Revelation 17:1-6

Holman Christian Standard Bible

The Woman and the Scarlet Beast

17 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls^(A) came and spoke with me: “Come, I will show you the judgment of the notorious prostitute^[a] who sits on many^[b] waters.^{(B) 2} The kings of the earth committed sexual immorality with her, and those who live on the earth became drunk on the wine of her sexual immorality.”^{(C) 3} So he carried me away in the Spirit^[c](D) to a desert. I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered^[d] with blasphemous names and had seven heads and 10 horns.^{(E) 4} The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, adorned with gold, precious stones, and pearls. She had a gold cup in her hand filled with everything vile^(F) and with the impurities of her^[e] prostitution. ⁵ On her forehead a cryptic name^(G) was written:

⁶ Then I saw that the woman was drunk on the blood of the saints and on the blood of the witnesses to Jesus. When I saw her, I was greatly astonished.