Revelation 17:1-10

Then one of the seven angels with the seven bowls approached me and said, “Come, and I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who sits enthroned on many waters. The kings of the earth have fornicated with her, and the people of earth are drunk on the wine of her prostitution.” Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a wild, bloodred beast with seven heads and ten horns, and it was covered with blasphemous names. The woman was robed in purple and scarlet and was glittering with gold, precious stones, and pearls. She was holding in her hand a golden chalice brimming full with defiling obscenities and the filth of her lewdness. On her forehead was written these mysterious titles: “The great Babylon, mother of prostitutes and of the abominations of the earth.” I saw the woman was drunk with the blood of God’s holy believers—drunk on the blood of the loyal martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I was utterly astonished! But the angel said to me, “Why are you so astonished? I will reveal to you the mystery of the woman, and of the wild beast with seven heads and ten horns that carries her. The wild beast you saw once was, now is not, and is destined to ascend out of the deep and go to destruction. All those whose names have not been written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world will be utterly astonished when they see the wild beast because he once was, now is not, and is about to rise. “This requires a mind that has wisdom to interpret: The seven heads of the beast are seven mountains the woman sits upon; they are also seven kings. Five kings have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come—and when he comes he must remain only a little while.