Wahyu 17:1-2

The Great Prostitute and the Beast

17:1 Then ¹  one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke to me. ²  “Come,” he said, “I will show you the condemnation and punishment ³  of the great prostitute who sits on many waters, 17:2 with whom the kings of the earth committed sexual immorality and the earth’s inhabitants got drunk with the wine of her immorality.” ⁴ 

Wahyu 17:13

17:13 These kings ⁵  have a single intent, and they will give their power and authority to the beast.

[17:1]  ¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.

[17:1]  ² tn Grk “with me.” The translation “with me” implies that John was engaged in a dialogue with the one speaking to him (e.g., Jesus or an angel) when in reality it was a one-sided conversation, with John doing all the listening. For this reason, μετ᾿ ἐμοῦ (met’ emou, “with me”) was translated as “to me.”

[17:1]  ³ tn Here one Greek term, κρίμα (krima), has been translated by the two English terms “condemnation” and “punishment.” See BDAG 567 s.v. 4.b, “mostly in an unfavorable sense, of the condemnatory verdict and sometimes the subsequent punishment itself 2 Pt 2:3; Jd 4…τὸ κ. τῆς πόρνης the condemnation and punishment of the prostitute Rv 17:1.”

[17:2]  ⁴ tn This is the same word translated “sexual immorality” earlier in the verse, but here the qualifier “sexual” has not been repeated for stylistic reasons.

[17:13]  ⁵ tn The word “kings” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to clarify the referent.