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Revelation 17:3
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The Scarlet Woman and the Scarlet Beast

1 Then aone of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and talked with me, saying1 to me, “Come, bI will show you the judgment of cthe great harlot dwho sits on many waters,  
2 awith whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and bthe inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication.”  
3 So he carried me away in the Spirit ainto the wilderness. And I saw a woman sitting bon a scarlet beast which was full of cnames of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.  
4 The woman awas arrayed in purple and scarlet, band adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, chaving in her hand a golden cup dfull of abominations and the filthiness of1 her fornication.  
5 And on her forehead a name was written: aMYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.  
6 I saw athe woman, drunk bwith the blood of the saints and with the blood of cthe martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement.  

The Meaning of the Woman and the Beast

7 But the angel said to me, “Why did you marvel? I will tell you the1 mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns.  
8 The beast that you saw was, and is not, and awill ascend out of the bottomless pit and bgo to perdition. And those who cdwell on the earth dwill marvel, ewhose names are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast that was, and is not, and2 yet is.  
9 a“Here is the mind which has wisdom: bThe seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits.  
10 There are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come. And when he comes, he must acontinue a short time.  
Commentaries:
Robertson's Word Pictures (NT)
<< Revelation 17:2   Revelation 17:4 >>


Revelation 17:3

He carried me away (aphnegken me). Second aorist active indicative of apoferw, to bear away, prophetic aorist. This verb is used of angels at death (Luke 16:22) or in an ecstasy (Revelation 21:10 and here).

In the Spirit (en pneumati). Probably his own spirit, though the Holy Spirit is possible (Revelation 1:10; Revelation 4:2; Revelation 21:10), without Paul's uncertainty (II Corinthians 12:2). Cf. Ezekiel 3:14 f.; Ezekiel 8:3; Ezekiel 11:24.

Into a wilderness (eiv erhmon). In Isaiah 21:1 there is to orama thv erhmou (the vision of the deserted one, Babylon), and in Isaiah 14:23 Babylon is called erhmon. 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 Revelation 21:10 he sees the New Jerusalem from a high mountain.

Sitting (kaqhmenhn). Present middle participle of kaqhmai as in verse Revelation 17:1. "To manage and guide the beast" (Vincent).

Upon a scarlet-coloured beast (epi qhrion kokkinon). Accusative with epi here, though genitive in verse Revelation 17:1. Late adjective (from kokkov, a parasite of the ilex coccifera), a crimson tint for splendour, in Revelation 17:3-4; Revelation 18:12, Revelation 18:16; Matthew 27:28; Hebrews 9:19.

Full of names of blasphemy (gemonta onomata blasfhmiav). See Revelation 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 Revelation 13:1; Revelation 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 qhrion (gemonta accusative singular, exwn nominative singular, though some MSS. read exonta), construction according to sense in both instances. The verb gemw always has the genitive after it in the Apocalypse (Revelation 4:6, Revelation 4:8; Revelation 5:8; Revelation 15:7; Revelation 17:4; Revelation 21:9) save here and apparently once in Revelation 17:4.




Other Robertson's Word Pictures (NT) entries containing Revelation 17:3:

Revelation 5:6
Revelation 13:1
Revelation 17:3
Revelation 17:4

 

<< Revelation 17:2   Revelation 17:4 >>

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