Revelation 17:1

Revelation 17:1. One of the seven angels that had the seven bowls speaks to the Seer, saying, Come hither, I will show thee the judgment of the great harlot that sitteth upon many waters. The judgment spoken of, as appears by the word used in the original, is judgment executed, not in process of execution. The harlot is obviously Babylon, but the name is a mystical one (Revelation 17:5), and the Seer will afterwards more fully explain it. ‘Many waters' are interpreted by the angel in Revelation 17:15 as ‘peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues, and the fourfold division shows that we have a representation of the whole world. The figure is taken from Jeremiah 51:13, where Babylon is addressed, ‘O thou that dwellest upon many waters.' ‘Sitting' is the emblem of authority and rule, accompanied by the thought of ease (comp. chap. Revelation 14:6). The term ‘harlot' points to the fact that this city seduced men from the true God to worldliness and sin (Isaiah 1:21; Jeremiah 2:20; Ezekiel 16:15).