5 On her forehead was written a name, a mystery: “Babylon the Great, the Mother of prostitutes and of the detestable things of the earth.”
6 I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints and the blood of those who testified to Jesus. I was greatly astounded when I saw her.
7 But the angel said to me, “Why are you astounded? I will interpret for you the mystery of the woman and of the beast with the seven heads and ten horns that carries her.
8 The beast you saw was, and is not, but is about to come up from the abyss and then go to destruction. The inhabitants of the earth – all those whose names have not been written in the book of life since the foundation of the world – will be astounded when they see that the beast was, and is not, but is to come.
9 (This requires a mind that has wisdom.) The seven heads are seven mountains the woman sits on. They are also seven kings:
10 five have fallen; one is, and the other has not yet come, but whenever he does come, he must remain for only a brief time.
11 The beast that was, and is not, is himself an eighth king and yet is one of the seven, and is going to destruction.