⁵ And on her forehead a name was written:

^(A)MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT,
THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS
AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS
OF THE EARTH.

⁸ And another angel followed, saying, ^(A)“Babylon^[a] is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because ^(B)she has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.”

² And he cried ^[a]mightily with a loud voice, saying, ^(A)“Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and ^(B)has become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and ^(C)a cage for every unclean and hated bird!

The Meaning of the Woman and the Beast

⁷ But the angel said to me, “Why did you marvel? I will tell you the ^[a]mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns.

² For ^(A)true and righteous are His judgments, because He has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her fornication; and He ^(B)has avenged on her the blood of His servants shed by her.”

¹⁹ Now ^(A)the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. And ^(B)great Babylon ^(C)was remembered before God, ^(D)to give her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath.

Perilous Times and Perilous Men

3 But know this, that ^(A)in the last days ^[a]perilous times will come: ² For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, ³ unloving, ^[b]unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, ^4 (B)traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, ^5 (C)having a form of godliness but ^(D)denying its power. And ^(E)from such people turn away!

⁷ For ^(A)the ^[a]mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only ^[b]He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way.