 18:24) and so martyrs in the modern sense of the word. "Drunk with blood"is a common idea with the ancients (Euripides, Josephus, Philo, Cicero, Pliny).

Robertson: Rev 17:6 - -- With a great wonder ( thauma mega ). Cognate accusative with ethaumasa .

With a great wonder ( thauma mega ).

Cognate accusative with ethaumasa .

Robertson: Rev 17:7 - -- I will tell thee the mystery ( egō erō soi to mustērion ). The angel gives his interpretation of the woman and the beast (Rev 17:7-18). Erō ...

I will tell thee the mystery ( egō erō soi to mustērion ).

The angel gives his interpretation of the woman and the beast (Rev 17:7-18). Erō is the future active of eipon (defective verb), to tell, to say.

Robertson: Rev 17:8 - -- Was and is not ( ēn kai ouk estin ). Imperfect and present of eimi , an apparent antithesis to ho ēn kai ho ōn of Rev 1:4. This is a picture ...

Was and is not ( ēn kai ouk estin ).

Imperfect and present of eimi , an apparent antithesis to ho ēn kai ho ōn of Rev 1:4. This is a picture of the beast of Rev 13:1. which the woman is riding, but no longer just the empire, but one of the emperors who died (ouk estin , is not).

Robertson: Rev 17:8 - -- And is about to come up out of the abyss ( kai mellei anabainein ek tēs abussou ). That is, he is going to come to life again.

And is about to come up out of the abyss ( kai mellei anabainein ek tēs abussou ).

That is, he is going to come to life again.

Robertson: Rev 17:8 - -- And to go into perdition ( kai eis apōleian hupagei ). So (and he goes into perdition) the best MSS. read rather than the infinitive hupagein . Mos...

And to go into perdition ( kai eis apōleian hupagei ).

So (and he goes into perdition) the best MSS. read rather than the infinitive hupagein . Most interpreters see here an allusion to the "Nero redivivus "expectancy realized in Domitian, who was ruling when John wrote and who was called Nero redivivus .

Robertson: Rev 17:8 - -- Shall wonder ( thaumasthēsontai ). First future passive (deponent) of thaumazō , with which compare ethaumasthē in Rev 13:3. John had wondere...

Shall wonder ( thaumasthēsontai ).

First future passive (deponent) of thaumazō , with which compare ethaumasthē in Rev 13:3. John had wondered (ethaumasa ) in Rev 17:6 "with the amazement of a horrible surprise; the world will wonder and admire"(Swete).

Robertson: Rev 17:8 - -- Whose name ( hōn onoma ). Singular onoma , like ptōma in Rev 11:8. See Rev 13:8 for the same description of those who worship the beast, and se...

Whose name ( hōn onoma ).

Singular onoma , like ptōma in Rev 11:8. See Rev 13:8 for the same description of those who worship the beast, and see note for discussion of details.

Robertson: Rev 17:8 - -- When they behold ( blepontōn ). Genitive plural of the present active participle of blepō , agreeing with hōn (genitive relative) rather than...

When they behold ( blepontōn ).

Genitive plural of the present active participle of blepō , agreeing with hōn (genitive relative) rather than with hoi katoikountes (nominative just before hōn ).

Robertson: Rev 17:8 - -- How that ( hoti ). "Namely that."

How that ( hoti ).

"Namely that."

Robertson: Rev 17:8 - -- He was, and is not, and shall come ( ēn kai ouk estin kai parestai ). Repetition of what is in Rev 17:7 with parestai (future of pareimi , from w...

He was, and is not, and shall come ( ēn kai ouk estin kai parestai ).

Repetition of what is in Rev 17:7 with parestai (future of pareimi , from which parousia comes) in place of mellei , "parody of the divine name"(Charles) in Rev 1:4, Rev 1:8; Rev 4:8, "as the hellish antitype of Christ."The Neronic Antichrist has also a parousia .

Robertson: Rev 17:9 - -- Here is the mind which hath wisdom ( Hōde ho nous ho echōn sophian ). "Here is the intelligence which has wisdom"(Charles). A variation of Rev 13...

Here is the mind which hath wisdom ( Hōde ho nous ho echōn sophian ).

"Here is the intelligence which has wisdom"(Charles). A variation of Rev 13:18, but the same idea.

Robertson: Rev 17:9 - -- Seven mountains ( hepta orē ). Rome was known as the city on seven hills (Vergil, Horace, Ovid, Cicero, etc.).

Seven mountains ( hepta orē ).

Rome was known as the city on seven hills (Vergil, Horace, Ovid, Cicero, etc.).

Robertson: Rev 17:9 - -- On which ( hopou - ep' autōn ). "Where - upon them."Pleonasm like hopou - ekei in Rev 12:6. In Rev 13:1. it is the beast that has the seven hea...

On which ( hopou - ep' autōn ).

"Where - upon them."Pleonasm like hopou - ekei in Rev 12:6. In Rev 13:1. it is the beast that has the seven heads, while here the woman riding the beast has seven heads, a slight change in the symbolism, and the heads are further identified as kings.

Robertson: Rev 17:10 - -- Seven kings ( basileis hepta ). This is another change in the symbolism. The identification of these seven kings is one of the puzzles of the book.

Seven kings ( basileis hepta ).

This is another change in the symbolism. The identification of these seven kings is one of the puzzles of the book.

Robertson: Rev 17:10 - -- The five are fallen ( hoi pente epesan ). Second aorist active indicative of piptō with the ̇an ending. Common for the downfall of kings (Eze ...

The five are fallen ( hoi pente epesan ).

Second aorist active indicative of piptō with the ̇an ending. Common for the downfall of kings (Eze 29:5; Eze 30:6; Isa 21:9, etc.). See 2Sa 3:38.

Robertson: Rev 17:10 - -- The one is ( ho heis estin ). The one when this vision is dated.

The one is ( ho heis estin ).

The one when this vision is dated.

Robertson: Rev 17:10 - -- The other is not yet come ( ho allos oupō ēlthen ). Prophetic second aorist active of erchomai . Charles takes this as the date of this "source"o...

The other is not yet come ( ho allos oupō ēlthen ).

Prophetic second aorist active of erchomai . Charles takes this as the date of this "source"or part of the Apocalypse. But John could himself have used this language in the time of Domitian even if he was the one who had not yet come. The difficulty about counting these emperors is that Galba, Otho, Vitellius reigned so briefly that they hardly merit being included.

Robertson: Rev 17:10 - -- When he cometh ( hotan elthēi ). Indefinite temporal clause for the future, with hotan and the second aorist active subjunctive of erchomai , "wh...

When he cometh ( hotan elthēi ).

Indefinite temporal clause for the future, with hotan and the second aorist active subjunctive of erchomai , "whenever he comes."

Robertson: Rev 17:10 - -- He must continue a little while ( oligon auton dei meinai ). Swete takes this to be Titus, who died September 13, 81, after a short reign.

He must continue a little while ( oligon auton dei meinai ).

Swete takes this to be Titus, who died September 13, 81, after a short reign.

Robertson: Rev 17:11 - -- Is himself also an eighth and is of the seven ( kai autos ogdoos kai ek toÌ„n hepta ). This is the angel’ s interpretation and it looks like a r...

Is himself also an eighth and is of the seven ( kai autos ogdoos kai ek tōn hepta ).

This is the angel’ s interpretation and it looks like a reference to Domitian as the eighth, who is regarded as one of the seven because he was considered a second Nero (Nero redivivus ). For ek toÌ„n hepta see Act 21:8. John may have used ek toÌ„n instead of heis ek toÌ„n to avoid absolute identity between Domitian and Nero (Beckwith).

Robertson: Rev 17:11 - -- And he goeth unto perdition ( kai eis apōleian hupagei ). As in Rev 17:8. "Domitian was assassinated (September 18, 96), after a terrible struggle ...

And he goeth unto perdition ( kai eis apōleian hupagei ).

As in Rev 17:8. "Domitian was assassinated (September 18, 96), after a terrible struggle with his murderers. The tyrant’ s end was a symbol of the end to which the Beast which he personated was hastening"(Swete). Cf. Rev 19:11-21.

Robertson: Rev 17:12 - -- Which have received no kingdom as yet ( hoitines basileian oupō elabon ). Second aorist (proleptic and prophetic) active indicative of lambanō . ...

Which have received no kingdom as yet ( hoitines basileian oupō elabon ).

Second aorist (proleptic and prophetic) active indicative of lambanō . The heads are emperors and the horns are kings (both called basileis ).

Robertson: Rev 17:12 - -- As kings ( hōs basileis ). Compared to kings (see hōs in Rev 1:10; Rev 4:6; Rev 9:7; Rev 13:3; Rev 14:3; Rev 16:21) without identification with...

As kings ( hōs basileis ).

Compared to kings (see hōs in Rev 1:10; Rev 4:6; Rev 9:7; Rev 13:3; Rev 14:3; Rev 16:21) without identification with the emperors, though succeeding them with "quasi-imperial powers"with the beast.

Robertson: Rev 17:12 - -- For one hour ( mian hōran ). Accusative of extent of time, and that a brief time (Rev 18:10, Rev 18:16, Rev 18:19) in comparison with the beast (Re...

For one hour ( mian hōran ).

Accusative of extent of time, and that a brief time (Rev 18:10, Rev 18:16, Rev 18:19) in comparison with the beast (Rev 13:2).

Robertson: Rev 17:13 - -- Have one mind ( mian gnōmēn echousin ). "One purpose"(gnōmē from ginōskō ) as in Act 20:3; 1Co 1:10. The new powers are allies of the ...

Have one mind ( mian gnōmēn echousin ).

"One purpose"(gnōmē from ginōskō ) as in Act 20:3; 1Co 1:10. The new powers are allies of the beast.

Robertson: Rev 17:13 - -- They give their power and authority unto the beast ( tēn dunamin kai tēn exousian autōn tōi thēriōi didoasin ). Present active indicative...

They give their power and authority unto the beast ( tēn dunamin kai tēn exousian autōn tōi thēriōi didoasin ).

Present active indicative of didōmi . Just as the dragon gave both power and authority to the beast (Rev 13:2), so they are wholly at the service of the beast.

Robertson: Rev 17:14 - -- These ( houtoi ). These ten kings.

These ( houtoi ).

These ten kings.

Robertson: Rev 17:14 - -- Shall war against the Lamb ( meta tou thēriou polemēsousin ). Future active of polemeo , to war. As allies of the beast (the servant of the drago...

Shall war against the Lamb ( meta tou thēriou polemēsousin ).

Future active of polemeo , to war. As allies of the beast (the servant of the dragon, Rev 12:7) they will wage war with the Lamb (the enemy of the dragon). These kings gather for battle as in Rev 16:13.

Robertson: Rev 17:14 - -- And the Lamb shall overcome them ( kai to arnion nikēsei autous ). Future active of nikaō . This is the glorious outcome, victory by the Lamb ove...

And the Lamb shall overcome them ( kai to arnion nikēsei autous ).

Future active of nikaō . This is the glorious outcome, victory by the Lamb over the coalition of kings as against the beast before.

Robertson: Rev 17:14 - -- For he is Lord of lords and King of kings ( hoti Kurios kuriōn estin kai Basileus basileōn ). The same words are again descriptive of Christ in R...

For he is Lord of lords and King of kings ( hoti Kurios kuriōn estin kai Basileus basileōn ).

The same words are again descriptive of Christ in Rev 19:16, as of God in Deu 10:17 (God of gods and Lord of lords) and Dan 10:17 (God of gods and Lord of kings). Cf. also 1Ti 6:15; Rev 1:5. Crowned heads are Christ’ s subjects.

Robertson: Rev 17:14 - -- And they also shall overcome that are with him ( kai hoi met' autou ). "And those with him shall also overcome"(supply nikēsousin , not eisin ). T...

And they also shall overcome that are with him ( kai hoi met' autou ).

"And those with him shall also overcome"(supply nikēsousin , not eisin ). They will share in the triumph of the Lamb, as they shared in the conflict. Cf. meta tou thēriou in Rev 17:12.

Robertson: Rev 17:14 - -- Called and chosen and faithful ( klētoi kai eklektoi kai pistoi ). These are the three notes of those who share in the victory. For klētos and ...

Called and chosen and faithful ( klētoi kai eklektoi kai pistoi ).

These are the three notes of those who share in the victory. For klētos and eklektos see Mat 22:14 (contrasted); Rom 8:28.; 2Pe 1:10; Rev 2:10, Rev 2:13. The elect are called and prove faithful.

Robertson: Rev 17:15 - -- Where the harlot sitteth ( hou hē pornos kathētai ). Relative adverb hou (where) referring to the waters (hudata ) of Rev 17:1 on which the ha...

Where the harlot sitteth ( hou hē pornos kathētai ).

Relative adverb hou (where) referring to the waters (hudata ) of Rev 17:1 on which the harlot sits. Present middle indicative of kathēmai .

Robertson: Rev 17:15 - -- Are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues ( laoi kai ochloi eisin kai ethnē kai glōssai ). The O.T. uses "waters"as symbol for "peopl...

Are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues ( laoi kai ochloi eisin kai ethnē kai glōssai ).

The O.T. uses "waters"as symbol for "peoples"(Isa 8:7; Jer 47:2; Psa 29:10, etc.). "Rome’ s greatest danger lay in the multitudes which were under her sway"(Swete).

Vincent: Rev 17:1 - -- Sitteth upon many waters Said of Babylon, Jer 51:13; the wealth of Babylon being caused both by the Euphrates and by a vast system of canals. The...

Sitteth upon many waters

Said of Babylon, Jer 51:13; the wealth of Babylon being caused both by the Euphrates and by a vast system of canals. The symbol is interpreted by some commentators as signifying Babylon, by others pagan Rome, Papal Rome, Jerusalem. Dante alludes to this passage in his address to the shade of Pope Nicholas III., in the Bolgia of the Simonists.

" The Evangelist you pastors had in mind,

When she who sitteth upon many waters

To fornicate with kings by him was seen.

The same who with the seven heads was born,

And power and strength from the ten horns received,

So long as virtue to her spouse was pleasing."

" Inferno ," xix ., 106-110 .

Vincent: Rev 17:2 - -- Have committed fornication The figure of a harlot committing fornication with kings and peoples occurs frequently in the prophets, representing t...

Have committed fornication

The figure of a harlot committing fornication with kings and peoples occurs frequently in the prophets, representing the defection of God's Church and its attachment to others. See Isa 1:21; Jer 2:20; Jer 3:1, Jer 3:6, Jer 3:8; Eze 16:15, Eze 16:16, Eze 16:28, Eze 16:31, Eze 16:35, Eze 16:41; Eze 23:5, Eze 23:19, Eze 23:44; Hos 2:5; Hos 3:3; Hos 4:14. The word is applied to heathen cities in three places only: to Tyre, Isa 23:15, Isa 23:16, Isa 23:17; to Nineveh, Nah 3:4; and here.

Vincent: Rev 17:3 - -- Sitting To manage and guide the beast.

Sitting

To manage and guide the beast.

Vincent: Rev 17:3 - -- A scarlet-colored beast The same as in Rev 13:1. This beast is ever after mentioned as τὸ θηÏιÌον the beast . For scarlet , see on...

A scarlet-colored beast

The same as in Rev 13:1. This beast is ever after mentioned as τὸ θηÏιÌον the beast . For scarlet , see on Mat 27:6.

Vincent: Rev 17:4 - -- Purple ( ποÏφυÌÏουν ) See on Luk 16:19.

Purple ( ποÏφυÌÏουν )

See on Luk 16:19.

Vincent: Rev 17:4 - -- Decked ( κεχÏυσωμεÌνη ) Lit., gilded .

Decked ( κεχÏυσωμεÌνη )

Lit., gilded .

Vincent: Rev 17:4 - -- Precious stones ( λιÌθῳ τιμιÌῳ ) Lit., precious stone .

Precious stones ( λιÌθῳ τιμιÌῳ )

Lit., precious stone .

Vincent: Rev 17:4 - -- Golden cup Compare Jer 51:7.

Golden cup

Compare Jer 51:7.

Vincent: Rev 17:4 - -- Abominations ( βδελυγμαÌτων ) See on Mat 24:15.

Abominations ( βδελυγμαÌτων )

See on Mat 24:15.

Vincent: Rev 17:5 - -- Upon her forehead a name As was customary with harlots, who had their names inscribed on a ticket. Seneca, addressing a wanton priestess, " Nomen...

Upon her forehead a name

As was customary with harlots, who had their names inscribed on a ticket. Seneca, addressing a wanton priestess, " Nomen tuum pependit a fronte," thy name hung from thy forehead . See Juvenal, Satire vi., 123 sqq., of the profligate Messalina, " having falsely assumed the ticket of Lycisca."

Vincent: Rev 17:5 - -- Mystery Some understand this as a part of the name, others as implying that the name is to be interpreted symbolically.

Mystery

Some understand this as a part of the name, others as implying that the name is to be interpreted symbolically.

Vincent: Rev 17:5 - -- Babylon See on 1Pe 5:13. Tertullian, Irenaeus, and Jerome use Babylon as representing the Roman Empire. In the Middle Ages Rome is frequently sty...

Babylon

See on 1Pe 5:13. Tertullian, Irenaeus, and Jerome use Babylon as representing the Roman Empire. In the Middle Ages Rome is frequently styled the Western Babylon . The sect of the Fraticelli, an eremitical organization from the Franciscans in the fourteenth century, who carried the vow of poverty to the extreme and taught that they were possessed of the Holy Spirit and exempt from sin - first familiarized the common mind with the notion that Rome was the Babylon, the great harlot of the Apocalypse (see Milligan, " Latin Christianity," Book xii., ch. vi.). On the passage cited from Dante (v. i.), Dean Plumptre remarks: " The words have the interest of being a medieval interpretation of Rev 17:1-15, in which, however, the harlot and the beast seem somewhat strangely blended. The harlot is the corrupted Church of Rome; the seven heads are the seven hills on which the city is built; or perhaps, with an entirely different exegesis, the seven gifts of the Spirit, or the seven sacraments with which that Church had, in its outset, been endowed: the ten horns are the ten commandments. As long as the Church was faithful to her spouse, she had the moral strength which came from those gifts, and the divine law which she represented. When that failed, she became as a harlot, and her whoredom with kings was the symbol of her alliance with secular powers for the oppression of the nations" (On " Inferno," xix., 110).

Vincent: Rev 17:6 - -- Saints - martyrs The saints include the martyrs or witnesses, but the latter word emphasizes the testimony of the saints which has been the cau...

Saints - martyrs

The saints include the martyrs or witnesses, but the latter word emphasizes the testimony of the saints which has been the cause of their death. For martyr ; see on 1Pe 5:1.

Vincent: Rev 17:8 - -- To go into perdition ( ὑπαÌγειν ) Some good texts read ὑπαÌγει , goeth. For the verb, see on Joh 6:21; see on Joh 8:21.

To go into perdition ( ὑπαÌγειν )

Some good texts read ὑπαÌγει , goeth. For the verb, see on Joh 6:21; see on Joh 8:21.

Vincent: Rev 17:8 - -- In the book ( ÎµÌ“Ï€Î¹Ì ) Lit., upon .

In the book ( ÎµÌ“Ï€Î¹Ì )

Lit., upon .

Vincent: Rev 17:8 - -- From the foundation of the world In ordinary New Testament Greek these words would belong to are written . construe with the words immediately...

From the foundation of the world

In ordinary New Testament Greek these words would belong to are written . construe with the words immediately preceding. Compare Rev 13:8, and Mat 25:34.

Vincent: Rev 17:8 - -- And yet is ( καιÌÏ€ÎµÏ ÎµÌ“ÏƒÏ„Î¹Ìν ) Read καὶ παÌÏεσται , and shall come. Lit., shall be present.

And yet is ( καιÌÏ€ÎµÏ ÎµÌ“ÏƒÏ„Î¹Ìν )

Read καὶ παÌÏεσται , and shall come. Lit., shall be present.

Vincent: Rev 17:9 - -- Here is ( ὧδε ) Bespeaking attention and spiritual discernment for that which follows. See on Rev 13:18.

Here is ( ὧδε )

Bespeaking attention and spiritual discernment for that which follows. See on Rev 13:18.

Vincent: Rev 17:9 - -- The mind ( ὁ νοῦς ) I. Îοῦς is the organ of mental perception and apprehension - of conscious life, the mind , c...

The mind ( ὁ νοῦς )

I. Îοῦς is the organ of mental perception and apprehension - of conscious life, the mind , comprising the faculties of perceiving and understanding, of feeling, judging, determining.

(a) The intellectual faculty or understanding (Luk 24:45). So here, according to some.

(b) The reason , regarded as the faculty of perceiving divine things: of recognizing goodness and hating evil (Rom 1:28; Rom 7:23; Eph 4:17).

(c) The power of calm and impartial judgment (2Th 2:2).

II. Îοῦς is a particular mode of thinking and judging: moral consciousness as a habit of mind or opinion . Hence thoughts , feelings , purposes (Rom 14:5; 1Co 1:10). Some render here meaning .

Vincent: Rev 17:9 - -- Seven mountains Many interpreters regard this as conclusively defining the reference of the woman to Rome, which was built upon seven hills. Othe...

Seven mountains

Many interpreters regard this as conclusively defining the reference of the woman to Rome, which was built upon seven hills. Others deny the local reference, and understand the principle of worldly greatness and ambition. Others again claim that many cities besides Rome can boast of their seven hills, as Constantinople, Brussels, and especially Jerusalem.

Vincent: Rev 17:9 - -- Upon them Redundant, the idea being already expressed by where . A Hebraism.

Upon them

Redundant, the idea being already expressed by where . A Hebraism.

Vincent: Rev 17:10 - -- Are fallen ( ἐÌπεσαν ) Lit., fell . Constantly used in the Septuagint of the violent fall or overthrow of kings or kingdoms. See Eze 29...

Are fallen ( ἐÌπεσαν )

Lit., fell . Constantly used in the Septuagint of the violent fall or overthrow of kings or kingdoms. See Eze 29:5; Eze 30:6; Isa 21:9; Jer 50:15; Jer 51:8.

Vincent: Rev 17:12 - -- Kings which ( οἱÌτινες ) The compound relative classifying: " of the kind which."

Kings which ( οἱÌτινες )

The compound relative classifying: " of the kind which."

Vincent: Rev 17:13 - -- Mind ( γνωÌμην ) Meaning primarily the faculty of knowing , mind , reason ; then that which is thought or known; opi...

Mind ( γνωÌμην )

Meaning primarily the faculty of knowing , mind , reason ; then that which is thought or known; opinion , purpose . See Act 20:3; 1Co 7:25; Phm 1:14.

Vincent: Rev 17:13 - -- Shall give ( διαδιδωÌσουσιν ) διδοÌασιν , the present tense, give . The force of Î´Î¹Î±Ì is over; give over .

Shall give ( διαδιδωÌσουσιν )

διδοÌασιν , the present tense, give . The force of Î´Î¹Î±Ì is over; give over .

Vincent: Rev 17:13 - -- Power and authority ( δυÌναμιν καὶ ἐξουσιÌαν ) For the distinction, see on 2Pe 2:11.

Power and authority ( δυÌναμιν καὶ ἐξουσιÌαν )

For the distinction, see on 2Pe 2:11.

Vincent: Rev 17:15 - -- The waters The explanation of the symbol given here is in accordance with Isa 8:7; Psa 18:4, Psa 18:16; Psa 124:4.

The waters

The explanation of the symbol given here is in accordance with Isa 8:7; Psa 18:4, Psa 18:16; Psa 124:4.

Vincent: Rev 17:15 - -- Peoples and multitudes, etc. See on 1Pe 2:9; see on Mar 12:37.

Peoples and multitudes, etc.

See on 1Pe 2:9; see on Mar 12:37.

Wesley: Rev 17:1 - -- This relation concerning the great whore, and that concerning the wife of the Lamb, Rev 21:9-10, have the same introduction, in token of the exact opp...

This relation concerning the great whore, and that concerning the wife of the Lamb, Rev 21:9-10, have the same introduction, in token of the exact opposition between them.

Wesley: Rev 17:1 - -- Which is now circumstantially described.

Which is now circumstantially described.

Wesley: Rev 17:1 - -- In pomp, power, ease, and luxury.

In pomp, power, ease, and luxury.

Wesley: Rev 17:1 - -- Many people and nations, Rev 17:15.

Many people and nations, Rev 17:15.

Wesley: Rev 17:2 - -- Both ancient and modern, for many ages.

Both ancient and modern, for many ages.

Wesley: Rev 17:2 - -- By partaking of her idolatry and various wickedness.

By partaking of her idolatry and various wickedness.

Wesley: Rev 17:2 - -- The common people.

The common people.

Wesley: Rev 17:2 - -- No wine can more thoroughly intoxicate those who drink it, than false zeal does the followers of the great whore.

No wine can more thoroughly intoxicate those who drink it, than false zeal does the followers of the great whore.

Wesley: Rev 17:3 - -- In the vision.

In the vision.

Wesley: Rev 17:3 - -- The campagna di Roma, the country round about Rome, is now a wilderness, compared to what it was once.

The campagna di Roma, the country round about Rome, is now a wilderness, compared to what it was once.

Wesley: Rev 17:3 - -- Both the scripture and other writers frequently represent a city under this emblem.

Both the scripture and other writers frequently represent a city under this emblem.

Wesley: Rev 17:3 - -- The same which is described in Rev. 13:1-18. But he was there described as he carried on his own designs only: here, as he is connected with the whore...

The same which is described in Rev. 13:1-18. But he was there described as he carried on his own designs only: here, as he is connected with the whore. There is, indeed, a very close connexion between them; the seven heads of the beast being "seven hills on which the woman sitteth." And yet there is a very remarkable difference between them, - between the papal power and the city of Rome. This woman is the city of Rome, with its buildings and inhabitants; especially the nobles. The beast, which is now scarlet - coloured, (bearing the bloody livery, as well as the person, of the woman,) appears very different from before. Therefore St. John says at first sight, I saw a beast, not the beast, full of names of blasphemy - He had' before "a name of blasphemy upon his head," Rev 13:1; now he has many. From the time of Hildebrand, the blasphemous titles of the Pope have been abundantly multiplied.

Wesley: Rev 17:3 - -- Which reach in a succession from his ascent out of the sea to his being cast into the lake of fire.

Which reach in a succession from his ascent out of the sea to his being cast into the lake of fire.

Wesley: Rev 17:3 - -- Which are contemporary with each other, and belong to his last period.

Which are contemporary with each other, and belong to his last period.

Wesley: Rev 17:4 - -- With the utmost pomp and magnificence.

With the utmost pomp and magnificence.

Wesley: Rev 17:4 - -- These were the colours of the imperial habit: the purple, in times of peace; and the scarlet, in times of war.

These were the colours of the imperial habit: the purple, in times of peace; and the scarlet, in times of war.

Wesley: Rev 17:4 - -- Like the ancient Babylon, Jer 51:7.

Like the ancient Babylon, Jer 51:7.

Wesley: Rev 17:4 - -- The most abominable doctrines as well as practices.

The most abominable doctrines as well as practices.

Wesley: Rev 17:5 - -- Whereas the saints have the name of God and the Lamb on their foreheads.

Whereas the saints have the name of God and the Lamb on their foreheads.

Wesley: Rev 17:5 - -- This very word was inscribed on the front of the Pope's mitre, till some of the Reformers took public notice of it.

This very word was inscribed on the front of the Pope's mitre, till some of the Reformers took public notice of it.

Wesley: Rev 17:5 - -- Benedict XIII., in his proclamation of the jubilee, A.D. 1725, explains this sufficiently. His words are, "To this holy city, famous for the memory of...

Benedict XIII., in his proclamation of the jubilee, A.D. 1725, explains this sufficiently. His words are, "To this holy city, famous for the memory of so many holy martyrs, run with religious alacrity. Hasten to the place which the Lord hath chose. Ascend to this new Jerusalem, whence the law of the Lord and the light of evangelical truth hath flowed forth into all nations, from the very first beginning of the church: the city most rightfully called 'The Palace,' placed for the pride of all ages, the city of the Lord, the Sion of the Holy One of Israel. This catholic and apostolical Roman church is the head of the world, the mother of all believers, the faithful interpreter of God and mistress of all churches." But God somewhat varies the style.

Wesley: Rev 17:5 - -- The parent, ringleader, patroness, and nourisher of many daughters, that losely copy after her.

The parent, ringleader, patroness, and nourisher of many daughters, that losely copy after her.

Wesley: Rev 17:5 - -- Of every kind, spiritual and fleshly.

Of every kind, spiritual and fleshly.

Wesley: Rev 17:5 - -- In all lands. In this respect she is indeed catholic or universal.

In all lands. In this respect she is indeed catholic or universal.

Wesley: Rev 17:6 - -- So that Rome may well be called, "The slaughter - house of the martyrs." She hath shed much Christian blood in every age; but at length she is even dr...

So that Rome may well be called, "The slaughter - house of the martyrs." She hath shed much Christian blood in every age; but at length she is even drunk with it, at the time to which this vision refers.

Wesley: Rev 17:6 - -- The preachers of his word.

The preachers of his word.

Wesley: Rev 17:6 - -- At her cruelty and the patience of God.

At her cruelty and the patience of God.

Wesley: Rev 17:7 - -- The hidden meaning of this.

The hidden meaning of this.

Wesley: Rev 17:8 - -- _This is a very observable and punctual description of the beast, Rev 17:8, Rev 17:10-11. His whole duration is here divided into three periods, which...

_This is a very observable and punctual description of the beast, Rev 17:8, Rev 17:10-11. His whole duration is here divided into three periods, which are expressed in a fourfold manner. He, 1. Was; 2 And is not; 3. And will ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition. He, 1. Was; 2. And is not; 3. And will be again. The seven heads are seven hills and seven kings: 1. Five are fallen; 2. One is; 3. The other is not come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space. He, 1. Was; 2. And is not; 3 Even he is the eighth, and is one of the seven, and goeth into perdition. The first of these three is described in Rev. 13:1-18. This was past when the angel spoke to St. John. The second was then in its course; the third woe to come.

Wesley: Rev 17:8 - -- The fifth phial brought darkness upon his kingdom: the woman took this advantage to seat herself upon him. Then it might be said, He is not.

The fifth phial brought darkness upon his kingdom: the woman took this advantage to seat herself upon him. Then it might be said, He is not.

Wesley: Rev 17:8 - -- Arise again with diabolical strength and fury. But he will not reign long: soon after his ascent he goeth into perdition for ever.

Arise again with diabolical strength and fury. But he will not reign long: soon after his ascent he goeth into perdition for ever.

Wesley: Rev 17:9 - -- Only those who are wise will understand this. The seven heads are seven hills.

Only those who are wise will understand this. The seven heads are seven hills.

Wesley: Rev 17:10 - -- Anciently there were royal palaces on all the seven Roman bills. These were the Palatine, Capitoline, Coelian, Exquiline, Viminal, Quirinal, Aventine ...

Anciently there were royal palaces on all the seven Roman bills. These were the Palatine, Capitoline, Coelian, Exquiline, Viminal, Quirinal, Aventine hills. But the prophecy respects the seven hills at the time of the beast, when the Palatine was deserted and the Vatican in use. Not that the seven heads mean hills distinct from kings; but they have a compound meaning, implying both together. Perhaps the first head of the beast is the Coelian hill, and on it the Lateran, with Gregory VII. and his successors; the second, the Vatican with the church of St. Peter, chosen by Boniface VIII. the third, the Quirinal, with the church of St. Mark, and the Quirinal palace built by Paul II. and the fourth, the Exquiline hill, with the temple of St. Maria Maggiore, where Paul V. reigned. The fifth will be added hereafter. Accordingly, in the papal register, four periods are observable since Gregory VII. In the first almost all the bulls made in the city are dated in the Lateran; in the second, at St. Peter's; in the third, at St. Mark's, or in the Quirinal; in the fourth, at St. Maria Maggiore. But no fifth, sixth, or seventh hill has yet been the residence of any Pope. Not that the hill was deserted, when another was made the papal residence; but a new one was added to the other sacred palaces. Perhaps the times hitherto mentioned might be fixed thus: 1058 Wings are given to the woman. 1077 The beast ascends out of the sea.

Wesley: Rev 17:10 - -- two months begin.

two months begin.

Wesley: Rev 17:10 - -- two months end. 1832 The beast ascends out of the bottomless pit. 1836 The beast finally overthrown.

two months end. 1832 The beast ascends out of the bottomless pit. 1836 The beast finally overthrown.

JFB: Rev 17:1 - -- A, B, Vulgate, Syriac, and Coptic omit.

A, B, Vulgate, Syriac, and Coptic omit.

JFB: Rev 17:1 - -- So A. But B, "the many waters" (Jer 51:13); Rev 17:15, below, explains the sense. The whore is the apostate Church, just as "the woman" (Rev 12:1-6) i...

So A. But B, "the many waters" (Jer 51:13); Rev 17:15, below, explains the sense. The whore is the apostate Church, just as "the woman" (Rev 12:1-6) is the Church while faithful. Satan having failed by violence, tries too successfully to seduce her by the allurements of the world; unlike her Lord, she was overcome by this temptation; hence she is seen sitting on the scarlet-colored beast, no longer the wife, but the harlot; no longer Jerusalem, but spiritually Sodom (Rev 11:8).

JFB: Rev 17:2 - -- Greek, "owing to." It cannot be pagan Rome, but papal Rome, if a particular seat of error be meant, but I incline to think that the judgment (Rev 18:2...

Greek, "owing to." It cannot be pagan Rome, but papal Rome, if a particular seat of error be meant, but I incline to think that the judgment (Rev 18:2) and the spiritual fornication (Rev 18:3), though finding their culmination in Rome, are not restricted to it, but comprise the whole apostate Church, Roman, Greek, and even Protestant, so far as it has been seduced from its "first love" (Rev 2:4) to Christ, the heavenly Bridegroom, and given its affections to worldly pomps and idols. The woman (Rev 12:1) is the congregation of God in its purity under the Old and New Testament, and appears again as the Bride of the Lamb, the transfigured Church prepared for the marriage feast. The woman, the invisible Church, is latent in the apostate Church, and is the Church militant; the Bride is the Church triumphant.

JFB: Rev 17:3 - -- Contrast her in Rev 12:6, Rev 12:14, having a place in the wilderness-world, but not a home; a sojourner here, looking for the city to come. Now, on t...

Contrast her in Rev 12:6, Rev 12:14, having a place in the wilderness-world, but not a home; a sojourner here, looking for the city to come. Now, on the contrary, she is contented to have her portion in this moral wilderness.

JFB: Rev 17:3 - -- The same as in Rev 13:1, who there is described as here, "having seven heads and ten horns (therein betraying that he is representative of the dragon,...

The same as in Rev 13:1, who there is described as here, "having seven heads and ten horns (therein betraying that he is representative of the dragon, Rev 12:3), and upon his heads names (so the oldest manuscripts read) of blasphemy"; compare also Rev 17:12-14, below, with Rev 19:19-20, and Rev 17:13-14, Rev 17:16. Rome, resting on the world power and ruling it by the claim of supremacy, is the chief, though not the exclusive, representative of this symbol. As the dragon is fiery-red, so the beast is blood-red in color; implying its blood-guiltiness, and also deep-dyed sin. The scarlet is also the symbol of kingly authority.

JFB: Rev 17:3 - -- All over; not merely "on his heads," as in Rev 13:1, for its opposition to God is now about to develop itself in all its intensity. Under the harlot's...

All over; not merely "on his heads," as in Rev 13:1, for its opposition to God is now about to develop itself in all its intensity. Under the harlot's superintendence, the world power puts forth blasphemous pretensions worse than in pagan days. So the Pope is placed by the cardinals in God's temple on the altar to sit there, and the cardinals kiss the feet of the Pope. This ceremony is called in Romish writers "the adoration." [Historie de Clerge, Amsterd., 1716; and LETTENBURGH'S Notitia Curiæ Romanæ, 1683, p. 125; HEIDEGGER, Myst. Bab., 1, 511, 514, 537]; a papal coin [Numismata Pontificum, Paris, 1679, p. 5] has the blasphemous legend, "Quem creant, adorant." Kneeling and kissing are the worship meant by John's word nine times used in respect to the rival of God (Greek, "proskunein"). Abomination, too, is the scriptural term for an idol, or any creature worshipped with the homage due to the Creator. Still, there is some check on the God-opposed world power while ridden by the harlot; the consummated Antichrist will be when, having destroyed her, the beast shall be revealed as the concentration and incarnation of all the self-deifying God-opposed principles which have appeared in various forms and degrees heretofore. "The Church has gained outward recognition by leaning on the world power which in its turn uses the Church for its own objects; such is the picture here of Christendom ripe for judgment" [AUBERLEN]. The seven heads in the view of many are the seven successive forms of government of Rome: kings, consuls, dictators, decemvirs, military tribunes, emperors, the German emperors [WORDSWORTH], of whom Napoleon is the successor (Rev 17:11). But see the view given, see on Rev 17:9-10, which I prefer. The crowns formerly on the ten horns (Rev 13:1) have now disappeared, perhaps an indication that the ten kingdoms into which the Germanic-Slavonic world [the old Roman empire, including the East as well as the West, the two legs of the image with five toes on each, that is, ten in all] is to be divided, will lose their monarchical form in the end [AUBERLEN]; but see Rev 17:12, which seems to imply crowned kings.

JFB: Rev 17:4 - -- The color scarlet, it is remarkable, is that reserved for popes and cardinals. Paul II made it penal for anyone but cardinals to wear hats of scarlet;...

The color scarlet, it is remarkable, is that reserved for popes and cardinals. Paul II made it penal for anyone but cardinals to wear hats of scarlet; compare Roman Ceremonial [3.5.5]. This book was compiled several centuries ago by MARCELLUS, a Romish archbishop, and dedicated to Leo X. In it are enumerated five different articles of dress of scarlet color. A vest is mentioned studded with pearls. The Pope's miter is of gold and precious stones. These are the very characteristics outwardly which Revelation thrice assigns to the harlot or Babylon. So Joachim an abbot from Calabria, about A.D. 1200, when asked by Richard of England, who had summoned him to Palestine, concerning Antichrist, replied that "he was born long ago at Rome, and is now exalting himself above all that is called God." ROGER HOVEDEN [Annals, 1.2], and elsewhere, wrote, "The harlot arrayed in gold is the Church of Rome." Whenever and wherever (not in Rome alone) the Church, instead of being "clothed (as at first, Rev 12:1) with the sun" of heaven, is arrayed in earthly meretricious gauds, compromising the truth of God through fear, or flattery, of the world's power, science, or wealth, she becomes the harlot seated on the beast, and doomed in righteous retribution to be judged by the beast (Rev 17:16). Soon, like Rome, and like the Jews of Christ's and the apostles' time leagued with the heathen Rome, she will then become the persecutor of the saints (Rev 17:6). Instead of drinking her Lord's "cup" of suffering, she has "a cup full of abominations and filthinesses." Rome, in her medals, represents herself holding a cup with the self-condemning inscription, "Sedet super universum." Meanwhile the world power gives up its hostility and accepts Christianity externally; the beast gives up its God-opposed character, the woman gives up her divine one. They meet halfway by mutual concessions; Christianity becomes worldly, the world becomes Christianized. The gainer is the world; the loser is the Church. The beast for a time receives a deadly wound (Rev 13:3), but is not really transfigured; he will return worse than ever (Rev 17:11-14). The Lord alone by His coming can make the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ. The "purple" is the badge of empire; even as in mockery it was put on our Lord.

JFB: Rev 17:4 - -- Literally, "gilded."

Literally, "gilded."

JFB: Rev 17:4 - -- Greek, "stone."

Greek, "stone."

JFB: Rev 17:4 - -- A, B, and ANDREAS read, "the filthy (impure) things."

A, B, and ANDREAS read, "the filthy (impure) things."

JFB: Rev 17:5 - -- As harlots usually had. What a contrast to "HOLINESS TO THE LORD," inscribed on the miter on the high priest's forehead!

As harlots usually had. What a contrast to "HOLINESS TO THE LORD," inscribed on the miter on the high priest's forehead!

JFB: Rev 17:5 - -- Implying a spiritual fact heretofore hidden, and incapable of discovery by mere reason, but now revealed. As the union of Christ and the Church is a "...

Implying a spiritual fact heretofore hidden, and incapable of discovery by mere reason, but now revealed. As the union of Christ and the Church is a "great mystery" (a spiritual truth of momentous interest, once hidden, now revealed, Eph 5:31-32), so the Church conforming to the world and thereby becoming a harlot is a counter "mystery" (or spiritual truth, symbolically now revealed). As iniquity in the harlot is a leaven working in "mystery," and therefore called "the mystery of iniquity," so when she is destroyed, the iniquity heretofore working (comparatively) latently in her, shall be revealed in the man of iniquity, the open embodiment of all previous evil. Contrast the "mystery of God" and "godliness," Rev 10:7; 1Ti 3:16. It was Rome that crucified Christ; that destroyed Jerusalem and scattered the Jews; that persecuted the early Christians in pagan times, and Protestant Christians in papal times; and probably shall be again restored to its pristine grandeur, such as it had under the Cæsars, just before the burning of the harlot and of itself with her. So HIPPOLYTUS [On Antichrist] (who lived in the second century), thought. Popery cannot be at one and the same time the "mystery of iniquity," and the manifested or revealed Antichrist. Probably it will compromise for political power (Rev 17:3) the portion of Christianity still in its creed, and thus shall prepare the way for Antichrist's manifestation. The name Babylon, which in the image, Dan 2:32, Dan 2:38, is given to the head, is here given to the harlot, which marks her as being connected with the fourth kingdom, Rome, the last part of the image. Benedict XIII, in his indiction for a jubilee, A.D. 1725, called Rome "the mother of all believers, and the mistress of all churches" (harlots like herself). The correspondence of syllables and accents in Greek is striking; "He porne kai to therion; He numphe kai to arnion." "The whore and the beast; the Bride and the Lamb."

JFB: Rev 17:5 - -- Greek, "of the harlots and of the abominations." Not merely Rome, but Christendom as a whole, even as formerly Israel as a whole, has become a harlot....

Greek, "of the harlots and of the abominations." Not merely Rome, but Christendom as a whole, even as formerly Israel as a whole, has become a harlot. The invisible Church of true believers is hidden and dispersed in the visible Church. The boundary lines which separate harlot and woman are not denominational nor drawn externally, but can only be spiritually discerned. If Rome were the only seat of Babylon, much of the spiritual profit of Revelation would be lost to us; but the harlot "sitteth upon many waters" (Rev 17:1), and "ALL nations have drunk of the wine of her fornication" (Rev 17:2; Rev 18:3; "the earth," Rev 19:2). External extensiveness over the whole world and internal conformity to the world--worldliness in extent and contents--is symbolized by the name of the world city, "Babylon." As the sun shines on all the earth, thus the woman clothed with the sun is to let her light penetrate to the uttermost parts of the earth. But she, in externally Christianizing the world, permits herself to be seduced by the world; thus her universality or catholicity is not that of the Jerusalem which we look for ("the MOTHER of us all," Rev 21:2; Isa 2:2-4; Gal 4:26), but that of Babylon, the world-wide but harlot city! (As Babylon was destroyed, and the Jews restored to Jerusalem by Cyrus, so our Cyrus--a Persian name meaning the sun--the Sun of righteousness, shall bring Israel, literal and spiritual, to the holy Jerusalem at His coming. Babylon and Jerusalem are the two opposite poles of the spiritual world). Still, the Romish Church is not only accidentally and as a matter of fact, but in virtue of its very PRINCIPLE, a harlot, the metropolis of whoredom, "the mother of harlots"; whereas the evangelical Protestant Church is, according to her principle and fundamental creed, a chaste woman; the Reformation was a protest of the woman against the harlot. The spirit of the heathen world kingdom Rome had, before the Reformation, changed the Church in the West into a Church-State, Rome; and in the East, into a State-Church, fettered by the world power, having its center in Byzantium; the Roman and Greek churches have thus fallen from the invisible spiritual essence of the Gospel into the elements of the world [AUBERLEN]. Compare with the "woman" called "Babylon" here, the woman named "wickedness," or "lawlessness," "iniquity" (Zec 5:7-8, Zec 5:11), carried to Babylon: compare "the mystery of iniquity" and "the man of sin," "that wicked one," literally, "the lawless one" (2Th 2:7-8; also Mat 24:12).

JFB: Rev 17:6 - -- Witnesses.

Witnesses.

JFB: Rev 17:6 - -- As the Greek is the same in the verb and the noun, translate the latter "wonder." John certainly did not admire her in the modern English sense. Elsew...

As the Greek is the same in the verb and the noun, translate the latter "wonder." John certainly did not admire her in the modern English sense. Elsewhere (Rev 17:8; Rev 13:3), all the earthly-minded ("they that dwell on the earth") wonder in admiration of the beast. Here only is John's wonder called forth; not the beast, but the woman sunken into the harlot, the Church become a world-loving apostate, moves his sorrowful astonishment at so awful a change. That the world should be beastly is natural, but that the faithful bride should become the whore is monstrous, and excites the same amazement in him as the same awful change in Israel excited in Isaiah and Jeremiah. "Horrible thing" in them answers to "abominations" here. "Corruptio optimi pessima"; when the Church falls, she sinks lower than the godless world, in proportion as her right place is higher than the world. It is striking that in Rev 17:3, "woman" has not the article, "the woman," as if she had been before mentioned: for though identical in one sense with the woman, Rev 12:1-6, in another sense she is not. The elect are never perverted into apostates, and still remain as the true woman invisibly contained in the harlot; yet Christendom regarded as the woman has apostatized from its first faith.

JFB: Rev 17:8 - -- (Compare Rev 17:11). The time when the beast "is not" is the time during which it has "the deadly wound"; the time of the seventh head becoming Christ...

(Compare Rev 17:11). The time when the beast "is not" is the time during which it has "the deadly wound"; the time of the seventh head becoming Christian externally, when its beast-like character was put into suspension temporarily. The healing of its wound answers to its ascending out of the bottomless pit. The beast, or Antichristian world power, returns worse than ever, with satanic powers from hell (Rev 11:7), not merely from the sea of convulsed nations (Rev 13:1). Christian civilization gives the beast only a temporary wound, whence the deadly wound is always mentioned in connection with its being healed up the non-existence of the beast in connection with its reappearance; and Daniel does not even notice any change in the world power effected by Christianity. We are endangered on one side by the spurious Christianity of the harlot, on the other by the open Antichristianity of the beast; the third class is Christ's little flock."

JFB: Rev 17:8 - -- So B, Vulgate, and ANDREAS read the future tense. But A and IRENÆUS, "goeth."

So B, Vulgate, and ANDREAS read the future tense. But A and IRENÆUS, "goeth."

JFB: Rev 17:8 - -- The continuance of this revived seventh (that is, the eighth) head is short: it is therefore called "the son of perdition," who is essentially doomed ...

The continuance of this revived seventh (that is, the eighth) head is short: it is therefore called "the son of perdition," who is essentially doomed to it almost immediately after his appearance.

JFB: Rev 17:8 - -- So Vulgate and ANDREAS. But A, B, Syriac, and Coptic read the singular, "name is."

So Vulgate and ANDREAS. But A, B, Syriac, and Coptic read the singular, "name is."

JFB: Rev 17:8 - -- Greek, "upon."

Greek, "upon."

JFB: Rev 17:8 - -- Rather, "when they behold the beast that it was," &c. So Vulgate.

Rather, "when they behold the beast that it was," &c. So Vulgate.

JFB: Rev 17:8 - -- A, B, and ANDREAS read, "and shall come" (literally, "be present," namely, again: Greek, "kai parestai"). The Hebrew, "tetragrammaton," or sacred four...

A, B, and ANDREAS read, "and shall come" (literally, "be present," namely, again: Greek, "kai parestai"). The Hebrew, "tetragrammaton," or sacred four letters in Jehovah, "who is, who was, and who is to come," the believer's object of worship, has its contrasted counterpart in the beast "who was, and is not, and shall be present," the object of the earth's worship [BENGEL]. They exult with wonder in seeing that the beast which had seemed to have received its death blow from Christianity, is on the eve of reviving with greater power than ever on the ruins of that religion which tormented them (Rev 11:10).

JFB: Rev 17:9 - -- Compare Rev 13:18; Dan 12:10, where similarly spiritual discernment is put forward as needed in order to understand the symbolical prophecy.

Compare Rev 13:18; Dan 12:10, where similarly spiritual discernment is put forward as needed in order to understand the symbolical prophecy.

JFB: Rev 17:9 - -- The connection between mountains and kings must be deeper than the mere outward fact to which incidental allusion is made, that Rome (the then world c...

The connection between mountains and kings must be deeper than the mere outward fact to which incidental allusion is made, that Rome (the then world city) is on seven hills (whence heathen Rome had a national festival called Septimontium, the feast of the seven-hilled city [PLUTARCH]; and on the imperial coins, just as here, she is represented as a woman seated on seven hills. Coin of Vespasian, described by CAPTAIN SMYTH [Roman Coins, p. 310; ACKERMAN, 1, p. 87]). The seven heads can hardly be at once seven kings or kingdoms (Rev 17:10), and seven geographical mountains. The true connection is, as the head is the prominent part of the body, so the mountain is prominent in the land. Like "sea" and "earth"and "waters . . . peoples" (Rev 17:15), so "mountains" have a symbolical meaning, namely, prominent seats of power. Especially such as are prominent hindrances to the cause of God (Psa 68:16-17; Isa 40:4; Isa 41:15; Isa 49:11; Eze 35:2); especially Babylon (which geographically was in a plain, but spiritually is called a destroying mountain, Jer 51:25), in majestic contrast to which stands Mount Zion, "the mountain of the Lord's house" (Isa 2:2), and the heavenly mount; Rev 21:10, "a great and high mountain . . . and that great city, the holy Jerusalem." So in Dan 2:35, the stone becomes a mountain--Messiah's universal kingdom supplanting the previous world kingdoms. As nature shadows forth the great realities of the spiritual world, so seven-hilled Rome is a representative of the seven-headed world power of which the dragon has been, and is the prince. The "seven kings" are hereby distinguished from the "ten kings" (Rev 17:12): the former are what the latter are not, "mountains," great seats of the world power. The seven universal God-opposed monarchies are Egypt (the first world power which came into collision with God's people,) Assyria, Babylon, Greece, Medo-Persia, Rome, the Germanic-Slavonic empire (the clay of the fourth kingdom mixed with its iron in Nebuchadnezzar's image, a fifth material, Dan 2:33-34, Dan 2:42-43, symbolizing this last head). These seven might seem not to accord with the seven heads in Dan 7:4-7, one head on the first beast (Babylon), one on the second (Medo-Persia), four on the third (Greece; namely, Egypt, Syria, Thrace with Bithynia, and Greece with Macedon): but Egypt and Greece are in both lists. Syria answers to Assyria (from which the name Syria is abbreviated), and Thrace with Bithynia answers to the Gothic-Germanic-Slavonic hordes which, pouring down on Rome from the North, founded the Germanic-Slavonic empire. The woman sitting on the seven hills implies the Old and New Testament Church conforming to, and resting on, the world power, that is, on all the seven world kingdoms. Abraham and Isaac dissembling as to their wives through fear of the kings of Egypt foreshadowed this. Compare Eze. 16:1-63; Eze. 23:1-49, on Israel's whoredoms with Egypt, Assyria, Babylon; and Mat 7:24; Mat 24:10-12, Mat 24:23-26, on the characteristics of the New Testament Church's harlotry, namely, distrust, suspicion, hatred, treachery, divisions into parties, false doctrine.

JFB: Rev 17:10 - -- Translate, "they (the seven heads) are seven kings."

Translate, "they (the seven heads) are seven kings."

JFB: Rev 17:10 - -- Greek, "the five . . . the one"; the first five of the seven are fallen (a word applicable not to forms of government passing away, but to the fall of...

Greek, "the five . . . the one"; the first five of the seven are fallen (a word applicable not to forms of government passing away, but to the fall of once powerful empires: Egypt, Eze. 29:1-30:26; Assyria and Nineveh, Nah. 3:1-19; Babylon, Rev 18:2; Jer. 50:1-51:64; Medo-Persia, Dan 8:3-7, Dan 8:20-22; Dan 10:13; Dan 11:2; Greece, Dan 11:4). Rome was "the one" existing in John's days. "Kings" is the Scripture phrase for kingdoms, because these kingdoms are generally represented in character by some one prominent head, as Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar, Medo-Persia by Cyrus, Greece by Alexander, &c.

JFB: Rev 17:10 - -- Not as ALFORD, inaccurately representing AUBERLEN, the Christian empire beginning with Constantine; but, the Germanic-Slavonic empire beginning and co...

Not as ALFORD, inaccurately representing AUBERLEN, the Christian empire beginning with Constantine; but, the Germanic-Slavonic empire beginning and continuing in its beast-like, that is, HEATHEN Antichristian character for only "a short space." The time when it is said of it, "it is not" (Rev 17:11), is the time during which it is "wounded to death," and has the "deadly wound" (Rev 13:3). The external Christianization of the migrating hordes from the North which descended on Rome, is the wound to the beast answering to the earth swallowing up the flood (heathen tribes) sent by the dragon, Satan, to drown the woman, the Church. The emphasis palpably is on "a short space," which therefore comes first in the Greek, not on "he must continue," as if his continuance for some [considerable] time were implied, as ALFORD wrongly thinks. The time of external Christianization (while the beast's wound continues) has lasted for centuries, ever since Constantine. Rome and the Greek Church have partially healed the wound by image worship.

JFB: Rev 17:11 - -- His beastly character being kept down by outward Christianization of the state until he starts up to life again as "the eighth" king, his "wound being...

His beastly character being kept down by outward Christianization of the state until he starts up to life again as "the eighth" king, his "wound being healed" (Rev 13:3), Antichrist manifested in fullest and most intense opposition to God. The "he" is emphatic in the Greek. He, peculiarly and pre-eminently: answering to "the little horn" with eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things, before whom three of the ten horns were plucked up by the roots, and to whom the whole ten "give their power and strength" (Rev 17:12-13, Rev 17:17). That a personal Antichrist will stand at the head of the Antichristian kingdom, is likely from the analogy of Antiochus Epiphanes, the Old Testament Antichrist, "the little horn" in Dan 8:9-12; also, "the man of sin, son of perdition" (2Th 2:3-8), answers here to "goeth into perdition," and is applied to an individual, namely, Judas, in the only other passage where the phrase occurs (Joh 17:12). He is essentially a child of destruction, and hence he has but a little time ascended out of the bottomless pit, when he "goes into perdition" (Rev 17:8, Rev 17:11). "While the Church passes through death of the flesh to glory of the Spirit, the beast passes through the glory of the flesh to death" [AUBERLEN].

JFB: Rev 17:11 - -- Rather "springs out of the seven." The eighth is not merely one of the seven restored, but a new power or person proceeding out of the seven, and at t...

Rather "springs out of the seven." The eighth is not merely one of the seven restored, but a new power or person proceeding out of the seven, and at the same time embodying all the God-opposed features of the previous seven concentrated and consummated; for which reason there are said to be not eight, but only seven heads, for the eighth is the embodiment of all the seven. In the birth-pangs which prepare the "regeneration" there are wars, earthquakes, and disturbances [AUBERLEN], wherein Antichrist takes his rise ("sea," Rev 13:1; Mar 13:8; Luk 21:9-11). He does not fall like the other seven (Rev 17:10), but is destroyed, going to his own perdition, by the Lord in person.

JFB: Rev 17:12 - -- Hence and from Rev 17:14, Rev 17:16, it seems that these ten kings or kingdoms, are to be contemporaries with the beast in its last or eighth form, na...

Hence and from Rev 17:14, Rev 17:16, it seems that these ten kings or kingdoms, are to be contemporaries with the beast in its last or eighth form, namely, Antichrist. Compare Dan 2:34, Dan 2:44, "the stone smote the image upon his feet," that is, upon the ten toes, which are, in Dan 2:41-44, interpreted to be "kings." The ten kingdoms are not, therefore, ten which arose in the overthrow of Rome (heathen), but are to rise out of the last state of the fourth kingdom under the eighth head. I agree with ALFORD that the phrase "as kings," implies that they reserve their kingly rights in their alliance with the beast, wherein "they give their power and strength unto" him (Rev 17:13). They have the name of kings, but not with undivided kingly power [WORDSWORTH]. See AUBERLEN'S not so probable view, see on Rev 17:3.

JFB: Rev 17:12 - -- A definite time of short duration, during which "the devil is come down to the inhabitant of the earth and of the sea, having great wrath, because he ...

A definite time of short duration, during which "the devil is come down to the inhabitant of the earth and of the sea, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time." Probably the three and a half years (Rev 11:2-3; Rev 13:5). Antichrist is in existence long before the fall of Babylon; but it is only at its fail he obtains the vassalage of the ten kings. He in the first instance imposes on the Jews as the Messiah, coming in his own name; then persecutes those of them who refuse his blasphemous pretensions. Not until the sixth vial, in the latter part of his reign, does he associate the ten kings with him in war with the Lamb, having gained them over by the aid of the spirits of devils working miracles. His connection with Israel appears from his sitting "in the temple of God" (2Th 2:4), and as the antitypical "abomination of desolation standing in the Holy place" (Dan 9:27; Dan 12:11; Mat 24:15), and "in the city where our Lord was crucified" (Rev 11:8). It is remarkable that IRENÆUS [Against Heresies, 5:25] and CYRIL OF JERUSALEM [RUFINUS, Historia Monachorum, 10.37] prophesied that Antichrist would have his seat at Jerusalem and would restore the kingdom of the Jews. JULIAN the apostate, long after, took part with the Jews, and aided in building their temple, herein being Antichrist's forerunner.

JFB: Rev 17:13 - -- One sentiment.

One sentiment.

JFB: Rev 17:13 - -- So Coptic. But A, B, and Syriac, "give."

So Coptic. But A, B, and Syriac, "give."

JFB: Rev 17:13 - -- Greek, "authority." They become his dependent allies (Rev 17:14). Thus Antichrist sets up to be King of kings, but scarcely has he put forth his claim...

Greek, "authority." They become his dependent allies (Rev 17:14). Thus Antichrist sets up to be King of kings, but scarcely has he put forth his claim when the true KING OF KINGS appears and dashes him down in a moment to destruction.

JFB: Rev 17:14 - -- In league with the beast. This is a summary anticipation of Rev 19:19. This shall not be till after they have first executed judgment on the harlot (R...

In league with the beast. This is a summary anticipation of Rev 19:19. This shall not be till after they have first executed judgment on the harlot (Rev 17:15-16).

JFB: Rev 17:14 - -- Anticipating Rev 19:16.

Anticipating Rev 19:16.

JFB: Rev 17:14 - -- Not in the Greek. Therefore translate, "And they that are with Him, called chosen, and faithful (shall overcome them, namely, the beast and his allied...

Not in the Greek. Therefore translate, "And they that are with Him, called chosen, and faithful (shall overcome them, namely, the beast and his allied kings)." These have been with Christ in heaven unseen, but now appear with Him.

JFB: Rev 17:15 - -- (Rev 17:1; Isa 8:7.) An impious parody of Jehovah who "sitteth upon the flood" [ALFORD]. Also, contrast the "many waters" Rev 19:6, "Alleluia."

(Rev 17:1; Isa 8:7.) An impious parody of Jehovah who "sitteth upon the flood" [ALFORD]. Also, contrast the "many waters" Rev 19:6, "Alleluia."

JFB: Rev 17:15 - -- The "peoples," &c., here mark the universality of the spiritual fornication of the Church. The "tongues" remind us of the original Babel, the confusio...

The "peoples," &c., here mark the universality of the spiritual fornication of the Church. The "tongues" remind us of the original Babel, the confusion of tongues, the beginning of Babylon, and the first commencement of idolatrous apostasy after the flood, as the tower was doubtless dedicated to the deified heavens. Thus, Babylon is the appropriate name of the harlot. The Pope, as the chief representative of the harlot, claims a double supremacy over all peoples, typified by the "two swords" according to the interpretation of Boniface VIII in the Bull, "Unam Sanctam," and represented by the two keys: spiritual as the universal bishop, whence he is crowned with the miter; and temporal, whence he is also crowned with the tiara in token of his imperial supremacy. Contrast with the Pope's diadems the "many diadems" of Him who alone has claim to, and shall exercise when He shall come, the twofold dominion (Rev 19:12).

Clarke: Rev 17:1 - -- And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will show unto thee the judgment...

And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will show unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters - That idolatrous worship is frequently represented in Scripture under the character of a whore or whoredom, is evident from numerous passages which it is unnecessary to quote. See 1Ch 5:25; Ezekiel 16:1-63; 23:1-49, etc. The woman mentioned here is called a great whore, to denote her excessive depravity, and the artful nature of her idolatry. She is also represented as sitting upon many waters, to show the vast extent of her influence. See on Rev 17:13 (note).

Clarke: Rev 17:2 - -- With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication -...

With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication - What an awful picture this is of the state of the religion of the world in subjection to this whore! Kings have committed spiritual fornication with her, and their subjects have drunk deep, dreadfully deep, into the doctrine of her abominable errors.

Clarke: Rev 17:3 - -- So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness - This wilderness into which the apostle was carried is the desolate state of the true Churc...

So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness - This wilderness into which the apostle was carried is the desolate state of the true Church of Christ, in one of the wings of the once mighty Roman empire. It was a truly awful sight, a terrible desert, a waste howling wilderness; for when he came hither he: -

Saw a woman sit upon a scarlet-coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns - No doubt can now be entertained that this woman is the Latin Church, for she sits upon the beast with seven heads and ten horns, which has been already proved to be the Latin empire, because this empire alone contains the number 666. See on Rev 13:18 (note). This is a representation of the Latin Church in her highest state of antichristian prosperity, for she Sits Upon the scarlet coloured beast, a striking emblem of her complete domination over the secular Latin empire. The state of the Latin Church from the commencement of the fourteenth century to the time of the Reformation may be considered that which corresponds to this prophetic description in the most literal and extensive sense of the words; for during this period she was at her highest pitch of worldly grandeur and temporal authority. The beast is full of names of blasphemy; and it is well known that the nations, in support of the Latin or Romish Church, have abounded in blasphemous appellations, and have not blushed to attribute to themselves and to their Church the most sacred titles, not only blaspheming by the improper use of sacred names, but even by applying to its bishop those names which alone belong to God; for God hath expressly declared that he will not give his glory to another, neither his praise to graven images.

Clarke: Rev 17:4 - -- And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of...

And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication - This strikingly represents the most pompous and costly manner in which the Latin Church has held forth to the nations the rites and ceremonies of its idolatrous and corrupt worship.

Clarke: Rev 17:5 - -- And upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots, and Abominations of the Earth - This inscription being ...

And upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots, and Abominations of the Earth - This inscription being written upon her forehead is intended to show that she is not ashamed of her doctrines, but publicly professes and glories in them before the nations: she has indeed a whore’ s forehead, she has refused to be ashamed. The inscription upon her forehead is exactly the portraiture of the Latin Church. This Church is, as Bishop Newton well expresses it, A Mystery of iniquity. This woman is also called Babylon the Great; she is the exact antitype of the ancient Babylon in her idolatry and cruelty, but the ancient city called Babylon is only a drawing of her in miniature. This is indeed Babylon The Great. "She affects the style and title of our Holy Mother, the Church; but she is, in truth, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth."

Clarke: Rev 17:6 - -- And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admir...

And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration - How exactly the cruelties exercised by the Latin Church against all it has denominated heretics correspond with this description, the reader need not be informed.

Clarke: Rev 17:7 - -- And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel! I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carried her, which hath the...

And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel! I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carried her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns - The apostle was greatly astonished, as well he might be, at the woman’ s being drunk with the blood of the saints, when the beast which carried her abounded with sacred appellations, such as holy, most holy, most Christian, sacred, most sacred. The angel undertakes to explain to St. John the vision which had excited in him so great astonishment; and the explication is of such great importance, that, had it not been given, the mystery of the dragon and the beast could never have been satisfactorily explained in all its particulars. The angel begins with saying: -

Clarke: Rev 17:8 - -- The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition - The beast is the Latin kingdom; ( Η...

The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition - The beast is the Latin kingdom; ( Ἡ Λατινη βασιλεια ); consequently the beast was, that is, was in existence previously to the time of St. John; (for Latinus was the first king of the Latins, and Numitor the last); is not now, because the Latin nation has ceased long ago to be an independent power, and is now under the dominion of the Romans; but shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, that is, the Latin kingdom, the antichristian power, or that which ascendeth out of the abyss or bottomless pit, is yet in futurity. But it is added: -

And they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names there not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is - By the earth is here meant the Latin world; therefore the meaning is, that all who dwell in the Latin world shall adhere to the idolatrous and blasphemous religion of the Latin Church, which is supported by the Latin empire, except those who abide by the sacred Scriptures, receiving them as the only rule of faith and practice. These believe in the true Sacrifice, and keep themselves unspotted from the corruption that is in the world. But the inhabitants of the Latin world, under the dominion of the Romish religion, shall wonder when they behold the beast, or Latin empire; that is, as Lord Napier remarks, "shall have in great admiration, reverence, and estimation, this great monarchie."They shall wonder at it, by considering it the most sacred empire in the world, that in which God peculiarly delights; but those that so wonder have not their names written in the book of life, but are such as prefer councils to Divine revelation, and take their religion from missals, rituals, and legends, instead of the sacred oracles: hence they are corrupt and idolatrous, and no idolater hath inheritance in the kingdom of God. In the preceding part of the verse the beast is considered in three states, as that which was, and is not, and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit; here a fourth is introduced, and yet is. This is added to show that, though the Latins were subjugated by the Romans, nevertheless the Romans themselves were Latins; for Romulus the founder of their monarchy, was a Latin; consequently that denominated in St. John’ s days the Roman empire was, in reality, the Latin kingdom; for the very language of the empire was the Latin, and the Greek writers, who lived in the time of the Roman empire, expressly tell us that those formerly called Latins are now named Romans. The meaning of the whole verse is therefore as follows: The corrupt part of mankind shall have in great admiration the Latin empire yet in futurity, which has already been, but is now extinct, the Romans having conquered it; and yet is still in being; for, though the Latin nation has been subjugated, its conquerors are themselves Latins. But it may be objected against the interpretation here given, that these phrases are spoken of the beast upon which the apostle saw the woman, or Latin Church, sit; for the angel says, The beast that Thou Sawest was, and is not, etc.; what reference, therefore, can the Latin empire, which supports the Latin Church, have to the Latin kingdom which subsisted before St. John’ s time, or to the Roman empire which might properly be so denominated! This objection has very great weight at first sight, and cannot be answered satisfactorily till the angel’ s explanation of the heads and horns of the beast have been examined; therefore it is added: -

Clarke: Rev 17:9 - -- Here is the mind which hath wisdom - It was said before, Rev 13:18, Here is wisdom. Let him that hath A Mind, or understanding, ( νουν ), count ...

Here is the mind which hath wisdom - It was said before, Rev 13:18, Here is wisdom. Let him that hath A Mind, or understanding, ( νουν ), count the number of the beast. Wisdom, therefore, here means a correct view of what is intended by the number 666; consequently the parallel passage, Here is The Mind which hath Wisdom, is a declaration that the number of the beast must first be understood, before the angel’ s interpretation of the vision concerning the whore and the beast can admit of a satisfactory explanation

Clarke: Rev 17:9 - -- The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth - This verse has been almost universally considered to allude to the seven hills upo...

The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth - This verse has been almost universally considered to allude to the seven hills upon which Rome originally stood. But it has been objected that modern Rome is not thus situated, and that, consequently, pagan Rome is intended in the prophecy. This is certainly a very formidable objection against the generally received opinion among Protestants, that papal Rome is the city meant by the woman sitting upon seven mountains. It has been already shown that the woman here mentioned is an emblem of the Latin Church in her highest state of antichristian prosperity; and therefore the city of Rome, seated upon seven mountains, is not at all designed in the prophecy. In order to understand this scripture aright, the word mountains must be taken in a figurative and not a literal sense, as in Rev 6:14; Rev 16:20. See also Isa 2:2, Isa 2:14; Jer 51:25; Dan 2:35, etc.; in which it is unequivocally the emblem of great and mighty power. The mountains upon which the woman sitteth must be, therefore, seven great powers; and as the mountains are heads of the beast, they must be the seven Greatest eminences of the Latin world. As no other power was acknowledged at the head of the Latin empire but that of Germany, how can it be said that the beast has seven heads? This question can only be solved by the feudal constitution of the late Germanic league, the history of which is briefly as follows: At first kings alone granted fiefs. They granted them to laymen only, and to such only who were free; and the vassal had no power to alienate them. Every freeman, and particularly the feudal tenants, were subject to the obligation of military duty, and appointed to guard their sovereign’ s life, member, mind, and right honor. Soon after, or perhaps a little before, the extinction of the Carlovingian dynasty in France, by the accession of the Capetian line, and in Germany by the accession of the house of Saxony, fiefs, which had been entirely at the disposal of the sovereign, became hereditary. Even the offices of duke, count, margrave, etc., were transmitted in the course of hereditary descent; and not long after, the right of primogeniture was universally established. The crown vassals usurped the sovereign property of the land, with civil and military authority over the inhabitants. The possession thus usurped they granted out to their immediate tenants; and these granted them over to others in like manner. Thus the principal vassals gradually obtained every royal prerogative; they promulgated laws, exercised the power of life and death, coined money, fixed the standard of weights and measures, granted safeguards, entertained a military force, and imposed taxes, with every right supposed to be annexed to royalty. In their titles they styled themselves dukes, etc., Dei gratis , by the grace of God; a prerogative avowedly confined to sovereign power. It was even admitted that, if the king refused to do the lord justice, the lord might make war upon him. The tenants, in their turn, made themselves independent of their vassal lords, by which was introduced an ulterior state of vassalage. The king was called the sovereign lord, his immediate vassal was called the suzereign, and the tenants holding of him were called the arrere vassals. See Butler’ s Revolutions of the Germanic Empire, pp. 54-66. Thus the power of the emperors of Germany, which was so very considerable in the ninth century, was gradually diminished by the means of the feudal system; and during the anarchy of the long interregnum, occasioned by the interference of the popes in the election of the emperors, (from 1256 to 1273), the imperial power was reduced almost to nothing. Rudolph of Hapsburg, the founder of the house of Austria, was at length elected emperor, because his territories and influence were so inconsiderable as to excite no jealously in the German princes, who were willing to preserve the forms of constitution, the power and vigor of which they had destroyed. See Robertson’ s Introduction to his History of Charles V. Before the dissolution of the empire in 1806, Germany "presented a complex association of principalities more or less powerful, and more or less connected with a nominal sovereignty in the emperor, as its supreme feudal chief.""There were about three hundred princes of the empire, each sovereign in his own country, who might enter into alliances, and pursue by all political measures his own private interest, as other sovereigns do; for if even an imperial war were declared he might remain neuter, if the safety of the empire were not at stake. Here then was an empire of a construction, without exception, the most singular and intricate that ever appeared in the world; for the emperor was only the chief of the Germanic confederation."Germany was, therefore, speaking in the figurative language of Scripture, a country abounding in hills, or containing an immense number of distinct principalities. But the different German states (as has been before observed) did not each possess an equal share of power and influence; some were more eminent than others. Among them were also a few which might, with the greatest propriety, be denominated mountains, or states possessing a very high degree of political importance. But the seven mountains on which the woman sits must have their elevations above all the other eminences in the whole Latin world; consequently, they can be no other than the Seven Electorates of the German empire. These were, indeed, mountains of vast eminence; for in their sovereigns was vested the sole poorer of electing the head of the empire. But this was not all; for besides the power of electing an emperor, the electors had a right to capitulate with the new head of the empire, to dictate the conditions on which he was to reign, and to depose him if he broke those conditions. They actually deposed Adolphus of Nassau in 1298, and Wenceslaus in 1400. They were sovereign and independent princes in their respective dominions, had the privilegium de non appellando illimitatum , that of making war, coining, and exercising every act of sovereignty; they formed a separate college in the diet of the empire, and had among themselves a particular covenant or league called Kur verein; they had precedence of all the other princes of the empire, and even ranked with kings. The heads of the beast understood in this way, is one of the finest emblems of the German constitution which can possibly be conceived; for as the Roman empire of Germany had the precedence of all the other monarchies of which the Latin empire was composed, the seven mountains very fitly denote the seven Principal powers of what has been named the holy Roman empire. And also, as each electorate, by virtue of its union with the Germanic body, was more powerful than any other Roman Catholic state of Europe not so united; so was each electorate, in the most proper sense of the word, one of the highest elevations in the Latin world. The time when the seven electorates of the empire were first instituted is very uncertain. The most probable opinion appears to be that which places their origin some time in the thirteenth century. The uncertainty, however, in this respect, does not in the least weaken the evidence of the mountains being the seven electorates, but rather confirms it; for, as we have already observed, the representation of the woman sitting upon the beast is a figure of the Latin Church in the period of her greatest authority, spiritual and temporal; this we know did not take place before the commencement of the fourteenth century, a period subsequent to the institution of the seven electorates. Therefore the woman sits upon the seven mountains, or the German empire in its elective aristocratical state; she is said to sit upon them, to denote that she has the whole German empire under her direction and authority, and also that it is her chief support and strength. Supported by Germany, she is under no apprehension of being successfully opposed by any other power: she sits upon the seven mountains, therefore she is higher than the seven highest eminences of the Latin world; she must therefore have the secular Latin empire under her complete subjection. But this state of eminence did not continue above two or three centuries; the visible declension of the papal power in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, occasioned partly by the removal of the papal see from Rome to Avignon, and more particularly by the great schism from 1377 to 1417, though considered one of the remote causes of the Reformation, was at first the means of merely transferring the supreme power from the pope to a general council, while the dominion of the Latin Church remained much the same. At the council of Constance, March 30, 1415, it was decreed "that the synod being lawfully assembled in the name of the Holy Ghost, which constituted the general council, and represented the whole Catholic Church militant, had its power immediately from Jesus Christ; and that every person, of whatsoever state or dignity, Even the Pope Himself is obliged to obey it in what concerns the faith, the extirpation of schism, and the general reformation of the Church in its head and members."The council of Basil of 1432 decreed "that every one of whatever dignity or condition, Not Excepting the Pope Himself, who shall refuse to obey the ordinances and decrees of this general council, or any other, shall be put under penance, and punished. It is also declared that the pope has no power to dissolve the general council without the consent and decree of the assembly."See the third tome of Du Pin’ s Ecclesiastical History. But what gave the death blow to the temporal sovereignty of the Latin Church was the light of the glorious reformation which first broke out in Germany in 1517, and in a very few years gained its way, not only over several of the great principalities in Germany, but was also made the established religion of other popish countries. Consequently, in the sixteenth century, the woman no longer sat upon the seven mountains, the electorates not only having refused to be ruled by her, but some of them having also despised and abandoned her doctrines. The changes, therefore, which were made in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries, in the number of the electorates, will not affect in the least the interpretation of the seven mountains already given. The seven electors were the archbishops of Mentz, Cologne, and Triers, the count palatine of the Rhine, the duke of Saxony, the marquis of Brandenburgh, and the king of Bohemia. But the heads of the beast have a double signification; for the angel says: -

Clarke: Rev 17:10 - -- And there are seven kings - Και βασιλεις ἑπτα εισιν· They are also seven kings. Before, it was said, they are seven mountai...

And there are seven kings - Και βασιλεις ἑπτα εισιν· They are also seven kings. Before, it was said, they are seven mountains; here, they are also seven kings, which is a demonstration that kingdoms are not here meant by mountains: and this is a farther argument that the seven electorates are represented by seven mountains, for though the sovereigns of these states ranked with kings, they were not kings: that is to say, they were not absolute and sole lords of the territories they possessed, independently of the emperor, for their states formed a part of the Germanic body. But the seven heads of the beast are also seven kings, that is to say, the Latin empire has had seven supreme forms of government; for king is used in the prophetical writings for any supreme governor of a state or people, as is evident from Deu 33:5, where Moses is called a king. Of these seven kings, or supreme forms of Latin government, the angel informs St. John: -

Five are fallen, and one is - It is well known that the first form of Latin government was that of kings, which continued after the death of Latinus 428 years, till the building of Rome, b.c. 753. After Numitor’ s decease the Albans or Latins instituted the form of a republic, and were governed by dictators. We have only the names of two, viz., Cluilius and Metius Fufetius or Suffetius; but as the dictatorship continued at least eighty-eight years, there might have been others, though their names and actions are unknown. In the year before Christ 665 Alba, the metropolis of the Latin nation, was destroyed by Tullus Hostilius, the third king of the Romans, and the inhabitants carried to Rome. This put an end to the monarchical republic of the Latins; and the Latins elected two annual magistrates, whom Licinius calls dictators, but who are called praetors by other writers. This form of government continued till the time of P. Decius Mus, the Roman consul; for Festus, in his fourteenth book, informs us "that the Albans enjoyed prosperity till the time of King Tullus; but that, Alba being then destroyed, the consuls, till the time of P. Decius Mus, held a consultation with the Latins at the head of Ferentina, and the empire was governed by the council of both nations."The Latin nation was entirely subjugated by the Romans b.c. 336, which put an end to the government by praetors, after it had continued upwards of three hundred years. The Latins from this time ceased to be a nation, as it respects the name; therefore the three forms of government already mentioned were those which the Latins had during that period which the angel speaks of, when he says, The beast which thou sawest Was. But as five heads, or forms of government, had fallen before St. John’ s time, it is evident that the two other forms of government which had fallen must be among those of the Romans; first, because though the Latin nation so called, was deprived of all authority by the Romans, yet the Latin power continued to exist, for the very conquerors of the Latin nation were Latins; and, consequently the Latins, though a conquered people, continued to have a Latin government. Secondly, the angel expressly says, when speaking to St. John, that one is, that is, the sixth head, or Latin form of government, was then in existence; which could be no other than the imperial power, this being the only independent form of Latin government in the apostolic age. It therefore necessarily follows, that the Roman forms of government by which Latium was ruled must be the remaining heads of the beast. Before the subjugation of the Latins by the Romans four of the Roman or draconic forms of government had fallen, the regal power, the dictatorship, the decemvirate, and the consular power of the military tribunes, the last of which was abolished about 366 years before the commencement of the Christian era; none of these, therefore, ruled over the Whole Latin nation. But as the Latins were finally subdued about 336 b.c., the consular government of the Romans, which was then the supreme power in the state, must be the fourth head of the beast. This form of government continued, with very little interruption, till the rising up of the triumvirate, the fifth head of the beast, b.c. 43. The dictatorship of Sylla and Julius Caesar could not be considered a new head of the beast, as the Latins had already been ruled by it in the persons of Cluilius and Fufetius. The sixth head of the beast, or that which existed in the time of St. John, was consequently, as we have already proved, the imperial power of the heathen Caesars, or the seventh draconic form of government

Clarke: Rev 17:10 - -- And the other is not yet come - Bishop Newton considers the Roman dutchy, under the eastern emperor’ s lieutenant, the exarch of Ravenna, the s...

And the other is not yet come - Bishop Newton considers the Roman dutchy, under the eastern emperor’ s lieutenant, the exarch of Ravenna, the seventh head of the beast. But this cannot be the form of government signified by the seventh head, for a head of the beast as we have already shown, is a supreme, independent form of Latin government; consequently the Roman dutchy cannot be the seventh head, as it was dependent upon the exarchate of Ravenna; and the exarchate cannot be the head, as it was itself in subjection to the Greek empire. The Rev. G. Faber has ascertained the truth exactly in denominating the Carlovingian patriciate the seventh head of the beast. That this was a supreme, independent form of government, is evident from history. Gibbon, in speaking of the patriciate, observes that "the decrees of the senate and people successively invested Charles Martel and his posterity with the honors of patrician of Rome. The leaders of a powerful nation would have disdained a servile title and subordinate office; but the reign of the Greek emperors was suspended, and in the vacancy of the empire they derived a more glorious commission from the pope and the republic. The Roman ambassadors presented these patricians with the keys of the shrine of St. Peter as a pledge and symbol of sovereignty, and with a holy banner, which it was their right and duty to unfurl in defense of the Church and city. In the time of Charles Martel and of Pepin, the interposition of the Lombard kingdom covered the freedom, while it threatened the safety of Rome; and the patriciate represented only the title, the service, the alliance, of these distant protectors. The power and policy of Charlemagne annihilated an enemy, and imposed a master. In his first visit to the capital he was received with all the honors which had formerly been paid to the exarch, the representative of the emperor; and these honors obtained some new decorations from the joy and gratitude of Pope Adrian I. In the portico Adrian expected him at the head of his clergy; they embraced as friends and equals; but in their march to the altar, the king, or patrician, assumed the right hand of the pope. Nor was the Frank content with these vain and empty demonstrations of respect. In the twenty-six years that elapsed between the conquest of Lombardy and his imperial coronation, Rome, which had been delivered by the sword, was subject, as his own, to the scepter of Charlemagne. The people swore allegiance to his person and family, in his name money was coined and justice was administered, and the election of the popes was examined and confirmed by his authority. Except an original and self-inherent claim of sovereignty, there was not any prerogative remaining which the title of emperor could add to the patrician of Rome."The seven heads of the beast are therefore the following: The regal power, the dictatorship, the power of the praetors, the consulate, the triumvirate, the imperial power, and the patriciate

Clarke: Rev 17:10 - -- And when he cometh, he must continue a short space - The seventh form of government was only to remain a short time, which was actually the case; fo...

And when he cometh, he must continue a short space - The seventh form of government was only to remain a short time, which was actually the case; for from its first rise to independent power to its utter extinction, there passed only about forty-five years, a short time in comparison to the duration of several of the preceding forms of government; for the primitive regal government continued at least four hundred and twenty-eight years, the dictatorship was in power about eighty-eight years, the power of the praetors was in being for upwards of three hundred years, the consulate lasted about two hundred and eighty years, and the imperial power continued upwards of five hundred years.

Clarke: Rev 17:11 - -- And the beast, that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition - That is to say, the Latin kingdom that h...

And the beast, that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition - That is to say, the Latin kingdom that has already been, but is now no longer nominally in existence, shall immediately follow the dissolution of the seventh form of Latin government; and this dominion is called ογδοος, an eighth, because it succeeds to the seventh. Yet it is not an eighth head of the beast, because the beast has only seven heads; for to constitute a new head of the beast the form of government must not only differ in nature, but also in name. This head of the beast is, therefore, εκ των ἑπτα, One of the seven. Consequently the form of government represented by this head is the restoration of one of the preceding seven. The restored head can be therefore no other than the regal state of the Latins, or in other words the Latin kingdom, ( Ἡ Λατινη βασιλεια ), which followed the patriciate or seventh head of Latin government. But the beast in his eighth state, or under his first head restored, goeth into perdition. No other form of Latin government shall succeed; but the beast in his last or antichristian condition shall be taken together with the false prophet that wrought miracles in his sight, "and cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.

It is observable that the eighth Latin power is called by the angel the beast, and also one of his heads. This apparent discordance arises from the double signification of the heads, for if we take the beast upon which the woman sits to be merely a representation of that secular power which supports the Latin Church, then the seven heads will represent the seven electorates of the Germanic empire; but if by the beast we understand the general Latin empire from first to last, then what is, according to the angel’ s first interpretation of the heads, called the beast, is in this case only one of his heads. See on Rev 17:18 (note).

Clarke: Rev 17:12 - -- And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast - The m...

And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast - The meaning of horns has already been defined when speaking of those of the dragon. The meaning is therefore as follows: Though the Latin empire be now in existence, the ten horns refer to ten Latin kingdoms yet in futurity, and consequently they have received no dominion As Yet; for that part of the Latin domination now in power is the sixth head, or imperial government of the heathen Caesars. But the ten states of the Latins receive dominion as monarchies μιαν ὡÏαν, one time, (as it may be properly translated), i.e., at the same time with the beast, or that which ascendeth out of the bottomless pit; consequently, the Latin empire here intended is the one which was in futurity in the apostolic age.

Clarke: Rev 17:13 - -- These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast - Therefore the ten horns must constitute the principal strength of the ...

These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast - Therefore the ten horns must constitute the principal strength of the Latin empire; that is to say, this empire is to be composed of the dominions of ten monarchs independent of each other in every other sense except in their implicit obedience to the Latin Church. The beast in this and the preceding verse is distinguished from its horns, as the Whole Latin empire is distinguished in history from its constituent powers. See on Rev 17:16 (note).

Clarke: Rev 17:14 - -- These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them; for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are call...

These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them; for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and, faithful - The ten powers of the beast must compose the secular kingdom of antichrist, for they make war with the Lamb, who is Christ Jesus. This is perfectly true of all popish states, for they have constantly opposed, as long as they have had any secular power, the progress of pure Christianity. They make war with the Lamb by persecuting his followers; but the Lamb shall overcome them, for he is the Lord of lords, and King of kings - all lords have their authority from him, and no king can reign without him; therefore the ten Latin kings are God’ s ministers to execute his vengeance upon the idolatrous nations. But when these antichristian monarchies have executed the Divine purpose, those that are with the Lamb - the called, the chosen, and the faithful, those who have kept The Truth in the love of it, shall prevail against all their adversaries, because their battles are fought by the Lamb, who is their God and Deliverer. See Rev 19:19, Rev 19:20.

Clarke: Rev 17:15 - -- And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues - " So many words...

And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues - " So many words,"Bishop Newton observes, "in the plural number, fitly denote the great extensiveness of her power and jurisdiction. She herself glories in the title of the Catholic Church, and exults in the number of her votaries as a certain proof of the true religion. Cardinal Bellarmin’ s first note of the true Church is, the very name of the Catholic Church; and his fourth note is, amplitude, or multitude, and variety of believers; for the truly Catholic Church, says he, ought not only to comprehend all ages, but likewise all places, all nations, all kinds of men."

Defender: Rev 17:1 - -- The "great whore" is obviously a symbolic woman, since she is riding on a symbolic "beast" (Rev 17:3), who is said to be sitting on "many waters," whi...

The "great whore" is obviously a symbolic woman, since she is riding on a symbolic "beast" (Rev 17:3), who is said to be sitting on "many waters," which are explained as "peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues" (Rev 17:15). Thus, both the waters and the beast represent the nations of the world, upon which the great whore rides into prominence and influence.

The word "whore" is the Greek porne (also rendered "harlot" in Rev 17:5) and is closely related to porneia ("fornication") and pornos ("fornicator" or "whoremonger"). It refers to anyone involved in sex outside of marriage. Often it is used in a symbolic sense to refer to anyone who worships and serves other "gods" rather than the true God and Creator. The latter is the primary theme here, although the two - that is physical fornication and spiritual fornication - commonly go together."

Defender: Rev 17:3 - -- John had been carried "in the spirit" forward in time and upward in space to the heavenly throne as it will be set after the future rapture of believe...

John had been carried "in the spirit" forward in time and upward in space to the heavenly throne as it will be set after the future rapture of believers (Rev 1:10; Rev 4:2). Now once again, he is translated "in the spirit" far backward in time to the immediate post-Flood world, when the whole world was still a barren "wilderness," devastated by the flood waters. He is also translated in space to a region where the first post-Flood city, Babel, was being erected in the wilderness, under the direction of Nimrod (Gen 10:8-10). The wilderness itself had emerged literally out of many waters, but the wilderness soon became nations, of whom Babel was the mother, for she had founded all the earliest nations (Accad, Nineveh, Sumer, etc.), which eventually became the mighty Assyro-Babylonian empire.

Defender: Rev 17:3 - -- The "scarlet colored beast," on which the great whore is riding, seems, as John watches, to become merged with the beast of Rev 13:1 who will become t...

The "scarlet colored beast," on which the great whore is riding, seems, as John watches, to become merged with the beast of Rev 13:1 who will become the great world ruler of the last days, culminating the succession of the seven great kingdoms of history and embodying the ten kingdoms of the end times (see Rev 12:3, note; Rev 13:1-3, note)."

Defender: Rev 17:5 - -- Babylon is referred to several times in Revelation as an actual city (Rev 14:8; Rev 16:19; Rev 18:10), and there is no reason to call it "Rome" or "Ca...

Babylon is referred to several times in Revelation as an actual city (Rev 14:8; Rev 16:19; Rev 18:10), and there is no reason to call it "Rome" or "Catholicism" or something else, as many have done. Babylon was still a city at the time John wrote, and would remain so for several more centuries, so why would he call it Babylon if it wasn't Babylon? If he meant Rome, he would certainly have called it Rome. Babylon eventually fell mostly into ruins, though never entirely abandoned, and it will eventually be rebuilt to rival its former glory (see notes on Zec 5:5-11). The city is now in Iraq, and the Iraqi government has, indeed, been working on its restoration for many years, with ambitions to make it a capital of Islam and a center of world influence. Eventually the Beast will probably take over the whole region and make Babylon his own capital. It is ideally situated to be the global center of government, religion, commerce and communication, since it is very near to the actual geographical center of the world's land areas.

Defender: Rev 17:5 - -- The Babel of Nimrod, not the Babylon of Nebuchadnezzar, is actually the "mother of harlots and abominations." The word "abominations" is commonly used...

The Babel of Nimrod, not the Babylon of Nebuchadnezzar, is actually the "mother of harlots and abominations." The word "abominations" is commonly used for "idols." It was Nimrod, later deified as "Merodach" or "Marduk" (whose worship was revived by Nebuchadnezzar), who really introduced false religion into the post-Flood world, probably at the instigation of Satan himself. When the people were scattered from Babel by God (Gen 11:9), they all had different tongues but the same basic religion, as taught to them by Nimrod. This is why all the world's non-monotheistic religions - whether ancient (Egyptian, Greek, Roman) or modern (Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism) - are all pantheistic, polytheistic, idolatrous, spiritistic, humanistic and evolutionistic. None of them permit belief in a transcendent Creator God. Even modern scientific evolutionism is essentially a somewhat sophisticated variation of the ancient Babel religion. The same is even more true of modern New Age evolutionism with its plethora of movements. Thus, the first Babel was literally "the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth." However, it is only in this verse that she is called, "Mystery, Babylon." Even though she is clearly the great city of Babylon, evidently revived and restored as the great world capital, "Mystery Babylon" is more than that. She is nothing less than the great syncretistic religious system of the whole world, comprising the evolutionistic faith originated by Satan (see note on Rev 12:9) which he taught Nimrod to enable the latter to justify his rebellion. It was then scattered around the whole world at the time of the dispersion and continues in one form or another as the religion of the God-rejecting world, right up to the time of the end."

Defender: Rev 17:6 - -- See Jer 51:7 and Isa 47:5. Like many Old Testament prophecies, these had both near and far fulfillments. They applied directly to the Babylon of their...

See Jer 51:7 and Isa 47:5. Like many Old Testament prophecies, these had both near and far fulfillments. They applied directly to the Babylon of their own day, with its conquest by Persia and Greece then ultimately to end-time Babylon, which will finally see the ancient prophecies completely fulfilled (Jer 51:63, Jer 51:64).

Defender: Rev 17:6 - -- "Admiration" should be understood in the sense of "amazement," rather than "approval.""

"Admiration" should be understood in the sense of "amazement," rather than "approval.""

Defender: Rev 17:8 - -- This identification is enigmatic, but it seems to refer both to the beast as a man (Rev 11:7) and the beast as a kingdom (Rev 13:3, Rev 13:12). As a k...

This identification is enigmatic, but it seems to refer both to the beast as a man (Rev 11:7) and the beast as a kingdom (Rev 13:3, Rev 13:12). As a kingdom, the restoration of Babylon fits the description; as a man, an apparent resurrection of the man known as the son of perdition could be engineered by Satan through deep hypnosis, suspended animation and induced pseudo-memory. Only Christ could actually raise the dead, since only He is the Creator of life and only He has the keys of death (Rev 1:18)."

Defender: Rev 17:9 - -- Many commentators have alleged the "seven heads" to be the seven-hilled city of Rome, hence deducing the great harlot to be the Roman Catholic Church....

Many commentators have alleged the "seven heads" to be the seven-hilled city of Rome, hence deducing the great harlot to be the Roman Catholic Church. However, such identification is impossible. Many cities have seven hills, and Rome actually has more. Besides, the Catholic Church does not sit on the hills of Rome, for its headquarters are in Vatican City. Furthermore, a "hill" (Greek bounos) is not a "mountain" (Greek oros). The seven "mountains" are quite clearly expounded in the next verse as seven kings and/or kingdoms."

Defender: Rev 17:10 - -- Since one of the kings "is," the five fallen kings can refer only to earlier history, before John's time. Rome, as the world's greatest kingdom during...

Since one of the kings "is," the five fallen kings can refer only to earlier history, before John's time. Rome, as the world's greatest kingdom during the apostolic period, was in existence during John's life as well as throughout the Gentile church age. Though Rome did not continue as a great empire, she continued to exist in Italy, with a paramount influence on the cultural, legal and religious realms of all the western nations. Thus, the five earlier "heads" on the beast must be Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia, Persia and Greece. Sumeria, or Babel, the first head on the dragon (see note on Rev 13:2), has apparently been taken from its position, possibly because the spirit and influence of that first Babel live on in the great whore herself, now riding on the beast and all its seven heads. The one "not yet come" must be the ten-kingdom federation represented by the ten horns on the beast (see notes on Rev 13:1). This kingdom will continue only "a short space," possibly the first 3 1/2 year period of the tribulation, before they cede all their kingdoms to the beast (Rev 17:12, Rev 17:13) for the last 3 1/2 years."

Defender: Rev 17:11 - -- The "eighth" kingdom can only be that of the beast himself. It encompasses of all the evil characteristics of the seven before it, but especially of t...

The "eighth" kingdom can only be that of the beast himself. It encompasses of all the evil characteristics of the seven before it, but especially of the founder of all seven, the first Babel, whose very physical existence itself the beast will finish restoring and then designate as capital of his world empire."

Defender: Rev 17:14 - -- This is a key verse of Scripture. All the armies of the world, following all the hosts of Satan, are on their way to Armageddon to "make war with the ...

This is a key verse of Scripture. All the armies of the world, following all the hosts of Satan, are on their way to Armageddon to "make war with the Lamb," but He shall defeat them merely "with the spirit of his mouth" (2Th 2:8).

Defender: Rev 17:14 - -- How incredibly presumptuous it is for Satan (or any man or creature of the earth) to think he can vanquish his Creator (1Ti 6:15; Rev 19:15)."

How incredibly presumptuous it is for Satan (or any man or creature of the earth) to think he can vanquish his Creator (1Ti 6:15; Rev 19:15)."

TSK: Rev 17:1 - -- one : Rev 15:1, Rev 15:6, 17:1-17, Rev 21:9 talked : Rev 4:1, Rev 21:15; Luk 9:30, Luk 24:32 I will : Rev 16:19, Rev 18:16-19 the great : Rev 17:4, Re...

TSK: Rev 17:2 - -- Rev 17:13, Rev 17:17, Rev 14:8, Rev 18:3, Rev 18:9, Rev 18:23; Jer 51:7

TSK: Rev 17:3 - -- he carried : Rev 1:10, Rev 4:2, Rev 21:10; 1Ki 18:12; 2Ki 2:16; Eze 3:12, Eze 8:3, Eze 11:24; Act 8:39 into : Rev 12:6, Rev 12:14; Son 8:5 a woman : R...

TSK: Rev 17:4 - -- arrayed : Rev 18:7, Rev 18:12, Rev 18:16 decked : Gr. gilded, Dan 11:38 golden : Rev 14:8, Rev 18:6, Rev 19:2; Jer 51:7; 2Th 2:3-10 abominations : Deu...

TSK: Rev 17:5 - -- upon : Rev 7:3; Isa 3:9; Phi 3:19 mystery : 2Th 2:7; 2Ti 3:1-5 Babylon : Rev 11:8, Rev 14:8, Rev 16:19, Rev 18:2, Rev 18:10,Rev 18:21; Jer 51:47, Jer ...

upon : Rev 7:3; Isa 3:9; Phi 3:19

mystery : 2Th 2:7; 2Ti 3:1-5

Babylon : Rev 11:8, Rev 14:8, Rev 16:19, Rev 18:2, Rev 18:10,Rev 18:21; Jer 51:47, Jer 51:48

the Mother : Rev 18:9, Rev 19:2

harlots : or, fornications

TSK: Rev 17:6 - -- drunken : Rev 13:7, Rev 13:15, Rev 16:6, Rev 18:20-24; Dan 7:21, Dan 7:25 the martyrs : Rev 2:13, Rev 6:9, Rev 6:10, Rev 12:11; Act 22:20 I wondered :...

TSK: Rev 17:7 - -- I will : Rev 17:1-6, Rev 17:8

I will : Rev 17:1-6, Rev 17:8

TSK: Rev 17:8 - -- beast that thou : The Roman empire was the beast, or idolatrous persecuting power, when under the Pagan emperors; it ceased to be so when it became Ch...

beast that thou : The Roman empire was the beast, or idolatrous persecuting power, when under the Pagan emperors; it ceased to be so when it became Christian; and became so again under the Roman pontiffs, and shall ""go into perdition.""Rev 9:2, Rev 11:7, Rev 13:1-11

go : Rev 17:11, Rev 14:8-20, 16:1-18:24, Rev 19:15-21, Rev 20:10; Dan 7:11, Dan 7:26, Dan 11:45; 2Th 2:3-8

shall wonder : Rev 13:3, Rev 13:4

whose : Rev 13:8, Rev 20:12, Rev 20:15

from : Mat 25:34; Joh 17:24; Act 15:18; Eph 1:4; Tit 1:2; 1Pe 1:20

the beast that was : Rev 13:1-4, Rev 13:11, Rev 13:12

TSK: Rev 17:9 - -- here : Rev 13:18; Dan 12:4, Dan 12:8-10; Hos 14:9; Mat 13:11, Mat 24:15 The seven : Rev 17:3, Rev 17:7, Rev 17:18, Rev 13:1

TSK: Rev 17:11 - -- that was : Rev 17:8

that was : Rev 17:8

TSK: Rev 17:12 - -- the ten : Rev 12:3, Rev 13:1; Dan 2:40-43, Dan 7:7, Dan 7:8, Dan 7:20,Dan 7:24; Zec 1:18-21

TSK: Rev 17:13 - -- one : Phi 1:27, Phi 2:2 shall : Rev 17:17; Isa 10:5-7; Eze 38:10; Act 4:28

TSK: Rev 17:14 - -- shall make : Rev 11:7, Rev 8:6, Rev 8:7, Rev 16:14, Rev 19:15-21; Dan 7:21, Dan 7:25, Dan 11:9-12, Dan 11:24, Dan 11:25; Zec 2:8; Mat 25:40; Act 9:4, ...

TSK: Rev 17:15 - -- The waters : Rev 17:1; Psa 18:4, Psa 65:7, Psa 93:3-4; Isa 8:7, Isa 8:8; Jer 51:13, Jer 51:42, Jer 51:55 are : Rev 10:11, Rev 11:9, Rev 13:7, Rev 13:8

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Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per Verse)

Barnes: Rev 17:1 - -- And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials - See the notes on Rev 15:1, Rev 15:7. Reference is again made to these angels...

And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials - See the notes on Rev 15:1, Rev 15:7. Reference is again made to these angels in the same manner in Rev 21:9, where one of them says that he would show to John "the bride, the Lamb’ s wife."No particular one is specified. The general idea seems to be, that to those seven angels was entrusted the execution of the last things, or the winding up of affairs introductory to the reign of God, and that the communications respecting those last events were properly made through them. It is clearly quite immaterial by which of these it is done. The expression "which had the seven vials,"would seem to imply that though they had emptied the vials in the manner stated in the previous chapter, they still retained them in their hands.

And talked with me - Spake to me. The word "talk"would imply a more protracted conversation than occurred here.

Come hither - Greek, δεῦÏο deuro - "Here, hither."This is a word merely calling the attention, as we should say now, "Here."It does not imply that John was to leave the place where he was.

I will shew unto thee - Partly by symbols, and partly by express statements; for this is the way in which, in fact, he showed him.

The judgment - The condemnation and calamity that will come upon her.

Of the great whore - It is not uncommon in the Scriptures to represent a city under the image of a woman - a pure and holy city under the image of a virgin or chaste female; a corrupt, idolatrous, and wicked city under the image of an abandoned or lewd woman. See the notes on Isa 1:21; "How is the faithful city become an harlot!"Compare the notes on Isa 1:8. In Rev 17:18, it is expressly said that "this woman is that great city which reigneth over the kings of the earth"- that is, as I suppose, papal Rome; and the design here is to represent it as resembling an abandoned female - fit representative of an apostate, corrupt, unfaithful church. Compare the notes on Rev 9:21.

That sitteth upon many waters - An image drawn either from Babylon, situated on the Euphrates, and encompassed by the many artificial rivers which had been made to irrigate the country, or Rome, situated on the Tiber. In Rev 17:15 these waters are said to represent the peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues over which the government symbolized by the woman ruled. See the notes on that verse. Waters are often used to symbolize nations.

Barnes: Rev 17:2 - -- With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication - Spiritual adultery. The meaning is, that papal Rome, unfaithful to God, and idola...

With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication - Spiritual adultery. The meaning is, that papal Rome, unfaithful to God, and idolatrous and corrupt, had seduced the rulers of the earth, and led them into the same kind of unfaithfulness, idolatry, and corruption. Compare Jer 3:8-9; Jer 5:7; Jer 13:27; Jer 23:14; Eze 16:32; Eze 23:37; Heb 2:2; Heb 4:2. How true this is in history need not be stated. All the princes and kings of Europe in the dark ages, and for many centuries were, and not a few of them are now, entirely under the influence of papal Rome.

And the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication - The alluring cup which, as an harlot, she had extended to them. See this image explained in the notes on Rev 14:8. There it is said that Babylon - referring to the same thing - had "made them drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication"; that is, of the cup that led to wrath or punishment. Here it is said that the harlot had made them "drunk with the wine of her fornication"; that is, they had been, as it were, intoxicated by the alluring cup held out to them. What could better describe the influence of Rome on the people of the world, in making them, under these delusions, incapable of sober judgment, and in completely fascinating and controlling all their powers?

Barnes: Rev 17:3 - -- So he carried me away in the spirit - In vision. He seemed to himself to be thus carried away; or the scene which he is about to describe was m...

So he carried me away in the spirit - In vision. He seemed to himself to be thus carried away; or the scene which he is about to describe was made to pass before him as if he were present.

Into the wilderness - Into a desert. Compare the notes on Rev 12:6. Why this scene is laid in a wilderness or desert is not mentioned. Prof. Stuart supposes that it is because it is "appropriate to symbolize the future condition of the beast."So DeWette and Rosenmuller. The imagery is changed somewhat from the first appearance of the harlot in Rev 17:1. There she is represented as "sitting upon many waters."Now she is represented as "riding on a beast,"and of course the imagery is adapted to that. Possibly there may have been no intentional significancy in this; but on the supposition, as the interpretation has led us to believe all along, that this refers to papal Rome, may not the propriety of this be seen in the condition of Rome and the adjacent country, at the rise of the papal power? That had its rise (see the notes on Dan 7:25 ff) after the decline of the Roman civil power, and properly in the time of Clovis, Pepin, or Charlemagne. Perhaps its first visible appearance, as a power that was to influence the destiny of the world, was in the time of Gregory the Great, 590-605 a.d. On the supposition that the passage before us refers to the period when the papal power became thus marked and defined, the state of Rome at this time, as described by Mr. Gibbon, would show with what propriety the term "wilderness"or "desert"might be then applied to it.

The following extract from this author, in describing the state of Rome at the accession of Gregory the Great, has almost the appearance of being a designed commentary on this passage, or is, at anyrate, such as a partial interpreter of this book would desire and expect to find. Speaking of that period, he says (Decline and Fall, 3:207-211): "Rome had reached, about the close of the sixth century, the lowest period of her depression. By the removal of the seat of empire, and the successive loss of the provinces, the sources of public and private opulence were exhausted; the lofty tree under whose shade the nations of the earth had reposed was deprived of its leaves and branches, and the sapless trunk was left to wither on the ground. The ministers of command and the messengers of victory no longer met on the Appian or Flaminian Way; and the hostile approach of the Lombards was often felt and continually feared. The inhabitants of a potent and peaceful capital, who visit without an anxious thought the garden of the adjacent country, will faintly picture in their fancy the distress of the Romans; they shut or opened their gates with a trembling hand, beheld from the walls the flames of their houses, and heard the lamentations of their brethren who were coupled together like dogs, and dragged away into distant slavery beyond the sea and the mountains.

Such incessant alarms must annihilate the pleasures, and interrupt the labors of a rural life; and the Campagna of Rome was speedily reduced to the stale of a dreary wilderness, in which the land is barren, the waters are impure, and the air is infectious. Curiosity and ambition no longer attracted the nations to the capital of the world; but if chance or necessity directed the steps of a wandering stranger, he contemplated with horror the vacancy and solitude of the city; and might be tempted to ask, Where is the Senate, and where are the people? In a season of excessive rains, the Tiber swelled above its banks, and rushed with irresistible violence into the valleys of the seven hills. A pestilential disease arose from the stagnation of the deluge, and so rapid was the contagion that fourscore persons expired in an hour in the midst of a solemn procession which implored the mercy of Heaven. A society in which marriage is encouraged, and industry prevails, soon repairs the accidental losses of pestilence and war; but as the far greater part of the Romans was condemned to hopeless indigence and celibacy, the depopulation was constant and visible, and the gloomy enthusiasts might expect the approaching failure of the human race. Yet the number of citizens still exceeded the measure of subsistence; their precarious food was supplied from the harvests of Sicily or Egypt; and the frequent repetition of famine betrays the inattention of the emperor to a distant province. The edifices of Rome were exposed to the same ruin and decay; the mouldering fabrics were easily overthrown by inundations, tempests, and earthquakes; and the monks who had occupied the most advantageous stations exulted in their base triumph over the ruins of antiquity.

"Like Thebes, or Babylon, or Carthage, the name of Rome might have been erased from the earth, if the city had not been animated by a vital principle which again restored her to honor and dominion. The power as well as the virtue of the apostles resided with living energy in the breast of their successors; and the chair of Peter, under the reign of Maurice, was occupied by the first and greatest of the name of Gregory. The sword of the enemy was suspended over Rome; it was averted by the mild eloquence and seasonable gifts of the pontiff, who commanded the respect of heretics and barbarians."Compare Rev 13:3, Rev 13:12-15. On the supposition, now, that the inspired author of the Apocalypse had Rome, in that state when the civil power declined and the papacy arose, in his eye, what more expressive imagery could he have used to denote it than he has employed? On the supposition - if such a supposition could be made - that Mr. Gibbon meant to furnish a commentary on this passage, what more appropriate language could he have used? Does not this language look as if the author of the Apocalypse and the author of the Decline and Fall meant to play into each other’ s hands?

And, in further confirmation of this, I may refer to the testimony of two Roman Catholic writers, giving the same view of Rome and showing that, in their apprehension also, it was only by the reviving influence of the papacy that Rome was saved from becoming a total waste. They are both of the middle ages. The first is Augustine Steuchus, who thus writes: "The empire having been overthrown, unless God had raised up the "pontificate,"Rome, resuscitated and restored by none, would have become uninhabitable, and been a most foul habitation thenceforward of cattle. But in the pontificate it revived as with a second birth; its empire in magnitude not indeed equal to the old empire, but its form not very dissimilar: because all nations, from East and from West, venerate the pope, not otherwise than they before obeyed the emperor."The other is Flavio Blondas: "The princes of the world now adore and worship as perpetual dictator the successor not of Caesar but of the fisherman Peter; that is, the supreme pontiff, the substitute of the aforesaid emperor."See the original in Elliott, 3:113.

And I saw a woman - Evidently the same which is referred to in Rev 17:1.

Sit upon a scarlet-coloured beast - That is, either the beast was itself naturally of this color, or it was covered with trappings of this color. The word "scarlet"properly denotes a bright red color - brighter than crimson, which is a red color tinged with blue. See the notes on Isa 1:18. The word used here - κοÌκκινον kokkinon - occurs in the New Testament only in the following places: Mat 27:28; Heb 9:19; Rev 17:3-4; Rev 18:12, Rev 18:16 - in all which places it is rendered "scarlet."See the Mat 27:28 note and Heb 9:19 note. The color was obtained from a small insect which was found adhering to the shoots of a species of oak in Spain and Western Asia. This was the usual color in the robes of princes, military cloaks, etc. It is applicable in the description of papal Rome, because this is a favorite color there. Thus it is used in Rev 12:3, where the same power is represented under the image of a "red dragon."

See the notes on that passage. It is remarkable that nothing would better represent the favorite color at Rome than this, or the actual appearance of the pope, the cardinals, and the priests in their robes, on some great festival occasion. Those who are familiar with the descriptions given of papal Rome by travelers, and those who have passed much time in Rome, will see at once the propriety of this description, on the supposition that it was intended to refer to the papacy. I caused this inquiry to be made of an intelligent gentleman who had passed much time in Rome - without his knowing my design what would strike a stranger on visiting Rome, or what would be likely particularly to arrest his attention as remarkable there; and he unhesitatingly replied, "The scarlet color."This is the color of the dress of the cardinals - their hats, and cloaks, and stockings being always of this color.

It is the color of the carriages of the cardinals, the entire body of the carriage being scarlet, and the trappings of the horses the same. On occasion of public festivals and processions, scarlet is suspended from the windows of the houses along which processions pass. The inner color of the cloak of the pope is scarlet; his carriage is scarlet; the carpet on which he treads is scarlet. A large part of the dress of the body-guard of the pope is scarlet; and no one can take up a picture of Rome without seeing that this color is predominant. I looked through a volume of engravings representing the principal officers and public persons of Rome. There were few in which the scarlet color was not found as constituting some part of their apparel; in not a few the scarlet color prevailed almost entirely. And in illustration of the same thought, I introduce here an extract from a foreign newspaper, copied into an American newspaper of Feb. 22, 1851, as an illustration of the fact that the scarlet color is characteristic of Rome, and of the readiness with which it is referred to in that respect: "Curious Costumes - The three new cardinals, the archbishops of Thoulouse, Rheims, and Besancon, were presented to the president of the French Republic by the Pope’ s nuncio. They wore red caps, red stockings, black Roman coats lined and bound with red, and small cloaks."I conclude, therefore, that if it be admitted that it was intended to represent papal Rome in the vision, the precise description would have been adopted which is found here.

Full of names of blasphemy - All covered over with blasphemous titles and names. What could more accurately describe papal Rome than this? Compare for some of these names and titles the notes on 2Th 2:4; 1Ti 4:1-4; and notes on Rev 13:1, Rev 13:5.

Having seven heads and ten horns - See the notes on Rev 13:1.

Barnes: Rev 17:4 - -- And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour - On the nature of the scarlet color, see the notes on Rev 17:3. The purple color - Ï€Î...

And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour - On the nature of the scarlet color, see the notes on Rev 17:3. The purple color - ποÏφυÌÏα porphura - was obtained from a species of shellfish found on the coasts of the Mediterranean, which yielded a reddish-purple dye, much prized by the ancients. Robes dyed in that color were commonly worn by persons of rank and wealth, Mar 15:17, Mar 15:20; Luk 16:19. The purple color contains more blue than the crimson, though the limits are not very accurately defined, and the words are sometimes interchanged. Thus the mock robe put on the Saviour is called in Mar 15:17, Mar 15:20, ποÏφυÌÏαν porphuran - "purple,"and in Mat 27:28, κοκκιÌνην kokkineÌ„n - "crimson."On the applicability of this to the papacy, see the notes on Rev 17:3.

And decked with gold - After the manner of an harlot, with rich jewelry.

And precious stones - Sparkling diamonds, etc.

And pearls - Also a much-valued female ornament. Compare the notes on Mat 7:6; Mat 13:46.

Having a golden cup in her hand - As if to entice lovers. See the notes on Rev 14:8.

Full of abominations - Of abominable things; of things suited to excite abhorrence and disgust; things unlawful and forbidden. The word, in the Scriptures, is commonly used to denote the impurities and abominations of idolatry. See the notes on Dan 9:27. The meaning here is, that it seemed to be a cup filled with wine, but it was in fact a cup full of all abominable drugs, leading to all kinds of corruption. How much in accordance this is with the fascinations of the papacy, it is not necessary now to say, after the ample illustrations of the same thing already furnished in these notes.

And filthiness of her fornication - The image here is that of papal Rome, represented as an abandoned woman in gorgeous attire, alluring by her arts the nations of the earth, and seducing them into all kinds of pollution and abomination. It is a most remarkable fact that the papacy, as if designing to furnish a fulfillment of this prophecy, has chosen to represent itself almost precisely in this manner - as a female extending an alluring cup to passers by - as will be seen by the engraving on this page. Far as the design of striking this medal may have been from confirming this portion of the Book of Revelation, yet no one can fail to see that if this had been the design, no more happy illustration could have been adopted. Apostate churches, and guilty nations, often furnish the very proofs necessary to confirm the truth of the Scriptures.

Barnes: Rev 17:5 - -- And upon her forehead - In a circlet around her forehead. That is, it was made prominent and public, as if written on the forehead in blazing c...

And upon her forehead - In a circlet around her forehead. That is, it was made prominent and public, as if written on the forehead in blazing capitals. In Rev 13:1 it is said that "the name of blasphemy"was written on the "heads"of the beast. The meaning in both places is substantially the same, that it was prominent, and unmistakable. See the notes on that verse. Compare the note on Rev 14:1.

Was a name written - A title, or something that would properly indicate her character.

Mystery - It is proper to remark that there is nothing in the original as written by John, so far as now known, that corresponded with what is implied in placing this inscription in capital letters; and the same remark may be made of the "title"or inscription that was placed over the head of the Saviour on the cross, Mat 27:37; Mar 15:26; Luk 23:38; Joh 19:19. Our translators have adopted this form, apparently for the sole purpose of denoting that it was an inscription or title. On the meaning of the word "mystery,"see the notes on 1Co 2:7. Compare the notes on 1Ti 3:16. Here it seems to be used to denote that there was something hidden, obscure, or enigmatical, under the title adopted; that is, the word "Babylon,"and the word "mother,"were symbolical. Our translators have printed and pointed the word "mystery"as if it were part of the inscription. It would probably be better to regard it as referring to the inscription, thus: "a name was written - a mysterious name, to wit, Babylon,"etc. Or, "a name was written mysteriously."According to this, it would mean, not that there was any wonderful "mystery"about the thing itself, whatever might be true on that point, but that the name was enigmatical or symbolical; or that there was something hidden or concealed under the name. It was not to be literally understood.

Babylon the great - papal Rome, the nominal head of the Christian world, as Babylon had been of the pagan world. See the notes on Rev 14:8.

The mother of harlots -

(a)    Of that spiritual apostasy from God which, in the language of the prophets, might be called adultery. See the notes on Rev 14:8.

(b)    The promoter of lewdness by her institutions. See the notes on Rev 9:21. In both these senses, there never was a more expressive or appropriate title than the one here employed.

And abominations of the earth - Abominable things that prevail on the earth, Rev 17:4. Compare the notes on Rev 9:20-21.

Barnes: Rev 17:6 - -- And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints - A reeling, intoxicated harlot, for that is the image which is kept up all along. In ...

And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints - A reeling, intoxicated harlot, for that is the image which is kept up all along. In regard to the phrase "drunken with blood,"compare Jer 46:10. "The phraseology is derived from the barbarous custom (still extant among many pagan nations) of drinking the blood of the enemies slain in the way of revenge. The effect of drinking blood is said to be to exasperate, and to intoxicate with passion and a desire of revenge"(Prof. Stuart, in loco). The meaning here is, that the persecuting power referred to had shed the blood of the saints; and that, in its fury, it had, as it were, drunk the blood of the slain, and had become, by drinking that blood, intoxicated and infuriated. No one need say how applicable this has been to the papacy. Compare, however, the Dan 7:21, Dan 7:25 notes; Rev 12:13-14; Rev 13:15 notes.

And with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus - Especially with their blood. The meaning is, that the warfare, in which so much blood was shed, was directed against the saints as such, and that, in fact, it terminated particularly on those who, amidst cruel sufferings, were faithful witnesses for the Lord Jesus, and deserved to be called, by way of eminence, "martyrs."Compare the notes on Rev 2:13; Rev 6:9; Rev 11:5, Rev 11:7. How applicable this is to the papacy, let the blood shed in the valleys of Piedmont; the blood shed in the Low Countries by the Duke of Alva; the blood shed on Bartholomew’ s day; and the blood shed in the Inquisition, testify.

And when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration - I was astonished at her appearance, at her apparel, and at the things which were so significantly symbolized by her.

Barnes: Rev 17:7 - -- And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? - He was doubtless struck with the appearance of John as he stood fixed in astonishmen...

And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? - He was doubtless struck with the appearance of John as he stood fixed in astonishment. The question asked him, "why"he wondered, was designed to show him that the cause of his surprise would be removed or lessened, for that he would proceed so to explain this that he might have a correct view of its design.

I will tell thee the mystery of the woman - On the word "mystery,"see the notes on Rev 17:5. The sense is, "I will explain what is meant by the symbol - the hidden meaning that is couched under it."That is, he would so far explain it that a just view might be obtained of its signification. The explanation follows, Rev 17:8-18.

And of the beast that carrieth her, ... - Rev 17:3.

Barnes: Rev 17:8 - -- The beast that thou sawest was, and is not - In the close of the verse it is added, "and yet is"- "the beast that was, and is not, and yet is."...

The beast that thou sawest was, and is not - In the close of the verse it is added, "and yet is"- "the beast that was, and is not, and yet is."There are three things affirmed here: first, that there is a sense in which it might be said of the power here referred to, that it "was,"or that, before this, it had an existence; second, that there was a sense in which it might be said that it is "not,"that is, that it had become practically extinct; and third, that there is a sense in which that power would be so revived that it might be said that it "still is."The "beast"here referred to is the same that is mentioned in Rev 17:3, and in Rev 13:1, Rev 13:3,Rev 13:11-16. That is, there was one great formidable power, having essentially the same origin, though manifested under somewhat different modifications, to one and all of which might, in their different manifestations, be given the same name, "the beast."

And shall ascend out of the bottomless pit - ἐκ τῆς ἀβυÌσσου ek teÌ„s abussou . On the meaning of the word here used, see the notes on Rev 9:1. The meaning here is, that this power would seem to come up from the nether world. It would appear at one time to be extinct, but would revive again as if coming from the world over which Satan presides, and would, in its revived character, be such as might be expected from such an origin.

And go into perdition - That is, its end will be destruction. It will not be permanent, but will be overthrown and destroyed. The word perdition here is properly rendered by Prof. Stuart "destruction,"but nothing is indicated by the word of the "nature"of the destruction that would come upon it.

And they that dwell on the earth - The inhabitants of the earth generally; that is, the matter referred to will be so remarkable as to attract general attention.

Shall wonder - It will be so contrary to the regular course of events, so difficult of explanation, so remarkable in itself, as to excite attention and surprise.

Whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world - See this explained in the notes on Rev 13:8. The idea seems to be, that those whose names are written in the book of life, or who are truly the friends of God, would not be drawn off in admiration of the beast, or in rendering homage to it.

When they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is - That is, the power that once was mighty; that had declined to such a state that it became, as it were, extinct; and that was revived again with so much of its original strength, that it might be said that it still exists. The fact of its being revived in this manner, as well as the nature of the power itself, seemed suited to excite this admiration.

Barnes: Rev 17:9 - -- And here is the mind which hath wisdom - Here is what requires wisdom to interpret it; or, here is a case in which the mind that shows itself a...

And here is the mind which hath wisdom - Here is what requires wisdom to interpret it; or, here is a case in which the mind that shows itself able to explain it will evince true sagacity. So in Rev 13:18. See the notes on that place. Prof. Stuart renders this, "Here is a meaning which compriseth wisdom."It is undoubtedly implied that the symbol might be understood - whether in the time of John, or afterward, he does not say; but it was a matter which could not be determined by ordinary minds, or without an earnest application of the understanding.

The seven heads are seven mountains - Referring, undoubtedly, to Rome - the seven-hilled city - Septicollis Roma. See the notes on Rev 12:3. (d).

On which the woman sitteth - The city represented as a woman, in accordance with a common usage in the Scriptures. See the notes on Isa 1:8.

Barnes: Rev 17:10 - -- And there are seven kings - That is, seven in all, as they are enumerated in this verse and the next. An eighth is mentioned in Rev 17:11, but ...

And there are seven kings - That is, seven in all, as they are enumerated in this verse and the next. An eighth is mentioned in Rev 17:11, but it is, at the same time, said that this one so pertains to the seven, or is so properly in one sense of the number seven, though, in another sense, to be regarded as an eighth, that it may be properly reckoned as the seventh. The word "kings"- βασιλεῖς basileis - may be understood, so far as the meaning of the word is concerned:

(a)\caps1     l\caps0 iterally, as denoting a king, or one who exercises royal authority;

(b)\caps1     i\caps0 n a more general sense, as denoting one of distinguished honor - a viceroy, prince, leader, chief, Mat 2:1, Mat 2:3,Mat 2:9; Luk 1:5; Act 12:1;

©\caps1     i\caps0 n a still larger sense, as denoting a dynasty, a form of government, a mode of administration, as what, in fact, "rules."

See the notes on Dan 7:24, where the word "king"undoubtedly denotes a "dynasty,"or "form of rule."The notion of ruling, or of authority, is undoubtedly in the word, for the verb βασιλευÌω basileuoÌ„ means "to rule,"but the word may be applied to anything in which sovereignty resides. Thus it is applied to a king’ s son, to a military commander, to the gods, to a Greek archon, etc. See Passow. It would be contrary to the whole spirit of this passage, and to what is demanded by the proper meaning of the word, to insist that the word should denote literally kings, and that it could not be applied to emperors, or to dictators, or to dynasties.

Five are fallen - Have passed away as if fallen; that is, they have disappeared. The language would be applicable to rulers who have died, or who had been dethroned; or to dynasties or forms of government that had ceased to be. In the fulfillment of this, it would be necessary to find five such successive kings or rulers who had died, and who pertained to one sovereignty or nation; or five such dynasties or forms of administrations that had successively existed, but which had ceased.

And one is - That is, there is one - a sixth - that now reigns. The proper interpretation of this would be, that this existed in the time of the writer; that is, according to the view taken of the time of the writing of the Apocalypse (see Intro., section 2), at the close of the first century.

And the other is not yet come - The sixth one is to be succeeded by another in the same line, or occupying the same dominion.

And when he cometh - When that form of dominion is set up. No intimation is yet given as to the time when this would occur.

He must continue a short space - ὀλιÌγον oligon . A short time; his dominion will be of short duration. It is observable that this characteristic is stated as applicable only to this one of the seven; and the fair meaning would seem to be, that the time would be short as compared with the six that preceded, and as compared with the one that followed - the eighth - into which it was to be merged, Rev 17:11.

Barnes: Rev 17:11 - -- And the beast that was, and is not - That is, the one power that was formerly mighty; that died away so that it might be said to be extinct; an...

And the beast that was, and is not - That is, the one power that was formerly mighty; that died away so that it might be said to be extinct; and yet Rev 17:8 that "still is,"or has a prolonged existence. It is evident that, by the "beast"here, there is some one power, dominion, empire, or rule, whose essential identity is preserved through all these changes, and to which it is proper to give the same name. It finds its termination, or its last form, in what is here called the "eighth"; a power which, it is observed, sustains such a special relation to the seven, that it may be said to be "of the seven,"or to be a mere prolongation of the same sovereignty.

Even he is the eighth - The eighth in the succession. This form of sovereignty, though a mere prolongation of the former government, so much so as to be, in fact, but keeping up the same empire in the world, appears in such a novelty of form, that, in one sense, it deserves to be called the eighth in order, and yet is so essentially a mere concentration and continuance of the one power, that, in the general reckoning Rev 17:10, it might be regarded as pertaining to the former. There was a sense in which it was proper to speak of it as the eighth power; and yet, viewed in its relation to the whole, it so essentially combined and concentrated all that there was in the seven, that, in a general view, it scarcely merited a separate mention. We should look for the fulfillment of this in some such concentration and embodiment of all that it was, in the previous forms of sovereignty referred to, that it perhaps would deserve mention as an eighth power, but that it was, nevertheless, such a mere prolongation of the previous forms of the one power, that it might be said to be "of the seven"; so that, in this view, it would not claim a separate consideration. This seems to be the fair meaning, though there is much that is enigmatical in the form of the expression.

And goeth into perdition - See the notes on Rev 17:8.

In inquiring now into the application of this very difficult passage, it may be proper to suggest some of the principal opinions which have been held, and then to endeavor to ascertain the true meaning:

I. The principal opinions which have been held may be reduced to the following:

(1) That the seven kings here refer to the succession of Roman emperors, yet with some variation as to the manner of reckoning. Prof. Stuart begins with Julius Caesar, and reckons them in this manner: the "five that are fallen"are Julius Caesar, Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius. Nero, who, as he supposes, was the reigning prince at the time when the book was written, he regards as the sixth; Galba, who succeeded him, as the seventh. Others, who adopt this literal method of explaining it, suppose that the time begins with Augustus, and then Galba would be the sixth, and Otho, who reigned but three months, would be the seventh. The expression, "the beast that was, and is not, who is the eighth,"Prof. Stuart regards as referring to a general impression among the pagan and among Christians, in the time of the persecution under Nero, that he would again appear after it was reported that he was dead, or that he would rise from the dead and carry on his persecution again. See Prof. Stuart, Com . vol. ii., Excur. 3. The beast, according to this view, denotes the Roman emperors, specifically Nero, and the reference in Rev 17:8 is to "the well known hariolation respecting Nero, that he would be assassinated, and would disappear for a while, and then make his appearance again to the confusion of all his enemies.""What the angel,"says he, "says, seems to be equivalent to this - ‘ The beast means the Roman emperors, specifically Nero, of whom the report spread throughout the empire that he will revive, after being apparently slain, and will come, as it were, from the abyss or Hades, but he will perish, and that speedily,’ "vol. ii. p. 323.

(2) That the word "kings"is not to be taken literally, but that it refers to forms of government, dynasties, or modes of administration. The general opinion among those who hold this view is, that the first six refer to the forms of the Roman government:

(1)\caps1     k\caps0 ings;

(2)\caps1     c\caps0 onsuls;

(3)\caps1     d\caps0 ictators;

(4)\caps1     d\caps0 ecemvirs;

(5)\caps1     m\caps0 ilitary tribunes;

(6)\caps1     t\caps0 he imperial form, beginning with Augustus.

This has been the common Protestant interpretation, and in reference to these six forms of government there has been a general agreement. But, while the mass of Protestant interpreters have supposed that the "six"heads refer to these forms of administration, there has been much diversity of opinion as to the seventh; and here, on this plan of interpretation, the main, if not the sole difficulty lies. Among the opinions held are the following:

(a)    That of Mr. Mede. He makes the seventh head what he calls the "Demi-Caesar,"or the "Western emperor who reigned after the division of the empire into East and West, and which continued, after the last division, under Honorius and Arcadius, about sixty years - a short space"( Works , book iii. ch. 8; book v. ch. 12).

(b)    That of Dr. Newton, who regards the sixth or imperial "head"as continuing uninterruptedly through the line of Christian as well as pagan emperors, until Augustulus and the Heruli; and the seventh to be the Dukedom of Rome, established soon after under the exarchate of Ravenna ( Prophecies , pp. 575, 576).

©    That of Dr. More and Mr. Cunninghame, who suppose the Christian emperors, from Constantine to Augustulus, to constitute the seventh head, and that this had its termination by the sword of the Heruli.

(d)    That of Mr. Elliott, who supposes the seventh head or power to refer to a new form of administration introduced by Diocletian, changing the administration from the original imperial character to that of an absolute Asiatic sovereignty. For the important changes introduced by Diocletian that justify this remark, see the Decline and Fall , vol. i. pp. 212-217.

Numerous other solutions may be found in Poole’ s Synopsis, but these embrace the principal, and the most plausible that have been proposed.

II. I proceed, then, to state what seems to me to be the true explanation. This must be found in some facts that will accord with the explanation given of the meaning of the passage:

(1) There can be no doubt that this refers to Rome, either pagan, Christian, or papal. All the circumstances combine in this; all respectable interpreters agree in this. This would be naturally understood by the symbols used by John, and by the explanations furnished by the angel. See Rev 17:18; "And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth."Every circumstance combines here in leading to the conclusion that Rome is intended. There was no other power or empire on the earth to which this could be properly applied; there was everything in the circumstances of the writer to lead us to suppose that this was referred to; there is an utter impossibility now in applying the description to anything else.

\caps1 (2) i\caps0 t was to be a revived power; not a power in its original form and strength. This is manifest, because it is said Rev 17:8 that the power represented by the beast "was, and is not, and yet is"- that is, it was once a mighty power; it then declined so that it could be said that "it is not"; and yet there was so much remaining vitality in it, or so much revived power, that it could be said that it "still is"- καιÌÏ€ÎµÏ ÎµÌ“ÏƒÏ„Î¹Ìν kaiper estin . Now, this is strictly applicable to Rome when the papal power arose. The old Roman might had departed; the glory and strength evinced in the days of the consuls, the dictators, and the emperors, had disappeared, and yet there was a lingering vitality, and a reviving of power under the papacy, which made it proper to say that it still continued, or that that mighty power was prolonged. The civil power connected with the papacy was a revived Roman power - the Roman power prolonged under another form - for it is susceptible of clear demonstration that, if it had not been for the rise of the papal power, the sovereignty of Rome, as such, would have been wholly extinct. For the proof of this, see the passages quoted in the notes on Rev 17:3. Compare the notes on Rev 13:3, Rev 13:12, Rev 13:15.

\caps1 (3) i\caps0 t was to be a power emanating from the "abyss,"or that would seem to ascend from the dark world beneath. See Rev 17:8. This was true in regard to the papacy, either:

(a)\caps1     a\caps0 s apparently ascending from the lowest state and the most depressed condition, as if it came up from below (see the notes on Rev 17:3, compare Rev 13:11); or,

(b)\caps1     a\caps0 s, in fact, having its origin in the world of darkness, and being under the control of the prince of that world, which, according to all the representations of that formidable anti-Christian power in the Scriptures, is true, and which the whole history of the papacy, and of its influence on religion, confirms.

\caps1 (4) o\caps0 ne of the powers referred to sustained the other. "The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sitteth,"Rev 17:9. That is, the power represented by the harlot was sustained or supported by the power represented by the seven heads or the seven mountains. Literally, applied, this would mean that the papacy, as an ecclesiastical institution, was sustained by the civil power, with which it was so closely connected. For the illustration and support of this, see the notes on Rev 13:2-3, Rev 13:12, Rev 13:15. In the notes on these passages it is shown that the support was mutual; that while the papacy, in fact, revived the almost extinct Roman civil power, and gave it new vitality, the price of that was, that it should be, in its turn, sustained by that revived Roman civil power. All history shows that that has been the fact; that in all its aggressions, assumptions, and persecutions, it has, in fact, and professedly, leaned on the arm of the civil power.

\caps1 (5) a\caps0 more important inquiry, and a more serious difficulty, remains in respect to the statements respecting the "seven kings,"Rev 17:10-11. The statements on this point are, that the whole number properly was seven; that of this number five had fallen or passed away; that one was in existence at the time when the author wrote; that another one was yet to appear who would continue for a little time; and that the general power represented by all these would be embodied in the "beast that was, and is not,"and that might, in some respects, be regarded as an "eighth."These points may be taken up in their order:

(a) The first inquiry relates to the five that were fallen and the one that was then in existence - the first six. These may be taken together, for they are manifestly of the same class, and have the same characteristics, at least so far as to be distinguished from the "seventh"and the "eighth."The meaning of the word "kings"here has been already explained, Rev 17:10. It denotes ruling power, or forms of power; and, so far as the signification of the word is concerned, it might be applicable to royalty, or to any other form of administration. It is not necessary, then, to find an exact succession of princes or kings that would correspond with this - five of whom were dead, and one of whom was then on the throne, and all soon to be succeeded by one more, who would soon die.

The true explanation of this seems to be what refers this to the forms of the Roman government or administration. These six "heads,"or forms of administration, were, in their order, Kings, Consuls, Dictators, Decemvirs, Military Tribunes, and Emperors. Of these, five had passed away in the time when John wrote the Apocalypse; the sixth, the imperial, was then in power, and had been from the time of Augustus Caesar. The only questions that can be raised are, whether these forms of administration were so distinct and prominent, and whether in the times previous to John they so embraced the whole Roman power, as to justify this interpretation - that is, whether these forms of administration were so marked in this respect that it may be supposed that John would use the language here employed in describing them. As showing the probability that he would use this language, I refer to the following arguments, namely:

(1) The authority of Livy, lib. 6:cap. 1. Speaking of the previous parts of his history, and of what he had done in writing it, he says: "Quae ab condita urbe Roma a.d. captam eandem urbem, Romani sub regibus primum, consulibus deinde ac dictatoribus, decemviris ac tribunis consularibus gessere, foris bella, domi seditiones, quinque libris exposui. "That is, "In five books I have related what was done at Rome, pertaining both to foreign wars and domestic strifes, from the foundation of the city to the time when it was taken, as it was governed by kings, by consuls, by dictators, by the decemvirs, and by consular tribunes."Here he mentions five forms of administration under which Rome had been governed in the earlier periods of its history. The imperial power had a later origin, and did not exist until near the time of Livy himself.

\caps1 (2) t\caps0 he same distribution of power, or forms of government, among the Romans, is made by Tacitus, Annual . lib. i. cap. 1: " Urbem Romam a principio reges habuere. Libertatem et consulatum L. Brutus instituit. Dictaturae a.d. tempus sumebantur. Neque decemviralis potestas ultra biennium, neque tribunorum militum consulure jus diu valuit. Non Cinnae, non Syllae longa dominatio: et Pompeii Crassique potentia cito in Caesarem, Lepidi atque Antonii arma in Augustum cessere; qui cuncta, discordiis civilibus fessa, nomine principis sub imperium accepit . "That is, "In the beginning, Rome was governed by kings. Then L. Brutus gave to her liberty and the consulship. A temporary power was conferred on the dictators. The authority of the decemvirs did not continue beyond the space of two years: neither was the consular power of the military tribunes of long duration. The rule of Cinna and Sylla was brief; and the power of Pompey and Crassus passed into the hands of Caesar; and the arms of Lepidus and Antony were surrendered to Augustus, who united all things, broken by civil discord, under the name of prince in the imperial government."Here Tacitus distinctly mentions the six forms of administration that had prevailed in Rome, the last of which was the imperial. It is true, also, that he mentions the brief rule of certain men - as Cinna, Sylla, Antony, and Lepidus; but these are not forms of administration, and their temporary authority did not indicate any change in the government - for some of these men were dictators, and none of them, except Brutus and Augustus, established any permanent form of administration.

\caps1 (3) t\caps0 he same thing is apparent in the usual statements of history, and the books that describe the forms of government at Rome. In so common a book as Adam’ s Roman Antiquities, a description may be found of the forms of Roman administration that corresponds almost precisely with this. The forms of supreme power in Rome, as enumerated there, are what are called ordinary and extraordinary magistrates. Under the former are enumerated kings, consuls, praetors, censors, quaestors, and tribunes of the people. But of these, in fact, the supreme power was vested in two; for there were, under this, but two forms of administration - that of kings and consuls; the offices of praetor, censor, quaestor, and tribune of the people being merely subordinate to that of the consuls, and no more a new form of administration than the offices of secretary of the state, of war, of the navy, of the interior, are now. Under the latter - that of extraordinary magistrates - are enumerated dictators, decemvirs, military tribunes, and the interrex. But the interrex did not constitute a form of administration, or a change of government, anymore than, when the President or Vice-president of the United States should die, the performance of the duties of the office of president by the speaker of the senate would indicate a change, or than the regency of the Prince of Wales in the time of George III constituted a new form of government. So that, in fact, we have enumerated, as constituting the supreme power at Rome, kings, consuls, dictators, decemvirs, and military tribunes - five in number. The imperial power was the sixth.

\caps1 (4) i\caps0 n confirmation of the same thing, I may refer to the authority of Bellarmine, a distinguished Roman Catholic writer. In his work De Pontiff., cap. 2, he thus enumerates the changes which the Roman government had experienced, or the forms of administration that had existed there:

1.    Kings;

2.    Consuls;

3.    Decemvirs;

4.    Dictators;

5.    Military Tribunes with consular power;

6.    Emperors.

See Poole’ s Synoptists , in loco. And,

\caps1 (5) i\caps0 t may be added, that this would be understood by the contemporaries of John in this sense. These forms of government were so marked that, in connection with the mention of the "seven mountains,"designating the city, there could be no doubt as to what was intended. Reference would at once be made to the imperial power as then existing, and the mind would readily and easily turn back to the five main forms of the supreme administration which had existed before.

(b) The next inquiry is, what is denoted by "the seventh."If the word "kings"here refers, as is supposed (see the notes on Rev 17:10), to a form of government or administration; if the "five"refer to the forms previous to the imperial, and the "sixth"to the imperial; and if John wrote during the imperial government, then it follows that this must refer to some form of administration that was to succeed the imperial. If the papacy was "the eighth,"and of the "seventh,"then it is clear that this must refer to some form of civil administration lying between the decline of the imperial and the rise of the papal power: that "short space"- for it was a short space that intervened. Now, there can be no difficulty, I think, in referring this to that form of administration over Rome that "dukedom"under the exarchate of Ravenna, which succeeded the decline of the imperial power, and which preceded the rise of the papal power; between the year 566 or 568, when Rome was reduced to a dukedom, under the exarchate of Ravenna, and the time when the city revolted from this authority and became subject to that of the pope, about the year 727.

This period continued, according to Mr. Gibbon, about two hundred years. He says, "During a period of two hundred years, Italy was unequally divided between the kingdom of the Lombards and the exarchate of Ravenna. The offices and professions, which the jealousy of Constantine had separated, were united by the indulgence of Justinian; and eighteen successive exarchs were invested, in the decline of the empire, with the full remains of civil, of military, and even of ecclesiastical power. Their immediate jurisdiction, which was afterward consecrated as the patrimony of Peter, extended over the modern Romagna, the marshes or valleys of Ferrara and Commachic, five maritime cities from Rimini to Ancona, and a second inland Pentapolis, between the Adriatic coast and the hills of the Apennine. The duchy of Rome appears to have included the Tuscan, Sabine, and Latian conquests, of the first four hundred years of the city; and the limits may be distinctly traced along the coast, from Civita Vecchia to Terracina, and with the course of the Tiber from Ameria and Narni to the port of Ostia"(Dec. and Fall, 3:202).

How accurate is this if it be regarded as a statement of a new power or form of administration that succeeded the imperial - a power that was, in fact, a prolongation of the old Roman authority, and that was designed to constitute and embody it all! Could Mr. Gibbon have furnished a better commentary on the passage if he had adopted the interpretation of this portion of the Apocalypse above proposed, and if he had designed to describe this as the seventh power in the successive forms of the Roman administration? It is worthy of remark, also, that this account in Mr. Gibbon’ s history immediately precedes the account of the rise of the papacy; the record respecting the exarchate, and that concerning Gregory the Great, described by Mr. Gibbon as "the Saviour of Rome,"occurring in the same chapter, vol. iii. 202-211.

© This was to "continue for a short space"- for a little time. If this refers to the power to which in the remarks above it is supposed to refer, it is easy to see the propriety of this statement. Compared with the previous form of administration - the imperial - it was of short duration; absolutely considered, it was brief. Mr. Gibbon (iii. 202) has marked it as extending through "a period of two hundred years"; and if this is compared with the form of administration which preceded it, extending to more than five hundred years, and more especially with that which followed - the papal form - which has extended now some twelve hundred years, it will be seen with what propriety this is spoken of as continuing for a "short space."

(d) "The beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven,"Rev 17:11. If the explanations above given are correct, there can be no difficulty in the application of this to the papal power; for:

\caps1 (1) a\caps0 ll this power was concentrated in the papacy, all that revived or prolonged Roman power had now passed into the papacy, constituting that mighty dominion which was to be set up for so many centuries over what had been the Roman world. See the statements of Mr. Gibbon (iii. 207-211), as quoted in the notes on Rev 17:3. Compare also, particularly, the remarks of Augustine Steuchus, a Roman Catholic writer, as quoted in the notes on that verse: "The empire having been overthrown, unless God had raised up the pontificate, Rome, resuscitated and restored by none, would have become uninhabitable, and been thenceforward a most foul habitation of cattle. But in the pontificate it revived as with a second birth; its empire in magnitude not indeed equal to the old empire, but its form not very dissimilar: because all nations, from East and from West, venerate the pope, not otherwise than they before obeyed the emperor."

\caps1 (2) t\caps0 his was an eighth power or form of administration - for it was different, in many respects, from that of the kings, the consuls, the dictators, the decemvirs, the military tribunes, the emperors, and the dukedom - though it comprised substantially the power of all. Indeed, it could not have been spoken of as identical with either of the previous forms of administration, though it concentrated the power which had been wielded by them all.

\caps1 (3) i\caps0 t was "of the seven"; that is, it pertained to them; it was a prolongation of the same power. It had the same central seat - Rome; it extended over the same territory, and it embraced sooner or latter the same nations. There is not one of those forms of administration which did not find a prolongation in the papacy; for it aspired after, and succeeded in obtaining, all the authority of kings, dictators, consuls, emperors. It was in fact still the Roman scepter swayed over the world; and with the strictest propriety it could be said that it was "of the seven,"as having sprung out of the seven, and as perpetuating the sway of this mighty domination. For full illustration of this, see the Dan. 7 notes; and Rev. 13 notes.

\caps1 (4) i\caps0 t would "go into perdition"; that is, it would be under this form that this mighty domination that had for so many ages ruled over the earth would die away, or this would be the last in the series. The Roman dominion, as such, would not be extended to a ninth, or tenth, or eleventh form, but would finally expire under the eighth. Every indication shows that this is to be so, and that with the decline of the papal power the whole Roman domination, that has swayed a scepter for two thousand five hundred years, will have come forever to an end. If this is so, then we have found an ample and exact application of this passage even in its most minute specifications.

Barnes: Rev 17:12 - -- And the ten horns which thou sawest - On the scarlet-colored beast, Rev 17:3. Are ten kings - Represent or denote ten kings - that is, ki...

And the ten horns which thou sawest - On the scarlet-colored beast, Rev 17:3.

Are ten kings - Represent or denote ten kings - that is, kingdoms or powers. See the notes on Dan 7:24.

Which have received no kingdom as yet - That is, they were not in existence when John wrote. It is implied, that during the period under review they would arise, and would become connected, in an important sense, with the power here represented by the "beast."For a full illustration respecting the ten "kings,"or kingdoms here referred to, see the notes on Dan. 7, at the close of the chapter, II. (2).

But receive power - It is not said from what source this power is received, but it is simply implied that it would in fact be conferred on them.

As kings - That is, the power would be what is usually exercised by kings.

One hour - It cannot be supposed that this is to be taken literally. The meaning clearly is, that this would be brief and temporary; that is, it was a form of administration which would be succeeded by one more fixed and permanent. Anyone can see that, in fact, this is strictly applicable to the governments, as referred to in the notes on Daniel, which sprang up after the incursion of the northern barbarians, and which were finally succeeded by the permanent forms of government in Europe. Most of them were very brief in their duration, and they were soon remodelled in the forms of permanent administration. Thus, to take the arrangement proposed by Sir Isaac Newton:

(1)\caps1     t\caps0 he kingdom of the Vandals and Alans in Spain and Africa;

(2)\caps1     t\caps0 he kingdom of the Suevians in Spain;

(3)\caps1     t\caps0 he kingdom of the Visigoths;

(4)\caps1     t\caps0 he kingdom of the Alans in Gallia;

(5)\caps1     t\caps0 he kingdom of the Burgundians;

(6)\caps1     t\caps0 he kingdom of the Franks;

(7)\caps1     t\caps0 he kingdom of the Britons;

(8)\caps1     t\caps0 he kingdom of the Huns;

(9)\caps1     t\caps0 he kingdom of the Lombards;

(10)\caps1     t\caps0 he kingdom of Ravenna - how temporary were most of these; how soon they passed into the more permanent forms of administration which succeeded them in Europe!

With the beast - With that rising papal power. They would exercise their authority in connection with that, and under its influence.

Barnes: Rev 17:13 - -- These have one mind - That is, they are united in the promotion of the same object. Though in some respects wholly independent of each other, y...

These have one mind - That is, they are united in the promotion of the same object. Though in some respects wholly independent of each other, yet they may be regarded as, in fact, so far united that they tend to promote the same ultimate end. As a fact in history, all these kingdoms, though of different origin, and though not infrequently engaged in war with each other, became Roman Catholics, and were united in the support of the papacy. It was with propriety, therefore, that they should be regarded as so closely connected with that power that they could be represented as "ten horns"on the seven-headed monster.

And shall give their power and strength unto the beast - Shall lend their influence to the support of the papacy, and become the upholders of that power. The meaning, according to the interpretation above proposed, is, that they would all become papal kingdoms, and supporters of the papal power. It is unnecessary to pause to show how true this has been in history. At first, most of the people out of whom these kingdoms sprang were pagans; then many of them embraced Christianity under the prevailing form of Arianism, and this fact was for a time a bar to their perfect adhesion to the Roman see; but they were all ultimately brought wholly under its influence, and became its supporters. In 496 a.d., Clovis, the king of the Franks, on occasion of his victory over the Allemanni, embraced the Catholic faith, and so received the title, transmitted downward through nearly thirteen hundred years to the French kings as his successors, of "the oldest son of the church"; in the course of the sixth century, the kings of Burgundy, Bavaria, Spain, Portugal, England, embraced the same religion, and became the defenders of the papacy. It is well known that each one of the powers above enumerated as constituting these ten kingdoms, became subject to the papacy, and continued so during their separate existence, or when merged into some other power, until the Reformation in the sixteenth century. All "their power and strength was given unto the beast"; all was made subservient to the purposes of papal Rome.

Barnes: Rev 17:14 - -- These shall make war with the Lamb - The Lamb of God - the Lord Jesus (See the notes at Rev 5:6); that is, they would combine with the papacy i...

These shall make war with the Lamb - The Lamb of God - the Lord Jesus (See the notes at Rev 5:6); that is, they would combine with the papacy in opposing evangelical religion. It is not meant that they would openly and avowedly proclaim war against the Son of God, but that they would practically do this in sustaining a persecuting power. It is unnecessary to show how true this has been in history; how entirely they sustained the papacy in all its measures of persecution.

And the Lamb shall overcome them - Shall ultimately gain the victory over them. The meaning is, that they would not be able to extinguish the true religion. In spite of all opposition and persecution, that would still live in the world, until it would be said that a complete triumph was gained.

For he is Lord of lords, and King of kings - He has supreme power over all the earth, and all kings and princes are subject to his control. Compare Rev 19:16.

And they that are with him - The reference is to the persecuted saints who have adhered to him as his faithful followers in all these protracted conflicts.

Are called - That is, called by him to be his followers; as if he had selected them out of the world to maintain his cause. See the notes on Rom 1:7.

And chosen - See the Joh 15:16 note, and 1Pe 1:2 note. In their steadfast adherence to the truth, they had shown that they were truly chosen by the Saviour, and could be relied on in the warfare against the powers of evil.

And faithful - They had shown themselves faithful to him in times of persecution, and in the hour of darkness.

Barnes: Rev 17:15 - -- And he saith unto me - The angel, Rev 17:7. This commences the more "literal"statement of what is meant by these symbols. See the Analysis of t...

And he saith unto me - The angel, Rev 17:7. This commences the more "literal"statement of what is meant by these symbols. See the Analysis of the chapter.

The waters which thou sawest - See the notes on Rev 17:1.

Are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues - For an explanation of these terms, see the notes on Rev 7:9. The meaning here is:

(a) that these waters represent a multitude of people. This is a common and an obvious symbol - for outspread seas or raging floods would naturally represent such a multitude. See Isa 8:7-8; Isa 17:12-13; Jer 47:2. Compare Iliad , v. 394. The sense here is, that vast numbers of people would be subject to the power here represented by the woman.

(b) They would be composed of different nations, and would be of different languages, It is unnecessary to show that this, in both respects, is applicable to the papacy. Nations have been, and are subject to its control, and nations speaking a large part of the languages of the world. Perhaps under no one government - not even the Babylonian, the Macedonian, or the ancient Roman - was there so great a diversity of people, speaking so many different languages, and having so different an origin.

Poole: Rev 17:1 - -- Rev 17:1-4 John’ s vision of the great whore, sitting upon the scarlet coloured beast, arrayed in purple and scarlet, with a golden cup in her h...

Rev 17:1-4 John’ s vision of the great whore, sitting upon the

scarlet coloured beast, arrayed in

purple and scarlet, with a golden cup in her hand.

Rev 17:5 Her name.

Rev 17:6 She is drunken with the blood of saints.

Rev 17:7-17 The interpretation of the mystery of the beast, and

of his seven heads and ten horns,

Rev 17:18 and of the woman.

This whole verse is but a preface to a new vision which John had; not new, as to the matter revealed in it; for it plainly revealeth matters relating to antichrist; and the matter of it contemporizeth with the three last vials, about the final ruin of antichrist, who was before described under the notion of a beast, here under the notion of a

great whore A whore properly signifies one that is married, and is false to her husband’ s bed; and so very well suits the Church of Rome, (if they yet deserve that name), whose faith was formerly spoken of throughout the world, Rom 1:8 , but is long since turned idolatrous (idolatry, in the prophetic style, being quite through the Scripture called whoredom). She is said to

sit upon many waters either because she exerciseth a jurisdiction over much people, or with allusion to old Babylon, (which gave her her name), which was situated near Euphrates, a river in which there was a great collection of waters. John is called to hear the counsels of God concerning her destruction, which though more generally and shortly revealed before, yet God here designs to reveal to John more fully, particularly, and plainly.

Poole: Rev 17:2 - -- With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication with which great whore several princes of the world have committed spiritual fornicatio...

With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication with which great whore several princes of the world have committed spiritual fornication, receiving her idolatrous worship, yielding to her authority, and following her example.

And the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with, the wine of her fornication and not the kings only of the earth, but the generality of the people, have been influenced with a mad heat, and with the wine of her fornication, that is, with that wine by which she enticed them to commit idolatry with her. By this wine are meant honours, riches, preferments, pleasure, the gaudery of her worship, the magnificence of the apostolic see, their pretended antiquity, unity; in short, whatsoever specious arguments papists use to entice persons into the idolatrous communion of their church.

Poole: Rev 17:3 - -- So he carried me away in the spirit that is, being in an ecstasy; see Rev 4:2 ; whether in the body or out of the body he could not tell, as Paul ...

So he carried me away in the spirit that is, being in an ecstasy; see Rev 4:2 ; whether in the body or out of the body he could not tell, as Paul expresseth it, 2Co 12:2 .

Into the wilderness a place not, or not much, inhabited, either as fittest for contemplation. or to signify that this great whore, which had driven the spouse of Christ into the wilderness, should shortly herself come into her state, according to the fate of old Babylon, Jer 1:13 .

And I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast the great whore, mentioned Rev 17:1 , upheld by the Roman emperors.

Full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns the same which is mentioned Rev 13:1 :

See Poole on "Rev 13:1" . Here a great question ariseth, who this

woman is, or, (which is the same, as appeareth by Rev 17:5 ), what city is meant by Babylon, mentioned Rev 17:5 ; a question (as Mr. Pool noteth) of high concernment; for whoever this woman is, or whatsoever this Babylon signifieth, the people of God are upon pain of damnation admonished to avoid any communion with her, and to come out of her, Rev 14:9,10 . Mr. Pool hath diligently collected into his Latin Synopsis all opinions about it, and showed what is to be said for or against them; I will give my reader the sum of what he saith.

1. Some would have it to be the whole world of wicked men. Against this it is said:

(1.) That John speaks here of a certain great city which reigneth over the kings of the earth, Rev 17:18 : this cannot be meant of the wicked world.

(2.) The world of wicked men are those inhabitants of the earth, whom this woman made drunk with the wine of her fornication: now she that made them drunk, and those that were made drunk, cannot be the same.

(3.) This woman sitteth on seven mountains, Rev 17:9 , and so do not all the wicked of the world.

(4.) We are commanded to come out of this Babylon, but we are not obliged to go out of the world.

2. Others would have this woman, or this Babylon, to be the old Chaldean Babylon. But:

(1.) Where then is the mystery, mentioned Rev 17:5 ?

(2.) The Babylon here mentioned, is by all agreed to be the seat of antichrist; so was that never.

3. The generality agree it to be Rome. Amongst the ancients, Tertullian, Jerome, Ambrose, CEcumenius, Augustine, Eusebius: of later writers, Beda, Aquinas, Salmeron, Pererius, Bellarmine, Lapide, Ribera, (all papists), besides a multitude of protestant writers.

(1.) That city is also like old Babylon for power and greatness, for oppression and tyranny of and over God’ s Israel; besides, the city here mentioned is described by two characters, agreeing to none but Rome, Rev 17:9 , dwelling upon seven hills.

(2.) Reigning over the kings of the earth: for the first Rome is the only city in the world founded upon seven hills, and famed for it by its old poets, Ovid, Virgil, Horace, Propertius, &c. It is attested to be so founded by Plutarch, Pliny, Dionysius, Halicarnassaeus. The names of these hills are known: Palatinus, Quirinalis, Aventinus, Celius, Veminalis, Esquilinus, Capitolinus. Both papist and protestant writers agree that here by Babylon Rome is meant; but they are divided, whether it be to be understood of Rome in its old pagan state, or in its present state, or in a state yet to come.

4. Some would have it to be Rome in its pagan state; of this mind are Grotius, and Dr. Hammond, and some others. But against this many things are said:

(1.) It is manifest that God here describes Rome not as under its sixth head, viz. the pagan emperors, but as it was under its last head, the eighth king, Rev 17:11 , as it should ascend out of the bottomless pit, Rev 17:8 .

(2.) What John saw herein mentioned as a secret about the blood of the saints, which he wondered at; now the pagan emperors’ spilling the blood of saints was a thing long since done.

(3.) The desolation of the Babylon here mentioned was to be final, never to be repaired, as appears by Rev 18:21-23 ; but pagan Rome was never made so desolate.

(4.) If Rome pagan be here meant, then, after its fall, Rome Christian was the habitation of devils, Rev 18:2 .

(5.) Rome pagan fell upon our saints with downright blows, not with allurements, making them drunk with the wine of her fornication, as Rev 17:2 .

5. The papists, who grant that by Babylon Rome is meant, would have it to be Rome toward the end of the world, when, they say, Rome shall apostatize from the pope to paganism again; but for this opinion there is no foundation in Scripture, nor the judgment of the ancients, and some of the papists themselves reject it as improbable and detestable.

6. The generality and best of protestant writers understand by Babylon, and by this woman, Rome, as it is at this day under the conduct of the pope, for which they give these reasons.

(1.) Because it cannot be understood of Rome in either of the other notions, as hath been proved.

(2.) Because antichrist is to sit in the temple of God, 2Th 2:4 , as God, therefore not in any pagan city. The mystery of iniquity was working in the apostle’ s time, but, Rev 17:7 , the Roman empire hindered the appearance of antichrist till the popes had wrung Rome out of their hands, and were the sole rulers there; then antichrist showed himself.

(3.) Because there is nothing said of this great whore, or this Babylon, but admirably agreeth to Rome in its present state.

Poole: Rev 17:4 - -- And the woman was arrayed in a purple and scarlet colour purple was the colour of kings and princes: this woman, Rev 18:7 , said she was queen. ...

And the woman was arrayed in a purple and scarlet colour purple was the colour of kings and princes: this woman, Rev 18:7 , said she was queen.

Scarlet also was a rich and noble colour, anciently most used in a time of war. How much it is in use with the pope and his cardinals, is sufficiently known.

And decked with gold and precious stones and pearls this shows the worldly riches of the papacy.

Having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication alluring and tempting persons to idolatry, as whores use to do with their philters, or enchanted cups, allure and provoke men to sensual satisfactions.

Poole: Rev 17:5 - -- And upon her forehead was a name written as public harlots were wont to write their names, some upon the fronts of their houses, some upon their fore...

And upon her forehead was a name written as public harlots were wont to write their names, some upon the fronts of their houses, some upon their foreheads: it denotes the open guilt and impudence of this spiritual harlot.

Mystery that is, there is a mystery in what follows in her name.

Babylon the great not to be understood of the Chaldean Babylon, but of a city or polity under the gospel; as, Rev 11:8 , she was called spiritually Sodom and Egypt, so also in a spiritual or mystical sense she is called Babylon, because a city like to Babylon for idolatry and persecution of God’ s Israel.

The mother of harlots not it mere harlot but one that bred up harlots, and nursed up idolatry, communicating it to others. This is the true name of Rome instead of "holy mother church."

And abominations of the earth a place in which not only idolatry reigneth, but all abominable things committed in the world; carnal whoredom tolerated by them, and sodomy, &c.

Poole: Rev 17:6 - -- And I saw the woman the papacy, drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus filled with the blood of those holy...

And I saw the woman the papacy, drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus filled with the blood of those holy ones, which she caused to be slain for bearing testimony to Jesus Christ.

And when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration which he would not have done had it been a pagan Rome he had seen in this vision. But that any that owned Christ, and called themselves the holy church, should kill men for bearing testimony to Christ, and adherence to his rule of faith and life, this caused in John a just wonderment.

Poole: Rev 17:7 - -- The angel promiseth to open this vision, it being the key of the former vision, and is the only vision expounded throughout this whole book.

The angel promiseth to open this vision, it being the key of the former vision, and is the only vision expounded throughout this whole book.

Poole: Rev 17:8 - -- The beast that thou sawest this beast was the Roman empire, the scarlet coloured beast which carried the whore, Rev 17:3 . Was, and is not ; was ...

The beast that thou sawest this beast was the Roman empire, the scarlet coloured beast which carried the whore, Rev 17:3 .

Was, and is not ; was of old, in Rome’ s pagan state, and is not, not in that form, not now pagan;

and yet is (as is said in the close of the verse) the same in another form, idolatrous and persecuting.

And shall ascend out of the bottomless pit either, out of the sea, which signifies a multitude of people; or, from hell; the word signifies both.

And go into perdition and shall certainly be destroyed.

And they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, &c.: but before he goes into perdition he shall so cheat the world, that the generality of the people shall wonder at the beast, see Rev 8:8setting aside those who are chosen of God to eternal salvation; the one hundred and forty-four thousand, mentioned Rev 14:3 . I conceive that which hath made interpreters so divided in their notions about this beast is, because those words, and yet is, are not added in the beginning of the verse, which being understood, there appears no difficulty considerable; for it is certain the Roman empire was from before Christ, and continued pagan till the year 310; then was not pagan, but Christian, yet after some years was again as idolatrous and bloody against Christians, as the old pagan empire was; especially when swallowed up by the pope, the beast with two horns like a lamb. This is the beast with seven heads and ten horns, Rev 13:1 .

Poole: Rev 17:9 - -- And here is the mind which hath wisdom that is, here is that which requireth a mind endued with spiritual wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountain...

And here is the mind which hath wisdom that is, here is that which requireth a mind endued with spiritual wisdom.

The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth the seven heads which he saw the beast with, signified seven mountains or hills upon which Rome is situated; they were named before: See Poole on "Rev 17:3" . They tell us now Rome is situated in Campo Martio. Resp. Whatever it now is, certain it is, that in St. John’ s time it was situated upon them, and they are now within the compass of Rome.

Poole: Rev 17:10 - -- And there are seven kings the seven heads do not only signify seven hills or mountains, but also seven kings, that is, (according to the best in...

And there are seven kings the seven heads do not only signify seven hills or mountains, but also seven kings, that is, (according to the best interpretation I meet with), seven forms of government which ruled Rome; the term kings, it Scripture, signifying rulers, whether the government was in single persons, or more, as Deu 33:5 . Rome was governed:

1. By kings.

2. By consuls.

3. Tribunes.

4. Decemvirs.

5. Dictators.

6. Emperors that were pagans.

7. Emperors that were Christians.

Five are fallen five of these were fallen, extinguishied before John’ s time, viz. the government by kings, consuls, tribunes, decemvirs, dictators.

And one is the government by pagan emperors was at that time in being.

And the other is not yet come the government by Christian emperors was not yet in being.

And when he cometh, he must continue a short space and when it came, it held but a little time before the bishops of Rome wrested the government of Italy out of their hands. This to me seemeth the most probable interpretation of this difficult text.

Poole: Rev 17:11 - -- And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth this made the eighth succession of governments in the Roman empire. And is of the seven t...

And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth this made the eighth succession of governments in the Roman empire.

And is of the seven this was of the seventh head; for although this was the eighth government in order as we have counted them, yet one of these, viz. the seventh, (which was that of true Christian emperors), must not be counted as one of the seven heads, which were all idolatrous: so though this was the eighth government, yet he was one of the seven heads, i.e. idolatrous governments.

And goeth into perdition and to be destroyed as they were.

Poole: Rev 17:12 - -- And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings: possibly by ten kings here are not meant monarchs, but governments. Which have received no king...

And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings: possibly by ten kings here are not meant monarchs, but governments.

Which have received no kingdom as yet which were not in being in John’ s time, nor in many years after.

But receive power as kings one hour with the beast but should, during some time of the beast’ s reign, have power with the papacy, employing their power with his to establish his idolatry. But who these ten monarchs are, or what these ten governmts are, I must confess myself at a loss to determine. It is plain they should be:

1. Such as should be contemporaneous with the reign of the beast.

2. Such as employed their power in conjunction with his.

3. Such as should afterwards be instruments to ruin the papacy, Rev 17:16,17 .

The beast’ s reign being twelve hundred and sixty years, there hath been, and will be, such a variety of princes and governments, as it is very hard to determine who they shall be. But their being contemporaneous with the beast, makes me think it cannot be understood either of any that were in the world before the year 606, when the beast’ s reign began (though the mystery of iniquity was working, and the image of the beast was making, long before); as also that the ten barbarous nations that disturbed Italy from the year 410 till near 600 could not be meant, being all before antichrist came to any reign; nor did they ever show any great love or hatred to the pope; sometimes serving, sometimes opposing him, as suited their respective civil interests. I am very inclinable to think the prophecy to concern some kings nearer the end of antichrist’ s reign, who though for a while they served the papacy, yet shall at last be instruments to ruin him; but who they are shall do this, or when it shall be, I cannot determine.

Poole: Rev 17:13 - -- They shall all be papists, and for a while shall employ all their power and strength to uphold the popish religion.

They shall all be papists, and for a while shall employ all their power and strength to uphold the popish religion.

Poole: Rev 17:14 - -- These shall make war with the Lamb these ten kings shall a while oppose themselves to the gospel, taking part with antichrist. And the Lamb shall ov...

These shall make war with the Lamb these ten kings shall a while oppose themselves to the gospel, taking part with antichrist.

And the Lamb shall overcome them Christ shall overcome them by the power of is gospel, or some of them that way; others, that will not be converted, shall be confounded, some way or other brought to ruin.

For he is Lord of lords and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful for he hath a power above others, and knows how to fit instruments for his purpose; so as those whom he shall make use of in this work, shall be chosen persons, and faithful in discharge of the trust committed to them.

Poole: Rev 17:15 - -- John saw the great whore sitting upon seven mountains, Rev 17:9 , and upon many waters, Rev 17:1 ; these signified her dominion and jurisdiction...

John saw the great whore sitting upon seven mountains, Rev 17:9 , and upon many waters, Rev 17:1 ; these signified her dominion and jurisdiction over many people.

PBC: Rev 17:1 - -- The Judgment of the great whore, called Babylon and Jerusalem {Re 17:1-6} Re 17:1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, a...

The Judgment of the great whore, called Babylon and Jerusalem {Re 17:1-6}

Re 17:1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:

God gave a commandment to Israel concerning prostitution and whoredom. " Do not prostitute thy daughter, to cause her to be a whore; lest the land fall to whoredom, and the land become full of wickedness." {Le 19:29}

The reputation of this " great Whore" had gone out to all the nations roundabout Jerusalem. She is the daughter of God in the respect that she remains under the judgment of God. Ezekiel gives us great insight concerning Jerusalem. " Thou hast played the whore also with the Assyrians, because thou wast unsatiable; yea, thou hast played the harlot with them, and yet couldest not be satisfied." {Eze 16:28-45} He continues by saying that she had multiplied her fornication in the land of Canaan unto Chaldea. He says this is the work of an imperious whorish woman. She is as a wife that commits adultery, which taketh strangers instead of her husband! We understand this to be speaking to Israel before she was taken into captivity. Yet, like so many of today who have forgotten the goodness of God, Israel had not learned. Her heart remained adamant. Because of all these things, God pronounced Judgment on her. " Wherefore, O harlot, hear the word of the LORD: Israel shall be judged as women that break wedlock and shed blood. I will give thee blood in fury and jealousy." {Eze 16:35} Jerusalem’s sins were as bad in John’s vision as when Ezekiel wrote of them. The prophecy seemed identical. " And I will also give thee into their hand, and they shall throw down thine eminent place, and shall break down thy high places: they shall strip thee also of thy clothes, and shall take thy fair jewels, and leave thee naked and bare. They shall also bring up a company against thee, and they shall stone thee with stones, and thrust thee through with their swords. And they shall burn thine houses with fire." {Eze 16:39-41} —Eld. Charles Taylor

PBC: Rev 17:2 - -- Fornication is described by the Greek word porneuo, to act the harlot, i.e., indulge unlawful lust (of either sex), or practice idolatry, commit (forn...

Fornication is described by the Greek word porneuo, to act the harlot, i.e., indulge unlawful lust (of either sex), or practice idolatry, commit (fornication). Porneuo is used in the parable of the prodigal son who had wasted his inheritance among harlots.

The kings of the earth knew Jerusalem’s idolatry. Jesus said to the Pharisees, " Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves." {Mt 23:15}

Some might argue that this could not be Jerusalem because the verse ends with " the great whore that sitteth upon many waters." Let the Scripture be its own interpreter. " And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues." {Re 17:15} The Jews were scattered abroad among all nations. Many of these were still faithful to Jerusalem. On the day of Pentecost there were " dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven." {Ac 2:5} This indicates strongly that this great whore is indeed Jerusalem. These Jews had gathered for the celebration of Pentecost commanded under the law.— Eld. Charles Taylor

PBC: Rev 17:3 - -- This woman, who was situated spiritually in a wilderness,[1] is still identified as Jerusalem. She is the same as the one identified in Re 13:1. The s...

This woman, who was situated spiritually in a wilderness,[1] is still identified as Jerusalem. She is the same as the one identified in Re 13:1. The scarlet coloured beast on which she sat is still the same as in Re 13:2. This beast, which seems to be the fourth world empire, is Rome. It has incorporated all the terrors of the evil empires which had gone before. All of the evil which the Roman Empire spewed from its mouth was derived from the dragon (Satan) which John saw rising out of the earth.— Eld. Charles Taylor

[1] eremos, er’-ay-mos; of uncertain. affinity.; lonesome, i.e. (by implication) waste (usually as a noun, being implied)—desert, desolate, solitary, wilderness.

PBC: Rev 17:4 - -- Re 17:4 The clothing of the woman Re 17:4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearl...

Re 17:4

The clothing of the woman

Re 17:4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:

This woman is the same as the great whore. The clothing with which she is arrayed is the same as clothing designated for " Temple attire." Let us examine this in the light of Scripture. Beginning with Ex 28:4, we find the Temple attire of Aaron and his sons; " And these are the garments which they shall make; a breastplate, and an ephod, and a robe, and a broidered coat, a mitre, and a girdle: and they shall make holy garments for Aaron thy brother, and his sons, that he may minister unto me in the priest’s office." {Ex 28:4} This attire would be of gold, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen. It would have shoulder pieces of onyx stones engraved with the names of the children of Israel. They would also have on a breastplate with the names of Israel engraved thereon. These would be fastened together with golden chains. This woman (Jerusalem) would still bear the outward appearance of those who worshiped God. However, their hearts would be far from Him. Although Jerusalem still carried out the work of priestly observance, this was only in the fulfillment of the letter of the law.— Eld. Charles Taylor

PBC: Rev 17:5 - -- Like those who would wear the number of the beast upon their forehead and in the palm of their hands, so would this woman be identified by the working...

Like those who would wear the number of the beast upon their forehead and in the palm of their hands, so would this woman be identified by the working of her mind. Babylon[1] the great. This woman has not changed identification. It must be concluded that she is either Rome, or she is Jerusalem. She does not switch identification. In Re 11:8, she is spiritually called Sodom and Egypt, " where also our Lord was crucified." This is the terrible condition of Jerusalem that she should be called the mother of harlots. Spiritually, she is in the same league with Sodom and Egypt. Wickedness prevailed at every turn, so much so that Jesus called her religious leaders hypocrites.

Jeremiah spoke of Babylon and the golden cup, " Babylon hath been a golden cup in the LORD’S hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad." {Jer 51:7} This and Re 17:4 are the only passages that speak of Babylon and the golden cup in the same context. It would not be truthful to say that Jeremiah was speaking of Jerusalem. He was not. The Babylon of Jeremiah’s writing was speaking of the Babylonian empire of which the Children of Israel were in bondage. Now Jerusalem is in the same league.— Eld. Charles Taylor

[1] Babulon, bab-oo-lone’;of Hebrew or. Babel; Babylon, the capital of Chaldaea (lititurally or figuratively [as a type of tyranny])—Babylon

PBC: Rev 17:6 - -- Re 17:6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with grea...

Re 17:6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.[1]

In Jeremiah, Babylon had made all the earth drunken with the wine which represents her wickedness. Now we see the woman of Revelation drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. We again identify this last part with Jerusalem as Jesus said " That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar." {Mt 23:35} She is charged with that blood because of her demeanor. Ever more she became enthralled and drunken by taking the lives of those who were followers of Christ.

We know that Peter wrote of Babylon. Some who say that Babylon was Rome also declare that Peter wrote his epistles from Rome. Therefore, they deduct the theory that he was referring to Babylon as being Rome. We realize this is a very hard question to settle. We have no Biblical record that Peter was ever in Rome. However, he did receive great persecution in Judea. Again, let the Scriptures speak of this bloodthirsty area. " Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church. And he killed James the brother of John with the sword. And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. (Then were the days of unleavened bread)." {Ac 12:1-3} The phrase in parentheses gives us the clue to the location of this persecution. The time was the feast of Passover and the feast of unleavened bread. Exodus describes it as the feast of Unleavened Bread following immediately, and connected to the Passover. This was one of three feasts which the Mosaic Law enjoined to be attended by all male Jews who were physically able and ceremonially clean. Peter and the other apostles were in Jerusalem at that time.[2]  So Peter could rightly say " The church that is at Babylon, elected together with you, saluteth you; and so doth Marcus my son." {1Pe 5:13} It would be fair and we believe truthful to say that Peter was speaking of Jerusalem. Since we are dealing with figurative terminologies, it is highly probable that Jerusalem, with her wickedness, was easily comparable with Babylon of Jeremiah’s time.— Eld. Charles Taylor

[1] theaomai, theh-ah’-om-ahee; a form of a primary. verb; to look closely at, i.e. (by implication) to perceive (literakky or figuratively); by extens. to visit—behold,

[2] God’s time calendar still prevailing to prove His truths! See Ex 23:17 and De 16:16.

PBC: Rev 17:7 - -- Re 17:7 The Beast Which Carried the Woman Re 17:7 And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman...

Re 17:7

The Beast Which Carried the Woman

Re 17:7 And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.

Certainly the woman is a mystery. It takes spiritual interpretation to find the identity of this woman. We have spent quite a bit of time in bringing to light what we believe to be Biblical interpretation. She must be Jerusalem. How then can we fit into the picture this beast which has seven heads and ten horns. We must see that it is the beast which carries the woman, Jerusalem. So the beast is predominant in our identification. We have already identified the beast as being Rome. Rome was the power which carried, or propelled Jerusalem in all of her ungodly acts. Rome was delighted when Herod Antipas reached forth the sword in persecution of the early church.— Eld. Charles Taylor

PBC: Rev 17:8 - -- These words were spoken to John on Patmos. The beast is explained to him as having been in power, yet at this time is not in power but shall ascend ou...

These words were spoken to John on Patmos. The beast is explained to him as having been in power, yet at this time is not in power but shall ascend out of the pit and shall again practice the acts of perdition which once were practiced. What were these terrible acts which God hated?

Idolatry was practiced in Judea in the act of Caesar worship. Temples were built for the purpose of worshiping the Caesars as gods. However, this was not the meaning of this verse. We must go back to Nero, A.D. 55-68, who was the most evil of the emperors up to his time. He was the fifth Emperor of Rome. He is described figuratively by John as " the beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition." History verifies that this was the belief of some who believed that Nero would reappear. The character and disposition of Nero re-appeared in the Emperor Domitian. — Eld. Charles Taylor

PBC: Rev 17:9 - -- These seven heads are the seven hills upon which Rome sits. " And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a be...

These seven heads are the seven hills upon which Rome sits. " And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority." {Re 13:2} Let us go to the vision of Daniel to find this beast.

In Da 7:3-7 we find a vision of four great beasts who come out of the sea. These beasts are the symbols of the great empires which had held world power. The first three empires were the Babylonian (Lion with an eagle’s wings), the Medo-Persian (Like a bear), and the Grecian (Leopard with four wings). These powers (three world empires) were so savage and cruel and inhuman that they could be typified and symbolized with nothing but bestial figures. The fourth beast of Daniel’s vision was diverse from all the rest: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: " and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns." In John’s vision these first three beasts were combined. This beast in Re 13:2 is like a leopard with bear’s feet and a lion’s mouth. This beast, which is the fourth world empire, is Rome. It has incorporated all the terrors of the evil empires which had gone before. All of the evil which the Roman Empire spewed from its mouth was derived from the great red Dragon, (which is Satan). We read in Re 13:4, " And they worshiped the dragon[1] which gave power unto the beast: and they worshiped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?" History tells us " The peoples of the empire worshiped the Pax Romana[2] [Roman Peace] as a goddess. Everywhere, people showed their appreciation by worshiping the emperors and the Pax Romana, by desiring Roman citizenship, and by imitating Roman ways." This worshiping of emperors and the Pax Romana certainly was of Satan. And they worshiped the dragon which gave power unto the beast.— Eld. Charles Taylor

[1] This is the great red Dragon (Satan) of Re 12:3.

[2] Excerpts from Magoffin and Duncalf, pp-358-369

PBC: Rev 17:10 - -- To interpret this verse we must bypass the Emperors, Galba, Otho, and Vitellius who were never really emperors. They were placed in office by the Roma...

To interpret this verse we must bypass the Emperors, Galba, Otho, and Vitellius who were never really emperors. They were placed in office by the Roman army. They never really exercised any power, but were more or less figure heads. The entire time of the reign of Galba, Otho, and Vitellius spanned only one year, A.D. 68-A.D. 69.

Following these was Vespasian, who was appointed Emperor and reigned from A.D. 69-A.D. 79. He was the one who reigned when Jerusalem was destroyed by Titus, his son. Vespasian would be considered this one spoken of by John in Re 17:10 as being " and one is." He is the sixth, " and the other is not yet come and when he cometh, he must continue a short space." Titus followed his father, Vespasian, and remained in power a short space of time, A.D. 79-A.D. 81. This makes Titus the seventh. There is logic in this reasoning as we will see during the explanation of the next verse.— Eld. Charles Taylor

PBC: Rev 17:11 - -- Domitian, who was Emperor from A.D. 81-A.D. 96 would be counted as the eighth. How could he be of the seven? How could he be the " beast that was, and...

Domitian, who was Emperor from A.D. 81-A.D. 96 would be counted as the eighth. How could he be of the seven? How could he be the " beast that was, and is not?" If we view this through the eyes of the Romans of that time, maybe we can interpret this as John saw it.

We have already studied the life of Nero, who was the fifth Emperor of the Roman Empire. He was looked upon as the incarnated Satan because of his madness and cruelty. Certainly we could say that Nero was one of the seven. John was condemned to the isle of Patmos during the persecution of Nero. John was very well acquainted with the ways of Nero. Now he speaks of this one who is to come (the eighth) which is of the seven. This was Domitian[1] who was the brother of Titus, and the eighth Emperor (excluding Galba, Otho, and Vitellius) who reigned during the time of emperor worship. At first, Domitian was an excellent ruler. He rebuilt much that had been destroyed by rebellion. According to records,[2] in A.D. 86, Domitian’s army suffered a defeat at the hands of the Dacians.[3]  This was the dividing line between his better and worse sides. " He filled the Capitol with statues of himself, announced the divinity of his father, brother, wife, and sisters as well as his own, organized a new order of priests, the Flaviales, to tend the worship of these new deities, and required officials to speak of him, in their documents, as Dominus et Deus Noster -’Our Lord and God.’ He sat on a throne, encouraged visitors to embrace his knees, and established in his ornate palace the etiquette of an Oriental court." He banished from Italy all who refused to adore the godhead of Domitian, and among these were Jews and Christians. It is said that no citizen of any prominence could feel safe from spies, even in his home. They killed and tortured many, even by having " fire inserted into their private parts."

In this respect, Domitian could be figuratively called Nero, or that one who would go into perdition. Domitian was the last of those History calls the evil emperors. He was assassinated in A.D.96.— Eld. Charles Taylor

[1] Review the explanation of Re 17:8 (See PB: Re 17:8.) Domitian would become as bad, if not worse than Nero. These rulers were described as being beastly and bestial. This would allow them to carry the name of " beast."

[2] " Caesar and Christ," Pages 289-294 -A History or Roman Civilization and of Christianity From Their Beginning to A.D. 325 Simon & Shuster

[3] Dacia -Rumania (Romania).

PBC: Rev 17:12 - -- Re 17:12 Ten Horns are Ten Kings Re 17:12-13 And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive p...

Re 17:12

Ten Horns are Ten Kings

Re 17:12-13 And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.

We are brought back to the interpretation of the ten kings. We can only do this by looking at the time period of emperor worship. These ten[1] who are mentioned as beginning with Tiberius and ending with Domitian are absolute. They include the three (Galba, Otho, and Vitellius) who are not mentioned in the seven of Re 17:10-11. Although these three were emperors for a season, their kingdoms were unstable. They possessed none in their own right. It was during the reign of Augustus Caesar that Christ was born. It was permissible under his rule for Herod to seek to kill the Christ Child. As we come through the reigning periods of the ten emperors, we find great persecution and murder being experienced by all who will not worship the beast. This great whore was under the command of Rome for a season. Together, with Rome they made war with the Lamb. Jesus said, " But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me." {Joh 15:21} Again Jesus said as He prayed to the Father, " I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world." {Joh 17:14} —Eld. Charles Taylor

[1] Seven of these ten Emperors met a violent end; nearly all of them were unhappy, surrounded by conspiracy, dishonesty, and intrigue, trying to govern a world from the anarchy of a home. They indulged their appetites because they knew how brief was their omnipotence; they lived in the daily horror of men condemned to an early and sudden death. They went under because they were above the law; they became less than men because power had made them gods. -from " Caesar and Christ" -by Will Durant -A History of Roman Civilization and of Christianity from Their Beginning, Simon & Shuster..

PBC: Rev 17:14 - -- Here is a promise to all that are with him and are called, and chosen and faithful. This fulfillment and finality is realized in Re 19:11,13-14,16. " ...

Here is a promise to all that are with him and are called, and chosen and faithful. This fulfillment and finality is realized in Re 19:11,13-14,16. " And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.... And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God—And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean—.And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS."

The Lord of Lords directed the armies of Rome against Jerusalem, " And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer." {Re 6:2} —Eld. Charles Taylor

PBC: Rev 17:15 - -- This is referring us to Jerusalem " the great whore that sitteth upon many waters." {Re 17:1} The seven vials are poured out on Jerusalem. She is thi...

This is referring us to Jerusalem " the great whore that sitteth upon many waters." {Re 17:1} The seven vials are poured out on Jerusalem. She is this whore who will receive the terrible judgment of God.— Eld. Charles Taylor

Haydock: Rev 17:1 - -- I must repeat what I have already taken notice of, both in the preface to the Apocalypse, and sometimes in the annotations, that there are three ways ...

I must repeat what I have already taken notice of, both in the preface to the Apocalypse, and sometimes in the annotations, that there are three ways of expounding all the visions of this revelation, from the end of chap. iii. to the end of ver. 10. chap. xx. all of which seem grounded on the opinions of the ancient Fathers. According to the first, all these visions are only to be fulfilled in antichrist's time, a little before the end of the world. According to the second, the visions may be applied to particular events, which happened in the first three or four ages [centuries], under the persecuting heathens, till by Constantine, and the succeeding Christian emperors, idolatry by degrees was extirpated, and the faith of Christ triumphed over all its enemies, whether Jews or pagans. According to the third, by the great city of Babylon, is mystically and metaphorically signified all wicked great cities in the world, all the multitude of the wicked dispersed in all nations, their short and vain happiness, their persecutions and oppressions of the good and faithful servants of God, who live piously in this world, and who are called to be citizens of the celestial Jerusalem in the kingdom of God, where he reigneth for ever with his Angels and saints, and where they all reign with him, happy in his sight and enjoyment. I am more and more inclined to this third exposition, by reading this 17th chapter, with the contents of the 18th, 19th, and 20th chapters, till the 11th verse, and by reading what St. Jerome says in general terms, in his epistle to Marcella, tom. 4, part 1, p. 166, Nov. edit. " that all this book (of the Apocalypse) is either to be expounded spiritually, or if we follow a carnal interpretation, we must content ourselves with Jewish fables. And especially by reading what St. Augustine has delivered us upon the chief difficulties of the Apocalypse, in his 20th book de Civ. Dei [The City of God], from chap. vi. to chap. xvi. and from p. 578. to p. 594. tom. 7. Nov. edit. To expound then these chapters together according to this third interpretation. (Witham) ---

Of the great harlot. Nothing can be better applied than this epithet to ancient Rome, which had conquered almost all the kingdoms of the known world, as it is said in ver. 18. she is the great city, a kingdom, which hath dominion over the kings of the earth; ver. 9. it was built upon seven mountains ; ver. 6. was watered with the blood of the saints and martyrs of Jesus Christ; and in fine, ver. 5. it was the great Babylon, as St. Peter, in his first epistle, pleases to call it. (Calmet) ---

Come, I will show thee the condemnation of the great harlot,...Babylon....the mother of the fornications . By this harlot, and this Babylon, is signified the multitude of all the wicked of all times and places, who have abandoned themselves to sensual pleasures, and sought for their happiness in riches and worldly grandeur; for this reason she is said to carry on her forehead this inscription, a mystery; that is, to be understood in a mystical sense of all the wicked, who make up as it were one city, as St. Augustine observes, which may be called Babylon, the city of confusion, the city of idolatry, and of all manner of vices. ---

The beast, that is, the devil, carries her, whose suggestions the wicked follow. He comes out from the bottomless pit. He was, i.e. had a much greater and more extensive power over the wicked world before Christ's coming and incarnation; and he is not, i.e. according to St. Augustine, his power hath been much extenuated and lessened since that time. He is bound or chained up for a thousand years, as it is said, chap. xx. 2. By which may be understood all the time from Christ's coming, and the establishing of his Christian Church, till the last and severest persecution under antichrist. See St. Augustine, lib. xx. de Civ. Dei. chap. vii. And when he shall come again, and be let loose, as it were, in antichrist's time, he must continue a short while: for all the ancient fathers agree, by the interpretations they give to the Scripture, that antichrist, and consequently the devil with antichrist, must reign but a short time. The scarlet coloured beast, the devil, called the prince of this world, on whom the harlot gilded with gold sat; that is, all the wicked, and particularly all wicked kings and princes, with their worldly greatness, who were drunk with the wine of her prostitution; that is, who abandoned themselves and indulged their passions with all sensual pleasures, and contented themselves with the vain and deceitful happiness of this life; to be convinced of which, the Angel is said to have taken St. John in spirit into a wilderness from the company of the wicked world, the better to see and contemplate the vanity of their short and false happiness. This woman , the harlot, this Babylon, this multitude of the wicked, especially the heathen persecuting emperors at Rome, and in all other places, (and they who acted against the Christians under them) are said to be drunk with the blood of the saints, and the blood of the martyrs, by putting the Christians, the Catholics and the servants of God to death, from the foundation of the world to its consummation, by the instigation of the beast, the devil. The beast, the devil, is represented with seven heads and ten horns; that is, with many heads and many horns, signified by the numbers seven and ten. See St. Augustine, chap. xxiii. p. 606. ---

The seven heads, as it is said, ver. 9, are seven mountains and seven kings, i.e. a great many. And also the ten horns, (ver. 12.) are ten kings. (Witham)

Haydock: Rev 17:4 - -- Cup....full of the abomination, &c. These are common scriptural expressions for the abominations of idolatry, with which ancient Rome had notoriousl...

Cup....full of the abomination, &c. These are common scriptural expressions for the abominations of idolatry, with which ancient Rome had notoriously polluted herself. For not content with worshipping her own heathenish gods, she adopted those of all the countries and nations she had subdued. In Rome itself there were no less than 420 heathenish temples, so that one of their most famous poets, Ovid, (lib. i. Trist.) says: Sed quæ de septem totum circumspicit orbem,

mortibus Imperii, Roma, Deumque locus.

Haydock: Rev 17:5 - -- A mystery. That is, a secret, because what follows of the name and title of the great harlot is to be taken in a mystical sense. --- Babylon. Eit...

A mystery. That is, a secret, because what follows of the name and title of the great harlot is to be taken in a mystical sense. ---

Babylon. Either the city of the devil in general; or, if this place be to be understood of any particular city, pagan Rome, which then and for 300 years persecuted the Church, and was the principal seat both of empire and idolatry. (Challoner)

Haydock: Rev 17:6 - -- Drunk with the blood of the saints. Such was pagan Rome, for innumerable were the martyrs she put to death, both throughout the extent of her vast...

Drunk with the blood of the saints. Such was pagan Rome, for innumerable were the martyrs she put to death, both throughout the extent of her vast dominions, and even in her own bosom, the city itself. These were the victims of the ten persecutions raised by Rome against the Christians. Such was the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. (Pastorini)

Haydock: Rev 17:8 - -- The beast which thou sawest. This beast, which supports Babylon, may signify the power of the devil; which was, and is not, being much limited by ...

The beast which thou sawest. This beast, which supports Babylon, may signify the power of the devil; which was, and is not, being much limited by the coming of Christ, but shall again exert itself under antichrist. The seven heads of this beast are seven mountains or empires, instruments of his tyranny; of which five were then fallen, as above, chap. xiii. ver. 1. The beast itself is said to be the eighth, and is of the seventh; because they all act under the devil, and by his instigation, so that his power is in them all, yet so as to make up, as it were, an eighth empire distinct from them all. (Challoner)

Haydock: Rev 17:9 - -- Seven mountains . We have already observed that ancient Rome stood upon seven mountains. The same cannot be said of modern Rome, as some of the hill...

Seven mountains . We have already observed that ancient Rome stood upon seven mountains. The same cannot be said of modern Rome, as some of the hills are not inhabited. ---

The seven heads....are seven kings, or seven Roman emperors, who were particularly distinguished as the chief supporters of idolatry, and the most virulent persecutors of the Christian religion. Their names were Nero, Domitian, Severus, Decius, Valerian, Dioclesian and Antichrist. ---

Five of them are fallen or gone, viz. Nero, Domitian, Severus, Decius, Valerian, who supported the idolatrous empire for a time; one is, viz. Dioclesian, with whom the reign of idolatry falls; and the other is not yet come, that is, antichrist.

Haydock: Rev 17:10 - -- Five are fallen, one is, and the other is not yet. The meaning of this is obscure. And perhaps it were better to own with St. Augustine that we do ...

Five are fallen, one is, and the other is not yet. The meaning of this is obscure. And perhaps it were better to own with St. Augustine that we do not know the meaning, than to advance suspicions and conjectures. But it is not improbable that by these seven kings may be understood the collection of kings, in what are called the seven ages of the world, from its creations to its consummation. The first age, is reckoned from Adam to Noe [Noah], and the deluge: the second age, from Noe to Abraham; the third, from Abraham to Moses; the fourth, from Moses to David; the fifth, from David to Christ. These five were past, and fallen, when St. John wrote. The sixth is, and is to last from Christ to antichrist. And another, the seventh, is not, being the time of antichrist, and only a short time. See Cornelius a Lapide on this verse. (Witham)

Haydock: Rev 17:11 - -- The beast that was, and is not: is the eighth: and is of seven. The devil reigns with the kings in all these ages: he is of the seven, because h...

The beast that was, and is not: is the eighth: and is of seven. The devil reigns with the kings in all these ages: he is of the seven, because he is the prince under whom reign the wicked in all ages: he is also the eighth, inasmuch as he is their prince, and they are only his instruments. (Witham)

Haydock: Rev 17:12 - -- The ten horns, or ten kings, which thou sawest, as yet have received no kingdom, but shall receive power as kings one hour after the beast; or, a...

The ten horns, or ten kings, which thou sawest, as yet have received no kingdom, but shall receive power as kings one hour after the beast; or, as it is in the Greek, with the beast. According to the common interpretation, this must be referred to ten, or many kings, who are different from all the wicked kings that had been, and who should follow and live at the same time with the beast, by which here seems to be signified antichrist. Or, if by these ten kings we understand all the wicked kings, who were to come after St. John wrote, to the end of the world, they had not yet kingdoms, but the kingdoms which they should have, and all their vain happiness, would be very short, and at the same time they would be under the beast, and subject to him. (Witham) ---

Ten horns. These denote ten kings or ten powers; namely, Goths, Huns, Alans, Vandals, Saxons, Burgundians, Franks, Heruli, Suevi, &c. the chief of the barbarians that invaded the Roman empire in the fifth century. ---

They shall receive power as kings one hour after the beast ; that is, they will serve under their own leaders, to assist pagan Rome a little against its enemies; and their one design is afterwards to take the fruitful provinces of Rome to themselves, which we know they did. (Pastorini) ---

Ten kings. Ten lesser kingdoms, enemies also of the Church of Christ; which nevertheless shall be made instruments of the justice of God, for the punishment of Babylon. Some understand this of the Goths, Vandals, Huns, and other barbarous nations that destroyed the empire of Rome. (Challoner)

Haydock: Rev 17:13 - -- These have one design, to make themselves as happy as they can in this world: and their power they shall give to the beast, being always slaves o...

These have one design, to make themselves as happy as they can in this world: and their power they shall give to the beast, being always slaves of the devil. (Witham)

Haydock: Rev 17:14 - -- These shall fight with the Lamb. There actions and affections being always led away with the love of this world, which is an enemy to Christ and his...

These shall fight with the Lamb. There actions and affections being always led away with the love of this world, which is an enemy to Christ and his doctrine: but the Lamb, Christ, shall overcome them, and punish them, when he pleases: for he, Christ, God and man, is Lord of lords, and King of kings; and as St. John says again, (chap. xix. 16,) has written on his thigh, the King of kings, and Lord of lords, to signify to us his divinity, or divine nature. (Witham) ---

All these different people were either heathens or heretics, and of course were bitter enemies to the Catholic religion; but the Lamb overcame them, by turning their hearts, and converting them to Christianity.

Haydock: Rev 17:15 - -- The waters which thou sawest, where the harlot sitteth , signify the different nations, in all which is a multitude of wicked, especially among the gr...

The waters which thou sawest, where the harlot sitteth , signify the different nations, in all which is a multitude of wicked, especially among the great ones of this world. (Witham) ---

And the ten horns....shall hate the harlot. That is, ancient Rome; they will make her desolate, by laying waste all her provinces; they will make her....naked, by stripping her of her shining ornaments, her gaudy palaces, Egyptian obelisks, magnificent temples, theatres, triumphal arches, &c. ---

They will eat her flesh, by plundering her of her wealth and riches, with which she has fed herself by plundering the rest of the world; and lastly, they will burn her with fire; all which we know has been accomplished, even to a tittle. (Pastorini) ---

Alaric, the Goth, in 410, took the city, pillaged it, and delivered it over to fire and the plunder of his soldiers for three days. The only privileged places that escaped were the churches. (Calmet) ---

Genseric plundered it for fourteen days, in 455, and set fire to it. Odoacer took it, and deposed the emperor, in 476; and Totila, in 546, burnt it, and reduced it to a solitude. Procopius says he left not one human creature in the city. (Pastorini) ---

These shall hate the harlot. There is no true love or friendship among them: the wicked hate, envy, make war against the wicked, though they make alliances sometimes one with another. ---

For God hath put it into their hearts, permits them, and makes use of them as instruments of his justice, against one another: and they give their kingdom to the beast: the wicked reign under the prince of this world, the devil, as long as God pleases, and till his words and judgments are fulfilled. All the contents of the following chapters agree with this exposition. When the Angels cries, (chap. xviii.) Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, the false happiness of the wicked is come to its last period; though St. John speaks sometimes by anticipation, especially when the rejoicings of the saints are represented, and the miseries and consternation of the wicked, to encourage the servants of God to patience and perseverance under their trials and persecutions in this mortal life. Babylon will in a short time be the habitation of devils: and therefore the good are admonished by these words, go out of her, my people, avoid and detest her wicked ways. Almighty God hath remembered her iniquities, the provocations of the wicked, nor can they escape the hand of his justice. They lived as if they were never to be called to an account. Babylon, blinded with sensual delights, pride, and vanity, said in her heart, I sit as a queen above others, and sorrow I shall not see; like the wicked in the psalmist, who is Lord over us? (Psalm xi.) But all her plagues (chap. xviii. 8.) come in one day, at the day of death, or the day of judgment. Then are represented the weeping and mourning of all the accomplices of the wicked, like the disappointment of merchants by the burning and destruction of a great city, where they found so great profit in disposing and selling their merchandise. After this, in the 19th chapter, the blessed in heaven sing Alleluia, &c. the God Almighty hath reigned, or is about to reign. At the latter end of the 19th chapter, ver. 17, it is said, I saw an Angel standing in the sun; saying to all the birds, &c. Here are represented God's judgments on the wicked, as it were after a great battle, in which kings and many noblemen are slain, so that the birds are invited to drink of their blood. ---

The beast was taken, and with him the false prophet. We may take this as spoken by anticipation of antichrist, and his great impostor, or false prophet. For still after this, (chap. xx. 7,) is foretold, according to St. Augustine, the last persecution by the devil, and by antichrist, with Gog and Magog; for it is then that fire came down from heaven, and was to devour them; and there it is expressed that the devil, who seduced them, and all the wicked, was cast into the lake of fire, into hell, where also the beast, antichrist, and the false prophet shall be tormented for ever and ever. Now to give a short account of the two other expositions. The first of them, followed by a great many, (as may be seen in Alcazar and Cornelius a Lapide) holds that all these visions will come to pass in the short reign of antichrist, a little while before the end of the world. These interpreters are divided about the signification of Babylon: some understand Babylon the metropolis of Chaldea, where they think that antichrist will begin to reign; others understand Constantinople, the seat of the Turkish empire, which is also built upon seven hills: but many understand Rome, not Christian Rome, but Rome that was a heathen city in the first ages [centuries], and which they think will be heathen Rome again in antichrist's time. See a great number of the Fathers and interpreters for this opinion cited by Cornelius a Lapide. By the beast that carries her with her idolatry and vices, they understand the devil; and by the seven heads and ten horns, kings, who shall be in the time of antichrist, and submit themselves to him. All these kings and persecutors will receive their power one hour after, or with the beast, by which they rather understand antichrist, whose reign shall be short, as shall be that of the devil, who shall be let loose, and have greater power for a little while. By the eighth, who is of the seven, they understand the devil, because all the seven will be as it were his instruments. The same kings who committed fornication with the harlot, are also said to hate her, and burn her, says Gagneius, by being the cause of her damnation and destruction: for none are greater enemies than sinners' accomplices. As to the other exposition, (for which see Alcazar, the bishop of Meaux, &c.) they look upon all these visions till the last persecution under antichrist, (chap. xx. 7. 10.) to be already fulfilled by the destruction of the heathen Roman empire, as they are also expounded by Dr. Hammond. Babylon is the ancient heathen Rome, mother of fornication, i.e. of idolatry and of all kind of vices, sitting upon a scarlet beast, supported by the pagan emperors in all their grandeur, pomp, and vanity. When it is said of her, that she was, and is not, this is not to be taken with regard to the visions one after another represented to St. John, nor with a regard to the time when he wrote under Domitian. She is said to come again out of the bottomless pit, when the same heathen worship was again renewed by Julian the apostate, who had a design and endeavoured to destroy the Christian religion. The seven heads are ingeniously applied to Dioclesian, Maximian Herculeus, Constantius Chlorus, Maximus, and Maxentius, which in a vision of St. John, are said to be the five that are fallen. One, to wit, Maximinus, is the sixth, represented as then in being; and another, the seventh, it is said is not yet come; to with, Licinius, whose persecution but a short time. The eighth, who is called also one of the seven, they take to be Maximian Heruleus, who had laid down the empire with Dioclesian, but took it up again, and so was the eighth, but of the seven mentioned before. The ten horns represented as not yet having a kingdom, but who are to receive power as kings, one hour after the beast, or at the fall of the empire, are those kings and princes by whom the Roman empire was destroyed; as the Goths, Vandals, Lombards, Burgundians, Franks, Huns, Alans, Suevi, also Persians and Saracens, who invaded and dismembered different parts of the empire: but no great stress need be laid on the exact number ten; which, as St. Augustine says, may be taken for a great many. They all come with the same design, (ver. 13.) to enrich and settle themselves in the dominions of the empire; yet afterwards they gave their power to the beast, by entering into alliances with the emperors, as Alaric, the Goth, and others did. They at first fought with the Lamb, being then heathens, and afterwards many of them Arians, till the Lamb overcame them, and brought them to the true Christian faith. They are said to have hated the harlot, making her destitute by pillaging Rome and divers other cities: they devoured her flesh, her treasures, God putting it into their hearts, making use of them as instruments to punish these wicked persecuting idolaters; yet they afterwards sometimes agreed to give her their strength by agreements and alliances, till the time that God decreed the empire should be in a manner destroyed. These interpreters conclude that by Babylon must necessarily be understood Rome, because it is said that seven heads, upon which the woman sitteth, are seven mountains; and it is well known that Rome is built upon seven hills; and secondly, because the woman is said to be the city, which hath dominion over the kings of the earth. But first, those seven mountains are also called seven kings; secondly, Constantinople is also built upon seven hills; thirdly, seven may be taken for many. And I cannot but take notice, that some expressions in this and in the next chapter, seem to agree better with that exposition, which takes Babylon for the multitude of all the wicked: as when we read, (chap. xviii. 3.) that all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication; (ver. 23.) that all nations were deceived by her sorceries; (ver. 24.) that in her was formed the blood of the prophets, and of the saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth. For though the Roman empire was of so large an extent, yet a greater part of the world was never subject to the Romans: many apostles and martyrs were not put to death at Rome, nor by the Romans, but by the Persians, and in India, &c. so these general expressions are more easily expounded, if by the great city of Babylon we understand the multitude of the wicked in all parts of the world: not but that these visions may also regard heathen Rome as the chief place where such persecutions were acted, and where all kind of vices were practices. ---

N. B. Some have taken notice, that the English Protestants print the 5th verse of this chapter in capital letters: Mystery Babylon the great, the mother of harlots, and abominations of the earth. I will suppose that these words are only printed in this manner, because they contain an inscription; as when it is said, that he who was called the word of God, had written upon him, the King of kings, and Lord of lords, which words are also printed in great letters: but if our adversaries do this, to make the Church of Rome to be looked upon as the whore of Babylon, and the pope as antichrist, nothing can be more unfair, nothing more ridiculous, as I may shew on the following chapters. (Witham)

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Gill: Rev 17:1 - -- And there came one of the seven angels that had the seven vials,.... It may be the first of them, since one of the four beasts designs the first of th...

And there came one of the seven angels that had the seven vials,.... It may be the first of them, since one of the four beasts designs the first of them, in Rev 6:1 though Brightman thinks the fifth angel is meant, because he poured out his vial on the seat of the beast, who is by this angel described; but rather this is the seventh and last angel, concerned in the utter destruction of antichrist: and therefore proposes to John to show him the judgment of the great whore:

and talked with me, saying unto me, come hither: he conversed with him in a friendly manner, see Zec 1:9 and desires him to come nearer to him, and go along with him, adding,

I will show unto thee the judgment of the great whore; that noted and famous one, known before to John by the names of Jezabel and Babylon, who taught and caused many to commit fornication, Rev 2:20 Rev 14:8 and is no other than Rome Papal; for that a city or state is meant is clear from Rev 17:18 and it is usual for idolatrous or apostate cities to be called whores or harlots, see Isa 1:21 Eze 23:2 and she is called a "great" one, because of the largeness of the Papal see; and because of the multitude of persons, the kings of the earth, and the inhabitants of it, with whom the Romish antichrist has committed spiritual fornication, or idolatry: her "judgment" signifies either her sin and wickedness; in which sense the word is used in Rom 5:16 and which is exposed, Rev 17:5 namely, her idolatry and cruelty; or else her condemnation, and the execution of it, suggested in Rev 17:8 and more largely described in the following chapter:

that sitteth upon many waters; which in Rev 17:15 are interpreted of people, multitudes, nations, and tongues, subject to the jurisdiction of Rome; and so several antichristian states are in the preceding chapter signified by the sea, and by rivers and fountains of water: and this is said in reference to Babylon, an emblem of the Romish harlot, which was situated upon the river Euphrates, and is therefore said to dwell upon many waters, Jer 51:13 her sitting here may be in allusion to the posture of harlots plying of men; or may denote her ease, rest, and grandeur, sitting as a queen; and is chiefly expressive of her power and dominion over the kings and nations of the earth, Rev 17:18.

Gill: Rev 17:2 - -- With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication,.... These are the ten kings, who being of the same mind, and of one religion, the Popish ...

With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication,.... These are the ten kings, who being of the same mind, and of one religion, the Popish religion, gave their power, strength, and kingdom to the beast, Rev 17:12 and have been enticed by the whore of Rome to commit spiritual fornication with her; that is, idolatry, to worship, as that church enjoins, idols of gold, silver, brass, and wood, the images of the virgin Mary, and other saints; hence this whore appears to be no mean strumpet, but one of great note, and in much vogue, being sought after and made use of by the great men of the earth;

and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication; that is, the inhabitants of the Roman empire, or earthly minded men, mere carnal persons, have been drawn into idolatrous practices by the allurements of the church of Rome; such as riches, honours, pleasures, lying miracles, and great pretensions to devotion and religion; whereby they have been intoxicated as men with wine, and have been filled with a blind zeal for that church, and the false doctrines and worship of it, and with madness and fury against the true professors of religion.

Gill: Rev 17:3 - -- So he carried me away in the spirit,.... Not in body, as if he was removed from the isle of Patmos to some other place; but in a visionary way, just a...

So he carried me away in the spirit,.... Not in body, as if he was removed from the isle of Patmos to some other place; but in a visionary way, just as Ezekiel was carried between earth and heaven, in the visions of God, to Jerusalem, Eze 8:3. It was represented to the mind of John, to his spirit, or soul, as if he had been taken up by the angel and carried through the air:

into the wilderness; by which may be meant either the wilderness of the people, the world, the church hereafter described, being a worldly one, and consisting of worldly men; or Gentilism, the Gentile world is often in the prophecies of the Old Testament called a wilderness; the Romish church having much of Heathen worship, and Heathen customs and practices in it, hence its votaries are called Gentiles, Rev 11:2 or this circumstance may be mentioned, and the thing so represented to John, because that a wilderness is a solitary place, and fit for retirement and meditation; and where he might, without any interruption, take a full view of the following sight, and make proper observations upon it; and it is worth notice, that this is the place where the true church and became out of sight, in the room of which this apostate church appears: or, as others have thought, John is had into the wilderness, where the true church was hid and nourished, and the false one is there shown him, that seeing both together, he might compare them, and observe the difference between them; to all which may be added, that a wilderness is a fit place for such a beast as hereafter described to be seen in:

and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast; the beast is the same with that in Rev 13:1 as the description shows, and is no other than the Roman empire as Papal; the "scarlet" colour is expressive of its imperial dignity, its power and authority, it received from the dragon; and also of this beast's cruelty and tyranny, and of its shedding the blood of the saints: the woman sitting upon it is the great city of Rome, as is manifest from Rev 17:18 or the Romish antichrist, the apostate church of Rome, represented by a woman, as the true church is, Rev 12:1 but in a very different form, and is the same with the second beast in Rev 13:11 and the false prophet; and as the two beasts respect the same, under different considerations, namely, the Papacy, in its civil and ecclesiastic capacity, so this strange phenomenon, a woman sitting on such a beast, means one and the same thing as the horse and his rider in the seals, though in different views; the woman designs the Romish church, with the pope at the head of it, and the beast the Roman Papal empire as civil, by which the former is supported and upheld, bore up on high, and exalted in the manner it has been: moreover, as purple and scarlet are the colours of garments wore by the pope, and cardinals, hence the woman in the next verse is said to be "arrayed in purple and scarlet colour", so even the very beasts on which they rode were covered with scarlet. Platina h says that Pope Paul the Second

"ordered by a public decree, on pain or punishment, that no man should wear a scarlet cap but cardinals; to whom also, in the first year of his popedom, he gave cloth of the same colour, to put upon their horses and mules when they rode; and besides, would have put into the decree, that the cardinals' hats should be of scarlet silk:''

upon which Du Maulin i makes this remark;

"Pope Paul the Second was the first that gave scarlet to the cardinals, as well for themselves as for their mules, to the end that this prophecy, which agreeth in general with the see of Rome, might likewise appertain particularly to everyone of the pillars of the said see, which is to be set upon a "scarlet coloured beast".''

It follows,

full of names of blasphemy: that is, the beast, or Roman Papal empire, was full of them; in Rev 13:1 a name of blasphemy is said to be upon his head, and he to have a mouth speaking blasphemy; but here his whole body is represented as full of them, and may refer to the blasphemous doctrines of worshipping of images, of pardons and indulgences, of transubstantiation, &c. and to the multitude of images, of the virgin Mary, and other saints, in the antichristian state, in every part of it; and to those blaspheming persons, the cardinals, priests, and Jesuits, which abound in it; as well as to those blasphemous names and titles which are given to the pope, the head of it, or assumed by him; such as God on earth, the vicar of Christ, the head, and husband, and foundation of the church, with many others:

having seven heads, and ten horns: the seven heads are the seven mountains, on which the city of Rome, the metropolis of the empire, is seated; and the seven kings, or seven forms of government, under which it has been, as appears from Rev 17:9; see Gill on Rev 13:1 and the "ten horns" signify the ten kings over the ten kingdoms, into which the empire was divided, when overrun by the Goths and Vandals; and which ten kings gave their kingdoms to the beast, the Romish antichrist; they gave their strength and power to him, being of his religion, and have been his horns, his defenders and supporters, ever since, as may be gathered from Rev 17:12.

Gill: Rev 17:4 - -- And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour,.... Which may be expressive of her grandeur, authority, and power, sitting as a queen, and sov...

And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour,.... Which may be expressive of her grandeur, authority, and power, sitting as a queen, and sovereign in the empire, ruling over kingdoms and nations in it; and also of her bloody disposition to the saints, with whose blood she is afterwards said to be drunk;

and decked with gold and precious stones, and pearls; which may denote her hypocrisy, she being gilded with these things, as the word signifies, when she was inwardly rotten, corrupt, and filthy; and may point out the things by which persons have been enticed into the communion of the church of Rome, and to comply with her idolatrous worship and practices; and may also respect the prodigious riches, which have, by various methods, been brought into the pope's coffers; these, with other things, are reckoned among the merchandise of Babylon, Rev 18:12 and particularly this may have reference to the adorning of their temples, or churches, and the decking of their images, with those things; which gaudy pompous shows strike the minds of carnal men, amuse them, and engage their attention. So Philo k the Jew describes an whore as arrayed in purple, and adorned with gold and precious stones; see Pro 7:10.

Having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication; in allusion to Babylon, Jer 51:7 and also to harlots, who give philters or love potions to men, to excite lust, and draw their affections to them; and this being a golden cup may design the external lustre and splendour of the worship of the church of Rome, by which many have been drawn into a compliance with it, which is attended with many abominable, filthy, and idolatrous practices: and perhaps some regard may be had to the golden chalice, in which, it is pretended, is the very blood of Christ, which the priests take as such, and worship and adore, and is no other than an abominable and filthy piece of idolatry; and such are the persons that partake of it; like the Pharisees of old, they make clean the outside of the cup and platter; glister, and make a great show of devotion, but within are full of extortion and excess.

Gill: Rev 17:5 - -- And upon her forehead was a name written,.... As the high priest had on his mitre upon his forehead written, holiness to the Lord, Exo 28:36 only a di...

And upon her forehead was a name written,.... As the high priest had on his mitre upon his forehead written, holiness to the Lord, Exo 28:36 only a different inscription from that; the allusion is thought to be to harlots, who not only used to put their names over their doors, but some of them upon their foreheads, that all might know who they were; of which Mr. Daubuz has given proofs out of Seneca, Martial, Juvenal, and Petronius; and such might be said to have an whore's forehead indeed: and this is expressive of the openness and impudence of the church of Rome, in her idolatrous worship; she openly declares it, and pleads for it, and invites and ensnares persons to join with her in it: the name follows,

mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth; her name is "mystery"; not the mystery of godliness, that she dislikes and opposes, but the mystery of iniquity; which is the name antichrist went by in the Apostle Paul's time, when he was but in embryo, 2Th 2:7. Some reference may be had to the mystery of the Mass, in which the Papists pretend are the very body and blood of Christ; to their seven sacraments, for wherever almost they find the word mystery, they make a sacrament of that to which it is applied; and to their unwritten traditions, and the sense of the Scriptures, which are locked up in the pope's breast: and it is very remarkable what has been observed by some, that the word "mystery" was formerly upon the frontlet of the pope's mitre, and was removed by Pope Julius the Third, when it was observed that the Protestants made use of this passage of Scripture, and applied it to the Romish antichrist. Joseph Scaliger l affirms, that he saw mitres at Rome with this inscription on them. Though others think that this is not any part of the name, but only signifies that this woman was, in a mysterious or mystical sense, called Babylon, &c. just as the great city is spiritually called Sodom and Egypt, Rev 11:8 but to me it seems to be a part of the name, as well as what follows, "Babylon the great"; that is, the great city, Rev 14:8 by which name the church of Rome may well be called, because of the signification of it, confusion, Gen 11:9 its doctrine and worship being a confused mixture of Paganism, Judaism, and Christianity; and because of the pride and haughtiness of it, its tyranny and cruelty, and its sorceries and idolatry; see Isa 14:12.

And the mother of harlots, of all antichristian states and kingdoms; and is different from the heavenly Jerusalem, the Gospel church, which is the mother of true believers, Gal 4:26 or the "mother of fornications": as some copies read, and the Vulgate Latin and eastern versions render it; that is, the author and encourager of them, as the church of Rome has been; of corporeal fornication, by commanding celibacy, and forbidding marriage to priests, and setting up of brothel houses; and of spiritual fornication or idolatry, everywhere required and encouraged by it: and of "the abominations of the earth"; of abominable doctrines and practices; all manner of wickedness that is to be found in the earth, as murder, adultery, sodomy, perjury, &c. these, with everything that is vile and wicked, are practised and connived at by her.

Gill: Rev 17:6 - -- And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints,.... To see a woman drunk is a shameful sight; but to see one drunk, not with wine, but with ...

And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints,.... To see a woman drunk is a shameful sight; but to see one drunk, not with wine, but with blood, is monstrous, cruel, and shocking; the sword, when it devours, and is satiate, is said to be drunk with blood, Jer 46:10 but for a woman to be so is unexampled; and not with her own blood, as she will be, Isa 49:26 but with the blood of others; and not with the blood of wicked men, but with the blood of saints; such as God the Father has set apart from everlasting, and chosen to be holy; whom Christ has sanctified by his blood, or whose sins he has expiated, and to whom he is made sanctification; and who have principles of grace and holiness wrought in them by the Spirit of God, and live holy lives and conversations:

and of the martyrs of Jesus; the saints, whose blood is shed by antichrist, are martyrs also; but they seem to design the common people, and these the ministers of the Gospel, who are the martyrs of Jesus, both in life and death; they are his martyrs or witnesses, by their doctrine and ministry, bearing testimony to him as Jesus, a Saviour; testifying that he is the only Saviour, that there is salvation in no other, in opposition to the antichristian doctrines of merit, penance, purgatory, &c. for which they have been cruelly put to death, and in great numbers, and so have sealed their doctrine by their blood. Now the woman being drunk with their blood, denotes the blood thirstiness of the church of Rome, her greedy aud insatiable desire after the blood of the saints, and her delight in it, being exceeding mad against them; and the multitude of it shed by her, as the slaughters of the Waldenses and Albigenses, the butcheries of the duke d'Alva in the Low Countries, the massacres in France, Ireland, and other places, the burning of the martyrs in Queen Mary's days here, with numerous other instances, show.

And when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration; not at the sight of the beast, which he had seen before, but at the sight of the woman, as, upon the beast; he wondered that one of her sex, generally timorous and fearful, should ride on such a monstrous creature; he was amazed at her dress, and grand appearance, whereas the church in his time consisted of poor persons, meanly arrayed; it was astonishing to him that one bearing the name of a Christian church should rise to such grandeur; and he wondered at the name upon her forehead, what the whole of that inscription should mean; but, above all, at her drunkenness with the blood of the saints; at her inhumanity and cruelty, being as savage as the beast she rode on; and also at God's forbearance of her, that he, who is a pure and holy Being, a lover of his saints, an avenger of his elect, should suffer such a brutish, barbarous, and blood thirsty creature, to live upon earth; see Hab 1:13.

Gill: Rev 17:7 - -- And the angel said unto me,.... The same as in Rev 17:1 wherefore didst thou marvel? which is not said by way of reproof, as questions of this kind...

And the angel said unto me,.... The same as in Rev 17:1

wherefore didst thou marvel? which is not said by way of reproof, as questions of this kind sometimes are, Act 3:12 for John did not wonder at her with a sinful admiration, so as to have her in great veneration, and to do homage and worship to her, as the inhabitants of the world wondered after the beast, Rev 13:3 but his admiration was an amazement, or stupefaction of mind, joined with indignation at her; and this is said by the angel to lead on to what he had to declare unto him.

I will tell thee the mystery of the woman; that is, what is mysteriously or mystically designed by her; for till it was made known to John by the angel, it was a mystery to him; and when it was revealed, the interpretation is given in such an obscure manner, that it is only understood by the mind that has spiritual wisdom; and still remains a mystery to carnal men, just as the Gospel itself does. The hidden meaning of this woman, or the mystery of her, is told by the angel in Rev 17:18.

And of the beast that carried her, which hath the seven heads, and ten horns; the mystical sense of the beast, its heads and horns, and which is also delivered in a mysterious manner, is given in Rev 17:8.

Gill: Rev 17:8 - -- The beast which thou sawest was, and is not,.... It is added at the end of the verse where the same description is given, "and yet is"; this beast is ...

The beast which thou sawest was, and is not,.... It is added at the end of the verse where the same description is given, "and yet is"; this beast is to be understood not of the devil, who "was" the god of this world, "is not", being cast out by Christ, and yet is in being; for he, the dragon, is distinguished from this beast, and indeed from him the beast has his seat, power, and authority, Rev 13:1 nor any particular emperor, as Domitian, a cruel and savage one, who was in power in Vespasian's time, when he was abroad, and then was out of it upon his return, and yet afterwards was in again, being as one sent from hell, and went at last into perdition; but the Roman empire itself is intended, as we have seen, which carried and supported the Papacy; and variously may this be interpreted; as that it was in the hands of the Romans originally, and long continued with them, but now "is not", in John's time, being in the hands of Trajan, a Spaniard, "and yet is" in being, Rome being the metropolis of it: it was a very powerful and flourishing empire, "and is not", being destroyed by the Goths and Vandals, "and yet is" a large empire under the jurisdiction of antichrist; it was an idolatrous empire, which encouraged the worshipping of Heathen gods, "and is not" guilty of the same idolatrous practices it was, as the worshipping of Jupiter, Mars, &c. "and yet is" much given to idolatry in another way, worshipping the virgin Mary, and other saints; it "was" under kings, consuls, dictators, tribunes, decemvirs, and emperors, it "is not" in such a form of government, "and yet is" under its seventh head the pope; "Rome was", but "is not" the same it has been, in some respects, and yet is the same, for idolatry, cruelty, &c. it has the image of old Rome, when Pagan, and under the power of the dragon; and though antichrist was not risen up in the empire to an head, to supreme power yet it was in being in the apostles' times, and began to work, and by degrees to show itself. In short, the meaning is, that this beast "was" the Roman empire, as Pagan, described by a dragon with seven heads, and ten horns, with crowns on the heads, but is not as yet in the Apostle John's time, as Papal, described with seven heads, and ten horns, and crowns on the horns.

And shall ascend out of the bottomless pit: out of hell, from whence the antichristian beast has its power; see Rev 11:8 otherwise all civil power is from God, but not antichristian power, that is from the devil:

and go into perdition; everlasting destruction, the lake which burns with fire and brimstone; this will be the end of the beast, Rev 19:20.

and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder; the inhabitants of the Roman empire, earthly minded men, shall have the beast in great veneration, and follow and worship him; see Rev 13:3

whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world; none but reprobates, not any of the elect of God, are the admirers and worshippers of antichrist; See Gill on Rev 13:8.

when they beheld the beast that was, and is not, and yet is; the Roman empire in glory, under the emperors, destroyed by the Goths, and revived in the Papacy. The Vulgate Latin and Ethiopic versions leave out the last clause,

and yet is.

Gill: Rev 17:9 - -- And here is the mind which hath wisdom,.... This refers either to what goes before, concerning the beast, his various states, rise, and ruin, and his ...

And here is the mind which hath wisdom,.... This refers either to what goes before, concerning the beast, his various states, rise, and ruin, and his admirers; or to what follows after, concerning the meaning of his heads and horns, or to both; and the sense is, that notwithstanding the interpretation of these things by the angel, yet it requires a large share of wisdom to understand them; and here is enough to exercise the mind that is ever so well stored with knowledge and understanding; and so the Arabic version renders it, "here it is required that one should have judgment and wisdom"; for to a man that has not, the affair will still be obscure and unintelligible. The words may be rendered, "here is the mind, he that hath wisdom"; that is, let him make use of it, as in Rev 13:18 and so the Vulgate Latin version renders it, "and this is the sense, he that hath wisdom"; this is the sense of the beast, and of his heads and horns; and he that has wisdom, let him consider it, and take it in, and apply it to proper persons, things, and times; and so the Ethiopic version, "he that has wisdom and understanding, let him know this"; or take cognizance of it, it being a matter of importance, and attended with difficulty:

the seven heads are seven mountains of which the woman sitteth that is, they signify seven mountains, or are symbolical representations of them; just as the seven good kine, and seven good ears, in Pharoah's dream, signified seven years of plenty, and seven thin kine, and seven empty ears, seven years of famine, Gen 41:26. As the woman is a city, Rev 17:18 these seven mountains, on which she sits, must be so many mountains on which the city is built; and what city can this be but Rome, which is so famous for being built on seven hills? This is taken notice of by Virgil m, Horace n, Ovid o, Claudian p, Starius q, Martial r, and others; and indeed there is scarce a poet that speaks of Rome but observes it: hence it has been sometimes called, by writers, the seven hilled city, and sometimes Septiceps, the seven headed city, which comes near to the language here: the names of the seven mountains were these, Capitolinus, Palatinus, Aventinus, Esquilinus, Coelius, Viminalis, and Quirinalis; the four first of these were taken in by Romulus, the first founder of it, and the three last by Servius Tullius, when he enlarged it; and upon the addition of the seventh mountain there was a feast kept, called Septimontium; and which was kept in seven places in the city s; and was annually observed; and in this situation it was in John's time; for Pliny t, who was contemporary with him, expressly says, that in his time it took in seven mountains; and that this refers to a city in John's time, then reigning over the kings of the earth, is certain from Rev 17:18. Now there was no imperial city, so built in his time, but Rome: for though Constantinople is built on seven hills, yet this was not in being in John's time, but was built by Constantine many years after, in imitation of Rome; and though the situation is much altered now, being in Campus Martius, it being greatly reduced, and in a less compass, yet this hinders not but that it is the same city here designed: and this confirms that the beast before spoken of, on whom the woman sat, is the Roman empire, since she is here said to sit on the seven mountains, on which Rome, the metropolis of that empire, was built; and this shows the pope of Rome to be antichrist, the great whore, Babylon, the mother of harlots, since no other has his seat at Rome but he.

Gill: Rev 17:10 - -- And there are seven kings,.... The Arabic version renders it, "who are seven kings"; and it should be rendered, as it is by the Vulgate Latin, Syriac ...

And there are seven kings,.... The Arabic version renders it, "who are seven kings"; and it should be rendered, as it is by the Vulgate Latin, Syriac and Ethiopic versions, "and they are seven kings"; that is, the seven heads signify seven kings also, for they have in them a double representation, first of seven mountains, and then of seven kings; by which are meant not seven ages of the world, as from Adam to Noah; from Noah to Abraham; from Abraham to David; from David to the Babylonish captivity; from the Babylonish captivity to Christ; from Christ to antichrist; and from antichrist to the end of the world; the five first of which were gone in John's time, the sixth was then in being, and when the seventh shall come it will continue for a short time: this is a foolish and absurd interpretation of the Papists, who make the beast to be the devil, and these his seven heads; whereas he rather is the head, or god of the world: nor are seven emperors of Rome intended, which are differently reckoned, according to the different times John is supposed to have had this revelation. Grotius, who is followed by Hammond, supposes this was written in the times of Vespasian, and reckons them thus; Clandius, Nero, Galba, Otho, Vitellius, Vespasian, and Titus; the first five of these were dead in John's time, one was then, the sixth, Vespasian, the then reigning emperor, and the other, Titus, was yet to come to the empire; and when he came to it, continued but a short time, two years and two mouths: others, who more rightly judge that John wrote in Domitian's time, reckon them after this manner; Galba, Otho, Vitellius, Vespasian, Titus, Domitian, and Nerva; the first five of these were dead; Domitian was then living, and Nerva, the other that was to come and succeed him, reigned but a little while, not quite two years; but to this sense must be objected, that there were other emperors before either Galba or Claudius; and before John's time there were more than five fallen or dead; according to the first account, there must be nine dead, and according to the latter eleven; for before Claudius there were Julius, Augustus, Tiberius, and Caius: besides, if these were the seven heads of the beast, the beast must have been long ago without any head, and consequently must have expired; whereas it is still in being, and will be under the fifth, sixth, and seventh vials, which are yet to come; it will be at the battle of Armageddon, and will be taken then, and cast alive into the lake of fire; to which may be added, that the beast, in the form in which John now saw it, was not yet risen in the times of these emperors; but by the seven heads are meant so many forms of government which took place successively in the Roman empire, and were all of them idolatrous heads, as kings, consuls, dictators, decemvirs, tribunes, emperors, and popes; it being usual for any sort of governors, or governments and monarchies, to be called kings, Deu 33:5.

Five are fallen; or ceased, are no longer in being as kings, consuls, dictators, decemvirs, and tribunes; at least, the supreme power was not lodged in any bearing either of these names in John's time:

and one is; the Pagan emperors; an Heathen emperor, Domitian, then reigning, when John had this vision; and these continued to the opening of the sixth seal, which put an end to that succession, as Pagan, and till the woman brought forth the man child, or till Constantine's time:

and the other is not yet come; which some understand of the Christian emperors, who immediately succeeded the Pagan ones, and were another, and different from them, as to religion, though the form of government was the same, and were not another head; for they were not an idolatrous head, on which were names of blasphemy, but another king; for from the following verse it appears, that there are eight kings, and but seven heads, and therefore one of them should seem not to be a head; and these, when they came, continued but a short time in comparison of the Heathen emperors that reigned before them, and of the hope, or antichrist, who was to reign after them 1260 years; for they reigned not, put them all together, more than 150 years; and especially at Rome their stay was short, for Constantine removed from thence to Constantinople, in the nineteenth year of his empire. But these emperors, though in religion they differed from the others, yet their form of government and title were the same, and therefore must be included in the sixth head: according to some, Theodoricus the Ostrogoth, and his successors, are meant, who continued about an hundred years; others have thought that the exarchs of Ravenna, who rose up upon the destruction of the western empire, are intended, and who continued but a short time; but then these had not their seat at Rome, which it seems necessary each head of this beast should have; it is better, therefore, to understand this of the popes of Rome, the seventh and last head of the Roman empire; these were not yet come, in John's time, to their supreme dignity and authority:

and when he cometh he must continue a short space; forty two months, or 1260 days; that is, so many years, which, though a long time in itself, and in the account of man, yet with God, with whom a thousand years is as one day, and in comparison of the everlasting kingdom of Christ, and his people, it is but a short space; and so the reign of the beast, and of the ten kings with him, is said to be one hour, Rev 17:12 and this is said for the comfort of the saints, and to keep up their faith and patience under their sufferings in antichristian states. Mr. Daubuz makes these seven heads, or kings, signified by seven mountains, seven capital cities, which by degrees came to belong to the Roman empire; as first Rome itself, the capital of Italy; next Carthage, the capital of Africa; then Aege, the capital of Macedonia; after that Antiochia, the capital of the east; then Augustodunum, the capital of the Gauls; and Alexandria, the capital of Egypt; five of these six, with the monarchies belonging to them, were fallen; one, or the first of them now, was the mistress of all; and the other seventh was to come, namely, Byzantium, or Contantinople, which continued not long. This passage is so interpreted, as also the seven heads, in Rev 13:1 by this writer.

Gill: Rev 17:11 - -- And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth,.... That was in embryo in John's time, and yet was not come to its power and grandeur, is t...

And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth,.... That was in embryo in John's time, and yet was not come to its power and grandeur, is the eighth king; and this is the Papacy, which takes the name of the beast, because it is the head of the beast, and the only surviving head of the beast, or Roman empire, now become Papal:

and is of the seven; one of the seven heads, and the last of them, and is an idolatrous one, as the rest were, requiring and encouraging the worship of angels, of the virgin Mary, and saints parted: the pope of Rome is the eighth king, and seventh head, the latter with respect to his temporal power, and the former with respect to his ecclesiastical authority; for his government is quite of a different sort from the rest, being of a mixed kind, partly civil, and partly ecclesiastical, and therefore is signified by two beasts in the thirteenth chapter:

and goes into perdition; being the son of perdition, and is justly deserving of it; See Gill on Rev 17:8.

Gill: Rev 17:12 - -- And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings,.... Not ten Christian emperors, which are reckoned up by Brightman from Constantine to Theodosius; ...

And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings,.... Not ten Christian emperors, which are reckoned up by Brightman from Constantine to Theodosius; for these did not reign with the beast, or give their kingdoms to him, and much less did they make war with the Lamb; they are rather the angels of Michael, that fought for him, the Lamb, against the dragon, and his angels, Rev 12:7 nor ten kings that will rise up and divide the Roman empire between them, towards the end of the world, which is a sense devised by Papists to obscure and hide from men the true meaning of the passage; but the ten kingdoms which rose up, and into which the Roman empire was divided upon its being ruined, and torn to pieces by the Goths, Huns, and Vandals. They are the same with the "ten toes" of Nebuchadnezzar's image, and the "ten horns" of the fourth beast, or kingdom, in Dan 2:42. These are differently reckoned up by interpreters: by Napier thus; Spain, France, Lombardy, England, Scotland, Denmark, Sweden, Hungary, Italy, and the exarchate of Ravenna: by Mr. Mede after this manner; the Britains in Britain, under Vortimer their king; the Saxons in the same place, under Hengist; the Franks in Gallia Belgica, or Celtics, under Childeric; the Burgundians in another part of France, under Gunderic; the Wisigoths in Aquitain, and part of Spain, under Theodoric; the Sueves and Alans in Gallaecia and Portugal, under Riciarius; the Vandals in Spain and Africa, under Genseric; the Almains in that part of Germany called Rhetia, under Sumanus; the Ostrogoths in Pannonia, and after in Italy, under Theodomir; and the Greeks in the rest of the empire, under Marcianus: and by another u writer they are accounted for in this way; the Almains in both the Rhetia, and in Pannonia, who rose in the year 356; the Ostrogoths, first in Pannonia, and then in Italy, in 377; the Wisigoths in Pannonia, and then in Italy, afterwards in France, and last of all in Spain, in 378; the Huns in Pannonia, and for some time throughout all Europe, in 378; the Britian Romans in Britain, and afterwards the Saxons, in 406; the Sueves, first in France, and then in Spain, in 407; the Alans, first in France, and then in Spain, in 407; the Vandals, first in France, then in Spain, afterwards in Africa, in 407; the Burgundians in France, in 407; the Franks in France, in 410. And it is generally thought all these ten kingdoms were up by the year 450 at least. Though Dr. Allix makes the epocha of them A. D. 486, when the western empire was taken from the Romans, and fixes them in the following order; the Almains in Rhetia and Pannonia; the Franks in Belgica; the Anglo-Saxons in Britain; the Wisigoths in Gallia Aquitania and Hispania Tarraconensis; the Sueves and Alans in Portugal; the Vandals in Africa; the Burgundians in Gallia Sequanensis; the Ostrogoths in Pannonia, and afterwards in Italy; the Lombards in Pannonia, and the Heruli and Turcilingi, who conquered Augustulus: and though these kingdoms were thrown into different forms and shapes afterwards, yet it is remarkable they were just of this number; as, 1. Italy and Germany; 2. France; 3. Spain; 4. England with Ireland; 5. Scotland; 6. Hungary; 7. Poland with Lithuania; 8. Denmark, with Sweden and Norway, Sweden being since divided; 9. Portugal; 10. The Grecian empire seized by the Ottomans. And as these kings cannot be understood of single persons at the head of these kingdoms, or of so many kings succeeding one another; so neither is it necessary to consider these kingdoms as being in the same state, and made up of the same sort of people always; it is enough that they are in the same place, and within the empire; for we, may observe, that different things, at different times, are ascribed to them, or at least to some. They all are at first of one mind, and give their kingdom to the beast; then they, at least some of them, hate the whore, and burn her with fire; and yet others lament the destruction and burning of Rome, Rev 17:16.

Which have received no kingdom as yet: in John's time, when the Pagan empire was in being, and the beast was not risen, with whom they were to reign; hence these horns have no crowns on them, Rev 12:3.

But receive power as kings one hour with the beast; as soon as he was risen; and therefore the horns are represented with crowns upon them, Rev 13:1. Their rise was with the Papal beast, who rose not to his supreme power and dignity until the western emperor, which let and hindered, was removed out of the way; which was done by the barbarous nations, who set up these kingdoms, which made way for the lordly and tyrannical government of the pope of Rome; so that he and they rose up together: and this may he meant by the "one hour"; namely, that at one and the same hour or season he came to his supreme authority and grandeur, and they received their kingly power with him; or this may denote the time of their continuance in their honour and greatness; it was but for an hour, or a short time, as that phrase sometimes signifies, Phm 1:15 and so the Ethiopic version renders it, "for one hour"; to which agrees the Arabic version,

and their power shall be of one hour: and this shall be "as kings"; for they only have the title of kings, but not sovereign power; they are vassals to the beast, the pope, who reigns over them, Rev 17:18 and sets up kings in these kingdoms, and deposes them at pleasure; exalting himself above all that is called God, or above all civil magistrates; so that these have only the name, not the thing; they are as kings, and look like such, but are not really so; though what power they have, they receive not from the beast, but from God; the beast receives his power and authority, as well as seat, from the dragon; but civil power and magistracy is from God, who suffers these princes, and gives them up to such stupidity as to give their kingdom to the beast, and to exercise their power as he directs.

Gill: Rev 17:13 - -- These have one mind,.... The princes of these kingdoms, and their subjects, become, in time, of one religion; first they were Arians, and then Papists...

These have one mind,.... The princes of these kingdoms, and their subjects, become, in time, of one religion; first they were Arians, and then Papists; and for a long series of time there was great unity between them, with respect to religious sentiments, being zealously attached to the church of Rome, its principles and practices:

and shall give their power and strength unto the beast; the Papal antichrist, the eighth king, and seventh head; to him they have given power to exercise all ecclesiastical authority in their kingdoms; as to ordain bishops, and deliver the pall to whom they will; to excommunicate offenders, and even lay their kingdoms under an interdict when they pleased; and have assisted and defended the popes of Rome with all their force, with all their might and main, and to the utmost of their power, and have engaged in what have been called the holy wars, at their motion; they have given their riches and wealth, which are called the forces of strength, Job 36:19 which they have, by various methods, drained them of; hence the whore of Rome came to be decked with gold, and pearls, and precious stones; yea, they have given them their kingdoms, and have received them from them, and become tributary to them.

Gill: Rev 17:14 - -- These shall make war with the Lamb,.... The Lord Jesus Christ, so often spoken of in this book under this character, Rev 5:6. And this war is not to b...

These shall make war with the Lamb,.... The Lord Jesus Christ, so often spoken of in this book under this character, Rev 5:6. And this war is not to be understood of a war with him personally, or of that last and decisive, battle at Armageddon, in which will be the kings of the earth; but of a war with his members, of their persecuting of the saints, and faithful witnesses of Christ in all ages, within their jurisdictions, being instigated to it by the beast, under whose influence they are:

and the Lamb shall overcome them: partly through the constancy of his people, who will not love their lives to the death, but freely lay them down for him; nor can anything separate them from the love of Christ, or prevail upon them to desert him, his truths and ordinances, cause and interest, but are more than conquerors through him, and so he overcomes in them; and partly through a reformation which he effects, as in some of those kingdoms already, as Sweden, Denmark, England, Scotland, and Ireland, and others, and will do in others hereafter; see Rev 17:16

for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings; he is so by nature, as God and Creator, to whom the kingdom of nature and providence belongs; and by office, as Mediator, being made higher than the kings of the earth; hence he is more than a match for them, they cannot stand before him; this is a reason why he overcomes them, and it cannot be thought it should be otherwise: this Lamb is the lion of the tribe of Judah, and when he rouses himself, and stirs up his wrath, and exerts his power, kings and great men flee from him; see Rev 6:15. This is a proof of Christ's proper deity, the same titles being given to him, the Word and Son of God, as to God himself, Rev 19:16.

And they that are with him: his servants and his soldiers, that fight under him, and abide by him,

are called, and chosen, and faithful; they are chosen in Christ from all eternity, to grace here, and glory hereafter, and so stand opposed to the admirers of the beast, whose names are not written in the book of life, Rev 17:8 for this is to be understood of their eternal election, and not of their separation by the effectual calling in time, for that is expressed by their being "called"; and though their calling is here set before election, as in 2Pe 1:10 yet it does not precede it; the Arabic version reads, "chosen, called, faithful"; first "chosen" by God the Father, then "called", not with the bare external call by the ministry of the word, for, so, many are called, and not chosen; but by special grace to special benefits, and with an holy and heavenly calling, and which is irresistible, and without repentance; and being called they remain "faithful": the meaning is, either that they have faith, or are believers in Christ; which faith they have bestowed on them in the effectual calling, as a fruit of electing grace; and by this they overcome the world: or else, that they are persons of integrity and uprightness, that are on the side of Christ; they are the faithful in the Lord, and are made so by him; and they are faithful to him, and abide by his Gospel and ordinances, and in his cause and interest, even unto death; and so this character is expressive of the perseverance of those who are chosen and called, even unto the end.

Gill: Rev 17:15 - -- And he saith unto me,.... That is, the angel, who proposed to give John the interpretation of the vision, he went on with it as follows: the waters...

And he saith unto me,.... That is, the angel, who proposed to give John the interpretation of the vision, he went on with it as follows:

the waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth; see Gill on Rev 17:1,

are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues; denoting the vast multitude of people, of which the several kingdoms, of divers languages, consist, which belong to the jurisdiction of Rome Papal: it is an eastern way of speaking, and is particularly used to express the various kingdoms, and infinite number of people belonging to the Babylonish monarchy, which was an emblem of the antichristian state, Dan 3:4 and these are compared to waters, to many waters; which phrase sometimes is used for the sea, Psa 107:23 because of the vast numbers of them; the whole world wondered after the beast, and the kings and inhabitants of the earth have been subject to the see of Rome; and because of their overbearing force, carrying all before them; see Isa 8:7 Rev 13:3 and because, like waters, they are continually upon the flux, one generation succeeding another; and because of their instability, fickleness, and inconstancy, as in religion, so in their constitution, they will hate the whore they love; and as they frequently change and alter in their form, at last they will utterly cease: so the Jews w interpret many waters, in Son 8:7 of all people, and of the kings of the earth, and of the nations of the world; and they say, that many waters never signify any other than all the nations, and those that are appointed over them x. So, "he drew me out of many waters", Psa 18:16 is by the Targum on the place explained, he delivered me from many people. And so Psa 46:4 is paraphrased by the Targumist;

"people, "as rivers", and their streams, shall come, and make glad the city of the Lord;''

see the Targum on Isa 8:7 and in Eze 32:2 where it is observed kingdoms are compared to waters y.

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Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Rev 17:1 Here one Greek term, κρίμα (krima), has been translated by the two English terms “condemnation” and “punish...

NET Notes: Rev 17:2 This is the same word translated “sexual immorality” earlier in the verse, but here the qualifier “sexual” has not been repeat...

NET Notes: Rev 17:3 The word “there” is not in the Greek text, but is supplied for stylistic reasons.

NET Notes: Rev 17:4 Several mss (including 1611 1854 2053 ÏK pc) read “sexual immorality on/of the earth” (πορνεία`...

NET Notes: Rev 17:5 Some translations consider the word μυστήριον (musthrion, “mystery”) a part of the name writ...

NET Notes: Rev 17:6 Grk “I marveled a great marvel” (an idiom for great astonishment).

NET Notes: Rev 17:7 Grk “I will tell you,” but since what follows is the angel’s interpretation of the vision, “interpret for you” is the pr...

NET Notes: Rev 17:8 Some translations take the ὅτι (Joti) here as causal: “because he was, and is not, but is to come” (so NIV, NRSV), but it ...

NET Notes: Rev 17:9 It is important to note that the height of “mountains” versus “hills” or other topographical terms is somewhat relative. In te...

NET Notes: Rev 17:10 That is, one currently reigns.

NET Notes: Rev 17:11 Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

NET Notes: Rev 17:12 For the translation “ruling authority” for ἐξουσία (exousia) see L&N 37.35.

NET Notes: Rev 17:13 The word “kings” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to clarify the referent.

NET Notes: Rev 17:14 See BDAG 636 s.v. μετά A.2.a.α.

NET Notes: Rev 17:15 Grk “and multitudes,” but καί (kai) has not been translated here and before the following term since English normally uses ...

Geneva Bible: Rev 17:1 And ( 1 ) there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto ( 2 ) thee t...

Geneva Bible: Rev 17:3 ( 3 ) So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a ( b ) scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, ...

Geneva Bible: Rev 17:4 And ( 4 ) the woman was arrayed ( 5 ) in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having ( 6 ) a golden cup in ...

Geneva Bible: Rev 17:5 ( 7 ) And upon her forehead [was] a name written, MYSTERY, ( 8 ) BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. ( 7 ) Deceiv...

Geneva Bible: Rev 17:6 ( 9 ) And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: ( 10 ) and when I saw her, I wondered with...

Geneva Bible: Rev 17:7 ( 11 ) And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which h...

Geneva Bible: Rev 17:8 ( 12 ) The beast that thou sawest ( 13 ) was, and is not; and ( 14 ) shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwel...

Geneva Bible: Rev 17:9 ( 16 ) And here [is] the mind which hath wisdom. The ( c ) seven heads ( 17 ) are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. ( 16 ) An exhortation ...

Geneva Bible: Rev 17:10 ( 18 ) And there are seven kings: ( 19 ) five are fallen, ( 20 ) and one is, ( 21 ) [and] the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must conti...

Geneva Bible: Rev 17:11 ( 22 ) And the beast that was, and is not, even he is ( 23 ) the eighth, and is ( 24 ) of the seven, ( 25 ) and goeth into perdition. ( 22 ) This is ...

Geneva Bible: Rev 17:12 ( 26 ) And the ten horns which thou sawest are ( 27 ) ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings ( 28 ) one hour wit...

Geneva Bible: Rev 17:13 ( 29 ) These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast. ( 29 ) That is, by consent and agreement, that they may conspire ...

Geneva Bible: Rev 17:14 These shall make war with the ( 30 ) Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him [a...

Geneva Bible: Rev 17:15 ( 31 ) And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, ( 32 ) are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. ( 3...

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Commentary -- Verse Range Notes

TSK Synopsis: Rev 17:1-18 - --1 A woman arrayed in purple and scarlet, with a golden cup in her hand sits upon the beast;5 which is great Babylon, the mother of all abominations.9 ...

MHCC: Rev 17:1-6 - --Rome clearly appears to be meant in this chapter. Pagan Rome subdued and ruled with military power, not by art and flatteries. She left the nations in...

MHCC: Rev 17:7-14 - --The beast on which the woman sat was, and is not, and yet is. It was a seat of idolatry and persecution, and is not; not in the ancient form, which wa...

MHCC: Rev 17:15-18 - --God so ruled the hearts of these kings, by his power over them, and by his providence, that they did those things, without intending it, which he purp...

Matthew Henry: Rev 17:1-6 - -- Here we have a new vision, not as to the matter of it, for that is contemporary with what came under the three last vials; but as to the manner of d...

Matthew Henry: Rev 17:7-13 - -- Here we have the mystery of this vision explained. The apostle wonders at the sight of this woman: the angel undertakes to open this vision to him, ...

Matthew Henry: Rev 17:14-18 - -- Here we have some account of the downfall of Babylon, to be more fully described in the following chapter. I. Here is a war begun between the beast ...

Barclay: Rev 17:1-2 - --In these two verses Rome is described as the great harlot. More than once in the Old Testament heathen and disobedient cities are described as harlot...

Barclay: Rev 17:3 - --John says that he was carried away in the Spirit to a desert place. The prophet is a man who lives in the Spirit. "The Spirit," said Ezekiel, "lift...

Barclay: Rev 17:4-5 - --These verses give us a vivid picture of the great harlot. She is clothed in purple and scarlet, the royal colours, the colours of luxury and splend...

Barclay: Rev 17:6 - --As we have already pointed out in the general introduction to this chapter, the way in which John describes Roman persecution is very significant. H...

Barclay: Rev 17:7-11 - --In the introduction to this chapter we have already seen that the likeliest explanation is that John is projecting himself backwards into the reign of...

Barclay: Rev 17:12-18 - --This passage speaks of the ten kings whom the ten horns represent. It is likely that the ten kings are the satraps of the East and of Parthia whom th...

Constable: Rev 4:1--22:6 - --III. THE REVELATION OF THE FUTURE 4:1--22:5 John recorded the rest of this book to reveal those aspects of the f...

Constable: Rev 17:1--18:24 - --K. Supplementary revelation of the judgment of ungodly systems in the Great Tribulation chs. 17-18 Furth...

Constable: Rev 17:1-18 - --1. Religion in the Great Tribulation ch. 17 The Lord gave the revelation of the divine destructi...

Constable: Rev 17:1-2 - --The invitation of the angel 17:1-2 17:1 The fact that this chapter describes the judgment of Babylon referred to in 14:8 and 16:19 seems clear. It was...

Constable: Rev 17:3-6 - --The vision of the system 17:3-6 17:3 The angel carried John away in the Spirit to a wilderness area (cf. 1:10; 4:1; 21:10). This wilderness may refer ...

Constable: Rev 17:7-14 - --Further revelation of the beast 17:7-14 17:7 The angel promised to interpret these revelations that were so baffling to John, particularly the mystery...

Constable: Rev 17:15-18 - --The judgment of the harlot 17:15-18 17:15 The angel next helped John understand the identity of the waters (v. 1). Water is a common symbol for people...

College: Rev 17:1-18 - --REVELATION 17 f. God's Final Judgment against Babylon (17:1-19:4) We now turn to John's vision of the final judgment against Babylon in Revelation 1...

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Introduction / Outline

Robertson: Revelation (Book Introduction) THE REVELATION OF JOHN ABOUT a.d. 95 By Way of Introduction Difficulty in the Problem Perhaps no single book in the New Testament presents so ...

JFB: Revelation (Book Introduction) AUTHENTICITY.--The author calls himself John (Rev 1:1, Rev 1:4, Rev 1:9; Rev 2:8). JUSTIN MARTYR [Dialogue with Trypho, p. 308] (A.D. 139-161) quotes ...

JFB: Revelation (Outline) TITLE: SOURCE AND OBJECT OF THIS REVELATION: BLESSING ON THE READER AND KEEPER OF IT, AS THE TIME IS NEAR: INSCRIPTION TO THE SEVEN CHURCHES: APOSTOL...

TSK: Revelation (Book Introduction) The obscurity of this prophecy, which has been urged against its genuineness, necessarily results from the highly figurative and symbolical language i...

TSK: Revelation 17 (Chapter Introduction) Overview Rev 17:1, A woman arrayed in purple and scarlet, with a golden cup in her hand sits upon the beast; Rev 17:5, which is great Babylon, the...

Poole: Revelation 17 (Chapter Introduction) CHAPTER 17

MHCC: Revelation (Book Introduction) The Book of the Revelation of St. John consists of two principal divisions. 1. Relates to " the things which are," that is, the then present state of...

MHCC: Revelation 17 (Chapter Introduction) (Rev 17:1-6) One of the angels who had the vials, explains the meaning of the former vision of the antichristian beast that was to reign 1260 years, a...

Matthew Henry: Revelation (Book Introduction) An Exposition, with Practical Observations, of The Revelation of St. John the Divine It ought to be no prejudice to the credit and authority of this b...

Matthew Henry: Revelation 17 (Chapter Introduction) This chapter contains another representation of those things that had been revealed before concerning the wickedness and ruin of antichrist. This a...

Barclay: Revelation (Book Introduction) INTRODUCTION TO THE REVELATION OF JOHN The Strange Book When a student of the New Testament embarks upon the study of the Revelation he feels him...

Barclay: Revelation 17 (Chapter Introduction) Nature At War (Rev_16:17-21) The Fall Of Rome (Rev_17:1-18) 17:1-18 1 One of the seven angels, who had the seven bowls, came and spoke with me. ...

Constable: Revelation (Book Introduction) Introduction Historical background The opening verses of the book state that "John" wr...

Constable: Revelation (Outline) Outline I. The preparation of the prophet ch. 1 A. The prologue of the book 1:1-8 ...

Constable: Revelation Revelation Bibliography Abbott-Smith, George. A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament. Edinburgh: T. & ...

Haydock: Revelation (Book Introduction) THE APOCALYPSE OF ST. JOHN, THE APOSTLE. INTRODUCTION. Though some in the first ages [centuries] doubted whether this book was canonical, and ...

Gill: Revelation (Book Introduction) INTRODUCTION TO REVELATION That this book was written by the Apostle and Evangelist John, is clear not only from the express mention of his name, a...

Gill: Revelation 17 (Chapter Introduction) INTRODUCTION TO REVELATION 17 This chapter contains a vision of a beast, and a woman on it, and the interpretation of it; one of the seven angels t...

College: Revelation (Book Introduction) PREFACE This commentary on the Revelation of John has been prepared for general readers of the Bible who desire to deepen their understanding of God'...

College: Revelation (Outline) OUTLINE I. PROLOGUE - 1:1-20 A. Introduction to the Prophecy - 1:1-3 B. Sender - 1:4a C. Recipients - 1:4b D. Prescript - 1:4c-5a E. ...

Advanced Commentary (Dictionaries, Hymns, Arts, Sermon Illustration, Question and Answers, etc)


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