Apocalipsis 17

VBL · Chapter 17/22

1Y uno de los siete ángeles con las siete copas vino y me habló, diciéndome: “Ven aquí”, dijo, “y te mostraré el juicio de la prostituta infame que está sentada junto a muchas aguas.

2Los reyes de la tierra han cometido adulterio con ella, y los habitantes de la tierra se han embriagado con el vino de su inmoralidad”.

3Entonces me llevó en el Espíritu a un lugar desierto, y vi a una mujer que estaba sentada sobre una bestia escarlata que tenía siete cabezas y diez cuernos y estaba cubierta con nombres blasfemos.

4La mujer estaba vestida de púrpura y escarlata, y vestía prendas de oro, joyas y perlas. En su mano sostenía una copa de oro llena de cosas obscenas y de su inmoralidad repulsiva.

5Y en su frente estaba escrito un nombre de misterio: Babilonia la Grande, la Madre de Prostitutas y de las obscenidades del mundo.

6Y vi que la mujer estaba ebria con la sangre de los creyentes, y con la sangre de los mártires que habían muerto por Jesús. Cuando la vi, me quedé totalmente asombrado.

7Y el ángel me preguntó: “¿Por qué estás asombrado? Te explicaré el misterio de la mujer y la bestia sobre la cual estaba montada, y que tenía siete cabezas y diez cuernos.

8La bestia que viste una vez pero no es, pero que pronto surgirá de nuevo del abismo, y luego será destruida por completo. Los que viven sobre la tierra y no tienen sus nombres escritos en el libro de la vida se maravillarán cuando vean a la bestia que era, pero no es, y regresará.

9“Aquí se necesita una mente con entendimiento. Las siete cabezas son siete colinas, donde está sentada la mujer;

10esos son siete reyes. Cinco ya han caído, uno reina ahora, y el último está por venir, y su reino será corto.

11La bestia que era, y no es, es un octavo rey y pertenece a los siete. Él también será destruido por completo.

12“Los diez cuernos que viste son diez reyes que no han comenzado a reinar todavía. Sin embargo, se les dará autoridad para reinar junto con la bestia durante una hora.

13Y han acordado un solo propósito: ceder su poder y autoridad a la bestia.

14Y harán guerra contra el Cordero, y el Cordero los vencerá, porque él es el Señor de señores y Rey de reyes. Sus seguidores son llamados y escogidos, y ellos confían en él”.

15Y el ángel siguió explicándome: “Las aguas que viste donde se sentaba la ramera, representan pueblos, multitudes de personas, naciones, y lenguas.

16Los diez cuernos que viste y la bestia odiarán a la prostituta, y le quitarán todas sus posesiones, y la dejarán desnuda, comerán su carne y la quemarán hasta que quede en cenizas.

17“Porque Dios puso en sus mentes que hicieran lo que él quería, que tuvieran un mismo acuerdo: ceder su reino a la bestia, para que se cumplan las palabras de Dios.

18La mujer que viste es la gran ciudad, que gobierna sobre los reyes de la tierra”.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

An angel shows John a vision of the great prostitute Babylon, seated on a scarlet beast, drunk with the blood of the saints and dressed in excessive luxury. The angel explains that the beast and its ten horns will eventually destroy the prostitute herself, fulfilling God's plan.

Explanation

The image of the 'great prostitute' seated on 'many waters' and later identified as 'the great city that reigns over the kings of the earth' (17:18) was understood by early readers as a symbolic representation of Rome, with its wealth, political power, and corrupting influence over vassal nations. The description of seven mountains on which the woman sits (17:9) reinforces this identification, since Rome was famous in antiquity for being built on seven hills. The surprising point of the vision is that the beast's own political allies will eventually turn against the prostitute and destroy her, showing how corrupt systems of power often destroy themselves through their own unstable alliances. Today's practical application is recognizing that wealth and power built on exploitation and corruption carry within themselves the seeds of their own ruin.

Fun facts

  • The reference to the 'seven mountains' on which the woman sits (17:9) was a widely recognized symbol in the ancient world for the city of Rome, famous for being built on seven hills, including the Palatine and Capitoline, something Roman coins of the time even celebrated.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Apocalipsis 17:1The chapter itself explains, further on, that these ‘waters’ represent peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues; the image describes influence over many peoples, not a specific geographic place.
  2. Apocalipsis 17:2Introduces the “great whore” mentioned in the previous verse as someone who corrupted kings and peoples with an influence compared to drunkenness, suggesting a seductive political and economic power more than literal sexual immorality.
  3. Apocalipsis 17:3John is carried away in the spirit to see this woman sitting on a beast with seven heads and ten horns, the same combination of symbols already seen in the beast of chapter 13, linking the two figures.
  4. Apocalipsis 17:4Purple and scarlet fabrics were extremely expensive luxury goods in antiquity, made with rare dyes extracted from mollusks. The description paints a picture of extravagant wealth and status, tied to a life of corruption.
  5. Apocalipsis 17:5The text explicitly calls this a mystery, a symbol that needs explaining, and it later clarifies that it refers to the great city that dominates the kings of the earth. The earliest readers would have recognized in this description traces of the dominant imperial power of their own time, though the text never names it directly.
  6. Apocalipsis 17:6The woman appears drunk with the blood of Christian martyrs, an image that shocks even John himself, who reacts with amazement at the scene.
  7. Apocalipsis 17:7The angel offers to explain the “mystery” behind this vision, a direct invitation to decode the symbols that follow.
  8. Apocalipsis 17:8The description of the beast, “was, and is not,” distorts and imitates the formula used for God (“which is, and which was, and which is to come”), a false imitation of eternity applied to a political power.
  9. Apocalipsis 17:9The text itself draws attention to this riddle, saying that solving it requires wisdom, a direct invitation for readers of the time to connect the image to something in their own historical moment. Different traditions have proposed different identifications over the centuries, and this reading is deliberately left open here.
  10. Apocalipsis 17:10The seven kings mentioned here, along with the seven heads explained in the previous verse as seven mountains, have been read in very different ways over the centuries, linked by different traditions to rulers from various eras, without the text settling this identification for today's reader.
  11. Apocalipsis 17:11The beast described as an “eighth” king who belongs to the seven before it is another point that Christian traditions interpret in different ways, though they always end with the same verdict: it is headed for destruction.
  12. Apocalipsis 17:12As with the seven heads, the text itself explains this symbol: they are rulers who act together with the beast for ‘one hour,’ a short, limited period, not a literal hour on the clock.
  13. Apocalipsis 17:13The ten kings mentioned in the previous verse share a single purpose: handing over their own power to the beast, joining forces with it.
  14. Apocalipsis 17:14This alliance of political power will confront the Lamb directly, and the outcome is announced even before the battle: the Lamb wins, because He is described with the title “Lord of lords, and King of kings.”
  15. Apocalipsis 17:15The angel explains the symbol of the “many waters” mentioned at the start of the chapter: they represent peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues — the foundation that supports the whore.
  16. Apocalipsis 17:16An ironic turn: the same powers that supported the whore turn against her and destroy her, showing how alliances built on corruption end up turning on themselves.
  17. Apocalipsis 17:17Explains this turn as part of God's own plan, using even the ambition of these rulers to fulfill a greater purpose.
  18. Apocalipsis 17:18Closes the chapter by revealing the central symbol: the woman represents a great city with power over the kings of the earth, without the text identifying it by a specific name for today's readers.

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