Revelation 17:17

καὶ ποιῆσαι μίαν γνώμην. Lach[615] omits with A, vg[616] and Tyc[617] Primas[618] reads ut perficiant quod illi placitum est et esse illos in consensu et metu et tradere bestiae regnum.

[615] Lachmann’s larger edition.
[616] Vulgate.
[617] Tyconius.
[618] Primasius, edited by Haussleiter.

17. ὁ γὰρ θεός. The very same judicial blindness is spoken of in 2 Thessalonians 2:11.

ποιῆσαι μίαν γνώμην. Cf. Revelation 17:13.

δοῦναι τὴν βασιλείαν αὐτῶν τῷ θηρίῳ. He therefore, though a representative of the Roman Empire, will not fall with the city of Rome: on the contrary, in the last days of the latter he will have appeared as its enemy. The gradual divorce of the Empire from the City, by Diocletian, Constantine, Charlemagne, the mediæval German Emperors, Charles V., Francis II., Napoleon, William, is significant as providing precedents for what Antichrist will do: though of course it would be absurd and unjust to think of all these as actuated by his spirit.