Revelation 17 · a question people ask
"I will tell you the mystery of the woman" (17:7). Who is the woman on the beast?
Here is what the chapter says of her. John says, "I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet-colored beast" (17:3), and 17:5 gives the name written on her forehead. The angel tells him, "I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her" (17:7). Of the waters, the angel says, "The waters which you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and languages." (17:15). And the angel's last words in the chapter are of the woman herself: "The woman whom you saw is the great city which reigns over the kings of the earth." (17:18). These notes say no more of the woman, or of the city, than these words.
The verses
“He carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness. I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet-colored beast, full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and ten horns.”
“And on her forehead a name was written, “MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF THE PROSTITUTES AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.””
“The angel said to me, “Why do you wonder? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns.”
“He said to me, “The waters which you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and languages.”