Revelation 17

Contents

Revelation 17 is the seventeenth chapter of the Book of Revelation or the Apocalypse to John in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The book is traditionally attributed to John the Apostle,[1][2] but the identity of the author remains a point of academic debate.[3] This chapter describes the judgment of the Whore of Babylon ("Babylon the Harlot").[4]

Text

The original text was written in Koine Greek. This chapter is divided into 18 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are among others:[5][6]

New Testament references

The vision of the harlot (17:1–6a)

After being mentioned only briefly in Revelation 14:8 and 16:19, Babylon is given a full description in this section.[8]

Verse 1

  • "One of the seven angels": provides a characteristic literary link to the previous chapter.[8] German theologian Johann Gottfried Eichhorn suggested that the first of the seven angels with the seven bowls is intended: Biblical Greek: εἱς is equivalent to Biblical Greek: πρῶτος. Heinrich Meyer disagrees: "It is in no way to be conjectured which of the vial-angels it was".[9]

The words "to me" do not appear in Codex Alexandrinus or in the Vulgate translation.[10]

Verse 2

Lutheran Pietist theologian Johann Bengel notes a parallel with Tyre, which "committed fornication with the kingdoms of the earth" in Isaiah 23:17–18.[11]

Verse 5

The King James Version, New King James Version, and Young's Literal Translation (1862) include the word 'mystery' (or 'secret' - YLT) within her title, but in many other English translations the word is descriptive of the name: "a name of mystery" (Revised Standard Version, English Standard Version), "a name that has a secret meaning" (Good News Bible).[12]

Verse 6

This verse contains two descriptions of Christians which seem to refer to the same group (not two groups) of people.[8]

The interpretation of the harlot (17:6b–18)

In response to John's astonishment at the vision of the harlot, an interpretation is given as much about the beast as about the harlot, because 'her fate is closely related to the career of the beast'.[8]

Verse 6

Verse 7

Verse 8

Whereas one of Revelation's key designations for God is the term 'the one who was and who is and who is to come' (1:4, 8), in this verse the beast is twice described in a similar term, but with the significant different in the middle which is negative: 'is not', because unlike God, the beast is not eternal and his second coming "will prove a fraud" and "go to destruction".[8]

Verse 9

  • "Seven mountains": The definition of the mountains with the seven heads makes an unequivocal identification with Rome, 'which is famous for its seven hills'.[8]

Verse 10

  • "Seven kings": is better to be recognized as the number of completeness, because the attempts to use this passage to identify the ruling Roman emperor when the Book of Revelation was written fail due to the impossibility to know 'from which emperor the counting should begin or whether all emperors should be counted'.[8] It represents 'the complete sequence of kings', but not yet quite at the end because there is 'one short reign' still to come.[8]
  • "A short time": or "a little while": is 'the conventional period of eschatological imminence' (cf. 6:11; Heb 10:37).[8]

Verse 11

  • "Perdition": or "destruction".[13]

Verse 16

  • "Naked": compare to allusions in the Old Testament: Isaiah 47:2–3; Ezekiel 16:37–39.[14]

Verse 17

Verse 18

References

  1. 1.Davids, Peter H (1982). I Howard Marshall and W Ward Gasque (ed.). New International Greek Testament Commentary: The Epistle of James (Repr. ed.). Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans. ISBN 0802823882.
  2. 2.Evans, Craig A (2005). Craig A Evans (ed.). Bible Knowledge Background Commentary: John, Hebrews-Revelation. Colorado Springs, Colo.: Victor. ISBN 0781442281.
  3. 3.F. L. Cross, The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997), 45
  4. 4.Bauckham 2007, p. 1289.
  5. 5.Elliott, J. K. "Revelations from the apparatus criticus of the Book of Revelation: How Textual Criticism Can Help Historians." Union Seminary Quarterly Review 63, no. 3-4 (2012): 1-23.
  6. 6.The Book of Revelation is missing from Codex Vaticanus.
  7. 7."Biblical concordances of Revelation 17 in the 1611 King James Bible".
  8. 8.[8.2][8.3][8.4][8.5][8.6][8.7][8.8][8.9]Bauckham 2007, p. 1300.
  9. 9.Meyer, H., Meyer's NT Commentary on Revelation 17, accessed 3 December 2018
  10. 10.Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary on Revelation 17, accessed 3 December 2018
  11. 11.Bengel, J. A., Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament on Revelation 17, accessed 3 October 2019
  12. 12.Revelation 17:5: Good News Translation
  13. 13.Note [a] on Revelation 17:11 in NKJV
  14. 14.Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges. Revelation 17. Accessed 28 April 2019.