1 Then one of the ^wseven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the ^xgreat prostitute ^ywho is seated on many waters, 2 ^zwith whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality, and with the ^awine of whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth have become drunk.” 3 And he ^bcarried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of ^cblasphemous names, and it had ^dseven heads and ten horns. 4 The woman was arrayed ^ein purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a ^fgolden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality. 5 And on her ^gforehead was written a name of mystery: “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations.” 6 And I saw the woman, ^hdrunk with the ⁱblood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.¹

When I saw her, I marveled greatly.