Apocalypse 17:5-15

5 Sur son front était écrit un nom, un mystère: Babylone la grande, la mère des impudiques et des abominations de la terre.

6 Et je vis cette femme ivre du sang des saints et du sang des témoins de Jésus. Et, en la voyant, je fus saisi d'un grand étonnement.

7 Et l'ange me dit: Pourquoi t'étonnes-tu? Je te dirai le mystère de la femme et de la bête qui la porte, qui a les sept têtes et les dix cornes.

8 La bête que tu as vue était, et elle n'est plus. Elle doit monter de l'abîme, et aller à la perdition. Et les habitants de la terre, ceux dont le nom n'a pas été écrit dès la fondation du monde dans le livre de vie, s'étonneront en voyant la bête, parce qu'elle était, et qu'elle n'est plus, et qu'elle reparaîtra. -

9 C'est ici l'intelligence qui a de la sagesse. -Les sept têtes sont sept montagnes, sur lesquelles la femme est assise.

10 Ce sont aussi sept rois: cinq sont tombés, un existe, l'autre n'est pas encore venu, et quand il sera venu, il doit rester peu de temps.

11 Et la bête qui était, et qui n'est plus, est elle-même un huitième roi, et elle est du nombre des sept, et elle va à la perdition.

12 Les dix cornes que tu as vues sont dix rois, qui n'ont pas encore reçu de royaume, mais qui reçoivent autorité comme rois pendant une heure avec la bête.

13 Ils ont un même dessein, et ils donnent leur puissance et leur autorité à la bête.

14 Ils combattront contre l'agneau, et l'agneau les vaincra, parce qu'il est le Seigneur des seigneurs et le Roi des rois, et les appelés, les élus et les fidèles qui sont avec lui les vaincront aussi.

15 Et il me dit: Les eaux que tu as vues, sur lesquelles la prostituée est assise, ce sont des peuples, des foules, des nations, et des langues.

Apocalypse 17:5-15 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO REVELATION 17

This chapter contains a vision of a beast, and a woman on it, and the interpretation of it; one of the seven angels that had the seven vials proposes to John to show him the whore of Babylon, the Jezabel before spoken of, who sits on many waters, with whom the kings and inhabitants of the earth have committed fornication, being intoxicated by her, Re 17:1,2 in order to which he carries him into the wilderness, and there he sees a woman, who is described by the beast she sat on, of a scarlet colour, full of blasphemous names, with seven heads and ten horns; by her array, in purple and scarlet, decked with gold, pearls, and precious stones; by a cup she had in her hand, full of abominable filth; by a name written on her forehead, given at large, and by the condition she was in, drunk with the blood of the saints; which sight filled John with great wonder and admiration, Re 17:3-6 wherefore, to remove his astonishment, the angel proposes to explain to him the mystery of the woman, and the beast she sat on, Re 17:7 and first the mystery of the beast is explained, by its several states, past, present, and to come; by its original and end, ascending out of the bottomless pit, and going into perdition; by the veneration it would be had in by the reprobate part of the world, Re 17:8 its seven heads are interpreted of the seven mountains on which the city of Rome, designed by the woman, stood, and of seven kings, or forms of government, five of which had ceased, and one was in being in John's time, another was to come, which should not continue long, and the beast would be an eighth, Re 17:9-11 its ten horns are explained of ten kings, described by their kingdom they had not as yet received, and which they should have one hour with the beast; by their agreement in mind and conduct; and by their war with the Lamb, the King of kings, and Lord of lords, and those that are with him, the called, chosen, and faithful, and the issue of it, Re 17:12-14 the waters on which the whore sat are interpreted of a multitude of people, nations, and tongues, Re 17:15 the hatred and destruction of her by the ten kings, and the manner of it, are declared, Re 17:16 which is owing to the will of God, who put it into their hearts to agree to give their kingdom to the beast till the prophecies and promises were fulfilled respecting this matter, and now to destroy the whore that sat upon it, Re 17:17 which woman is explained of the great city of Rome, that reigns over the kings of the earth, Re 17:18.