1 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls spoke with me. "Come, he said, I will show you the judgment upon the great prostitute, who is seated on deep waters.
2 The kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality with her, and those who live on earth have become drunk with the wine of her whoring."
3 Then he brought me in a Spirit-inspired trance to a desert. There I saw a woman seated on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names. It had seven heads and ten horns.
4 The woman wore purple and scarlet clothing, and she glittered with gold and jewels and pearls. In her hand she held a gold cup full of the vile and impure things that came from her activity as a prostitute.
5 A name—a mystery—was written on her forehead: "Babylon the great, the mother of prostitutes and the vile things of the earth."
6 I saw that the woman was drunk on the blood of the saints and the blood of Jesus’ witnesses. I was completely stunned when I saw her.
7 Then the angel said to me, "Why are you amazed? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and the seven-headed, ten-horned beast that carries her.