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Revelation 17:3–12
Revelation 17:1–6 portrays “Babylon the Great” as a richly adorned prostitute seated on many waters and on a scarlet beast, intoxicating kings and nations and drunk with the blood of saints. Revelation draws on prophetic city-as-woman and harlot imagery to depict a corrupt, persecuting world power whose luxury and influence conceal spiritual unfaithfulness and violence.
Revelation 17:7–14 interprets features of the woman and beast through seven heads, ten horns, kings, and the beast’s temporary authority. The passage is deliberately symbolic and has generated competing historical identifications, but its theological destination is unambiguous: the gathered rulers make war with the Lamb, and “the Lamb shall overcome them” because He is Lord of lords and King of kings.
Revelation 17's beast with ten horns and its interpretation as kings directly draws on Daniel 7.
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