The Great Prostitute and the Beast

17 Then ^(A)one of the seven angels who had ^(B)the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of ^(C)the great prostitute ^(D)who is seated on many waters, ^2 (E)with whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality, and ^(F)with the wine of whose sexual immorality ^(G)the dwellers on earth have become drunk.” ³ And ^(H)he carried me away in the Spirit ^(I)into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on ^(J)a scarlet beast that was full of ^(K)blasphemous names, and ^(L)it had seven heads and ten horns. ⁴ The woman ^(M)was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned ^(N)with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand ^(O)a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality. ⁵ And on her forehead was written a name of ^(P)mystery: ^(Q)“Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth's abominations.” ⁶ And I saw the woman, drunk ^(R)with the blood of the saints, the blood of ^(S)the martyrs of Jesus.^[a]

When I saw her, I marveled greatly.

¹⁵ And the angel^[a] said to me, ^(A)“The waters that you saw, where the prostitute is seated, are peoples and multitudes and nations and languages. ¹⁶ And ^(B)the ten horns that you saw, they and the beast ^(C)will hate the prostitute. They will make her ^(D)desolate and ^(E)naked, and ^(F)devour her flesh and ^(G)burn her up with fire, ¹⁷ for ^(H)God has put it into their hearts to carry out his purpose by being of one mind and ^(I)handing over their royal power to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled. ¹⁸ And the woman that you saw is ^(J)the great city that has dominion over the kings of the earth.”

The Fall of Babylon

18 After this I saw ^(A)another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and ^(B)the earth was made bright with his glory. ² And he called out with a mighty voice,

⁴ Then I heard another voice from heaven saying,