Beginning

The great prostitute

17 One of the seven angels that had the seven bowls came to me. ‘Come with me,’ he said. ‘I will show you how God will punish the great prostitute.^[a] She sits at a place where there are many rivers.^{[b] 2} It is like the kings who rule on the earth have had sex with that bad woman. She has led the people who live on the earth to do bad things. They have become drunk from the strong wine that she has given to them.’^[c]

³ Again, God's Spirit caused me to see and to hear strange things. The angel carried me away to a wilderness. There I saw a woman who was sitting on a wild animal that was bright red. All over this wild animal, names were written that insulted God. The animal had seven heads and ten horns. ⁴ The woman was wearing clothes that were made from expensive cloth. She also wore bright things that made her look beautiful. She shone with gold, valuable stones and pearls. She held a gold cup in her hand. The cup was full of the bad and disgusting things that she had caused people to do. ⁵ A name was written on the front of her head. Only God knows what it means. It was:

Powerful Babylon.

Mother of all prostitutes.

Mother of all the disgusting things on the earth.

⁶ I saw that the woman was like a drunk. She was like someone who had drunk the blood of God's people. She had killed them because they had told other people about Jesus. When I saw her, I was very surprised. ⁷ Then the angel asked me, ‘Why are you surprised? I will explain the secret of the woman to you. I will tell you the secret of the wild animal that she rides. The wild animal that you saw has seven heads and ten horns. ⁸ This animal was once alive, but it is not alive now. Soon it will come up out of the deep hole again but then God will destroy it completely.^[d] All these things will surprise many people who live on the earth. Those are the people whose names are not written in God's book of life from the beginning of the world. They will be surprised to see the animal that was alive at one time. It is not alive now, but it will soon appear again.

⁹ If you are wise, think carefully about this. The animal's seven heads are a picture of seven hills in the place where the woman sits.^{[e] 10} They are also a picture of seven kings. Five of these kings have already stopped ruling. Another king is ruling now. The last king has not yet come. When he does come, he must rule only for a short time. ¹¹ The wild animal is a picture of an eighth king. He was alive once, but he is not alive now. He belongs to the group of seven kings, but God will destroy him completely.

¹² The ten horns that you saw are a picture of ten more kings.^[f] They have not yet begun to rule anywhere. But they will receive authority to rule as kings for one hour. They will rule people together with the wild animal. ¹³ They all have the same purpose. They will give their power to the wild animal. They will give him authority to rule people. ¹⁴ Together they will fight a war against the Lamb. But the Lamb will win against them. He is the Lord above all lords. He is the King who rules over all kings. And God's people will be with him. They are the people that the Lamb has chosen to belong to him. They are the people who have continued to trust him.’

¹⁵ Then the angel said to me, ‘You saw the many rivers where the prostitute sits. Those rivers are a picture of people from many nations. They are crowds of people from different countries who speak many different languages. ¹⁶ The wild animal and the ten horns that you saw will hate the prostitute. Those rulers will destroy her. They will remove all her clothes. They will eat the meat on her body. Then they will burn her with fire.^{[g] 17} They will decide to do that because God has given them those thoughts. So, they will do what he wants. They will give to the wild animal their authority to rule as king. The animal will continue to rule until everything happens that God has said will happen. ¹⁸ The bad woman that you saw is a picture of the great city. That city has power over all the kings who rule on the earth.’

The end of Babylon

18 After these things happened, I saw another angel. He was coming down from heaven. He had great authority. He was beautiful and he shone brightly. He gave light to the whole world. ² He shouted with a very loud voice:

⁴ Then I heard another voice which spoke from heaven. It said:

⁹ When all that happens, the kings on the earth will be very sad. They enjoyed the bad things that people did in that city. They had many expensive things so that they were happy. Now they will see the smoke from the fire that burns the city. As a result, they will cry and they will weep. ¹⁰ They will stand a long way from the city because they are afraid. They do not want to suffer in the same way. They will say,

¹¹ The traders of this world will also be very sad. They will weep because nobody will buy their things any more. ¹² They sold many expensive things like these:

¹⁴ The people who sold these things will say to the city, ‘You have now lost all the good things that you wanted so much. You have lost all those expensive things that made you beautiful. You will never have them again.’

¹⁵ The traders had become rich because of the city. But now they will stand a long way from the city because they are afraid. They do not want to suffer in the same way themselves. They will weep and they will be very sad. ¹⁶ They will say,

All the sailors and the people who travel on ships will also be sad. They include every ship's captain, and everyone who works on ships on the sea. They will stand a long way from the city. ¹⁸ They will see the smoke from the fire that burns the city. Then they will shout, ‘There is no other city like this great city!’ ¹⁹ They will throw dirt from the ground on their heads because they are so sad. They will weep and they will shout,

²¹ Then a powerful angel picked up a very big, heavy stone. He threw it into the sea. He said,

The people in heaven praise God

19 After these things, I heard a sound like the voices of a great crowd of people in heaven. They were shouting,

³ Then the crowd of people in heaven shouted again,

⁴ The 24 leaders and the four beings that are alive then threw themselves down on the ground. They worshipped God, who was sitting on the throne. They said, ‘It is true! Praise the Lord God!’

⁵ Then a voice spoke from the throne. It said,

⁶ Then I heard a sound like the noise of a very big crowd that was shouting. The sound was like the noise of water that pours quickly along a river. It was like the noise of loud thunder. The crowd of people shouted,

⁸ God has given her linen clothes to wear that are bright and clean.’

These special linen clothes show the good things that God's holy people have done.^[j]

⁹ Then the angel said to me, ‘Write down this message: “There will be a special meal at the Lamb's wedding party. God has truly blessed those people that he has asked to come to that meal.” ’ The angel also said to me, ‘This is a true message from God.’

¹⁰ Then I bent down low at the angel's feet to worship him. But he said to me, ‘You must not do that! I am only a servant of God, the same as you are. I am a servant, like all believers who show clearly that they trust in Jesus. God is the one that you should worship! When God gave a message to his prophets, it was Jesus that they spoke about.’

The great king on a white horse

¹¹ I saw that heaven was now open. I saw a white horse there! The name of the man who was riding the horse was this: ‘A faithful, honest person’. He is always right when he judges people and when he goes to punish them in war. ¹² His eyes burn like bright flames of fire. Many crowns are on his head. He has a name that is written on him, but nobody knows that name except himself. ¹³ He wears a long shirt with a lot of blood on it. His name is: ‘The Word of God’.

¹⁴ Heaven's armies were following him. They were also riding on white horses. They were wearing linen clothes that were white and clean. ¹⁵ A sharp sword was coming out of his mouth.^[k] He will use this sword to attack the people of all the nations of the world. Then he will rule them with strong authority. He will punish them like someone who stamps on grapes in a winepress. That will show God's great anger against them. He is the Almighty God.^{[l] 16} The man who rides on the white horse has a name that is written on his shirt. It is also written high on his leg. His name is: ‘The King who rules over all other kings. The Lord who rules over all lords’.^[m]

¹⁷ Then I saw an angel who was standing in the sun. He shouted loudly to all the birds that were flying high in the sky, ‘Come here! Come together to eat the big meal that God has prepared. ¹⁸ Eat the meat from the dead bodies of God's enemies! Come and eat the meat of kings, the meat of army captains and the meat of powerful men. Eat the meat of dead horses and the soldiers who ride them. Eat the meat of all kinds of people: slaves and free people, important people and ordinary people.’

¹⁹ Then I saw the wild animal and the kings of the earth and their armies. They had come together to fight a war. They were ready to fight a battle against the man who rode on the white horse and his army. ²⁰ But the rider and his army caught the wild animal. They also caught the false prophet who had done miracles to help the wild animal. He used those miracles to deceive the people who had the wild animal's mark on them. Those people worshipped his image. Now the rider and his army threw the wild animal and the false prophet into the lake of fire. They were still alive when they threw them into the lake that burns with sulphur.

²¹ The rider of the white horse then killed all his other enemies. He killed them with the sword that came out of his mouth. So then all the birds ate the meat from the dead bodies until they were completely full.