Discovery BoxRevelation 17:2-5 
Context17:2 with whom the kings of the earth committed sexual immorality and the earth’s inhabitants got drunk with the wine of her immorality.” 1 17:3 So 2 he carried me away in the Spirit 3 to a wilderness, 4 and there 5 I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns. 17:4 Now 6 the woman was dressed in purple and scarlet clothing, 7 and adorned with gold, 8 precious stones, and pearls. She held 9 in her hand a golden cup filled with detestable things and unclean things from her sexual immorality. 10 17:5 On 11 her forehead was written a name, a mystery: 12 “Babylon the Great, the Mother of prostitutes and of the detestable things of the earth.”
1 tn This is the same word translated “sexual immorality” earlier in the verse, but here the qualifier “sexual” has not been repeated for stylistic reasons.
2 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of the angel’s invitation to witness the fate of the prostitute.
3 tn Or “in the spirit.” “Spirit” could refer either to the Holy Spirit or the human spirit, but in either case John was in “a state of spiritual exaltation best described as a trance” (R. H. Mounce, Revelation [NICNT], 75).
4 tn Or “desert.”
5 tn The word “there” is not in the Greek text, but is supplied for stylistic reasons.
6 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the detailed description of the woman, which is somewhat parenthetical in nature.
7 tn The word “clothing” is supplied to clarify that the words “purple” and “scarlet” refer to cloth or garments rather than colors.
8 tn Grk “gilded with gold” (an instance of semantic reinforcement, see L&N 49.29).
9 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.
10 tc Several
11 tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.
12 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”).
