Revelation 17:18

18 The woman you saw is the great city, tyrannizing the kings of the earth."

Revelation 17:18 Meaning and Commentary

Revelation 17:18

And the woman which thou sawest
( Revelation 17:3 ) as there described,

is that great city,
often mentioned in this book; great Babylon, the city of Rome, ( Revelation 11:8 ) ( 14:8 ) ( 16:19 ) which reigneth over the kings of the earth; which then reigned in John's time over the kings of the earth; and this clearly points out the city of Rome, for there was no other city then, but that, which reigned over the kings of the earth; that was then the metropolis of the Roman empire, to which the whole world was subject; and therefore it is called all the world, ( Luke 2:1 ) and since, all the kings of the empire have been under the jurisdiction of Rome Papal. It was formerly called Urbs Regum, a "city of kings" F26, either for the reason in the text, or because its inhabitants looked like kings.


FOOTNOTES:

F26 Justin. l. 18. c. 2.

Revelation 17:18 In-Context

16 And the ten horns you saw, together with the Beast, will turn on the Whore - they'll hate her, violate her, strip her naked, rip her apart with their teeth, then set fire to her.
17 It was God who put the idea in their heads to turn over their rule to the Beast until the words of God are completed.
18 The woman you saw is the great city, tyrannizing the kings of the earth."
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.