Revelation 17:4-5

17:4 Now ¹  the woman was dressed in purple and scarlet clothing, ²  and adorned with gold, ³  precious stones, and pearls. She held ⁴  in her hand a golden cup filled with detestable things and unclean things from her sexual immorality. ⁵  17:5 On ⁶  her forehead was written a name, a mystery: ⁷  “Babylon the Great, the Mother of prostitutes and of the detestable things of the earth.”

Revelation 17:15-16

17:15 Then ⁸  the angel ⁹  said to me, “The waters you saw (where the prostitute is seated) are peoples, multitudes, ¹⁰  nations, and languages. 17:16 The ¹¹  ten horns that you saw, and the beast – these will hate the prostitute and make her desolate and naked. They ¹²  will consume her flesh and burn her up with fire. ¹³ 

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¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the detailed description of the woman, which is somewhat parenthetical in nature.

² tn The word “clothing” is supplied to clarify that the words “purple” and “scarlet” refer to cloth or garments rather than colors.

³ tn Grk “gilded with gold” (an instance of semantic reinforcement, see L&N 49.29).

⁴ tn Grk “pearls, having in her hand.” Due to the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

⁵ tc Several mss (including 1611 1854 2053 Ï^K pc) read “sexual immorality on/of the earth” (πορνείας τῆς γῆς, porneia" th" gh") instead of “her sexual immorality.” Other mss (א sy^h** [co]) read “her sexual immorality and the earth’s” (πορνείας αὐτῆς καὶ τῆς γῆς, porneia" aujth" kai th" gh"). The translation is a rendering of πορνείας αὐτῆς, found in {A 1006 2344 al}. It seems that the first reading “sexuality immorality on/of the earth” was a scribal mistake in which letters may have been confused (auths would have been read as thsghs), or was perhaps influenced by the presence of “of the world” (τῆς γῆς) at the end of v. 5. The original wording seems to be “her sexual immorality”; codex א has conflated the two readings.

⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

⁷ tn Some translations consider the word μυστήριον (musthrion, “mystery”) a part of the name written (“Mystery Babylon the Great,” so KJV, NIV), but the gender of both ὄνομα (onoma, “name”) and μυστήριον are neuter, while the gender of “Babylon” is feminine. This strongly suggests that μυστήριον should be understood as an appositive to ὄνομα (“a name, i.e., a mystery”).

⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.

⁹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (the angel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁰ tn Grk “and multitudes,” but καί (kai) has not been translated here and before the following term since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.

¹¹ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

¹² tn A new sentence was started here in the translation. Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

¹³ tn The final clause could also be turned into an adverbial clause of means: “They will consume her flesh by burning her with fire.”