18 verses
Revelation 17 presents John’s vision of a corrupt ‘great prostitute’—symbolic of a worldly system of sin—sitting on a beast, followed by an angel’s explanation of the beast’s symbolic meaning and the forthcoming judgment against this system.
John receives a revelation from an angel who describes a woman dressed in luxurious colors, sitting upon a scarlet beast with seven heads and ten horns. The woman is called the mystery, the great city Babylon, the mother of harlots and abominations. The angel explains that the beast has seven heads representing seven mountains (or kingdoms) and ten horns representing ten kings who will ally with the beast, yet the beast itself is the eighth, destined for perdition. The angel warns that those whose names are not in the Book of Life will be astonished at this paradoxical beast. He also speaks of the waters where the woman sits as peoples and nations, and foretells that the horns will eventually desolate the woman. The chapter ends with the identification of the woman as the great city that rules over earthly kings.
negative
The chapter largely condemns worldly powers and predicts judgment, though it acknowledges divine sovereignty.