InterlinearVerse GEN EXO LEV NUM DEUT JOB YEHO (JOS) HERO (JDG) RUTH 1 SAM 2 SAM PSA AMOS HOS 1 KI 2 KI 1 CHR 2 CHR PROV ECC SNG YOEL (JOEL) MIC ISA ZEP HAB YIR (JER) LAM YNA (JNA) NAH OBAD DAN EZEK EZRA EST NEH HAG ZEC MAL 2 PS WIS TOB MAN BAR G DAN G ESD L ESD ESG JDT 3 MAC SIR 1 MAC 2 MAC 4 MAC YHN (JHN) MARK MAT LUKE ACTs YAC (JAM) GAL 1 TH 2 TH 1 COR 2 COR ROM COL LAOD PHM EPH PHP 1 TIM TIT 1 PET 2 PET 2 TIM HEB YUD (JUD) 1 YHN (1 JHN) 2 YHN (2 JHN) 3 YHN (3 JHN) REV
InterlinearVerse Rev C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 C10 C11 C12 C13 C14 C15 C16 C18 C19 C20 C21 C22
Rev 17 V1 V2 V3 V4 V5 V6 V7 V8 V10 V11 V12 V13 V14 V15 V16 V17 V18
OET-LV Here is the mind which having seven:
wisdom the seven heads mountains are, where the woman is_sitting on them.
And seven kings are:
OET (OET-RV) Here’s the mind understanding wisdom: The seven heads are seven hills that the woman is sitting on, and they’re seven rulers.
In this section, John saw a woman sitting on a red beast. The woman had the symbolic name “Babylon.” An angel referred to her as a prostitute. The red beast had seven heads and ten horns. The beast worked together with her, but later he destroyed her.
Other examples of headings for this section are:
The great/famous prostitute with the symbolic name Babylon was destroyed
The red beast turned against the woman Babylon and destroyed her
This calls for a mind with wisdom.
¶ “A wise mind is needed.
¶ “This topic/issue/matter requires a mind with wisdom.
This calls for a mind with wisdom: The Greek clause is literally “Here is the mind which has wisdom” (as in the NASB and KJV). It urges readers to be wise regarding the symbolic meanings of the woman and the beast. The angel explained some of the symbolic meanings in 17:9–18. The reader will need wisdom to understand what the angel explained. Other ways to translate this clause are:
A mind with wisdom is needed here.
This takes/requires a mind having wisdom.
In this situation a wise mind is needed. (GW)
wisdom: The word wisdom means “the ability to understand events and know what should be done.” See how you translated this word in 5:12 or 13:18.
The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits.
The seven heads are symbolic of the seven hills where the woman is seated.
The seven heads represent/symbolize seven hills, the seat/location of the woman.
The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits: The phrase seven mountains on which the woman sits explains the symbolic meaning of the seven heads. But the phrase seven mountains on which the woman sits is also symbolic itself. The city of Rome is located on seven hills. But Rome might be symbolic of a powerful country or empire. It might be symbolic of the human government controlled by the beast. You should translate the literal meaning of this phrase.
Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / idiom
ὧδε ὁ νοῦς ὁ ἔχων σοφίαν
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Ὧδε ὁ νοῦς ὁ ἔχων σοφίαν αἱ ἑπτά κεφαλαί ἑπτά ὄρη εἰσίν ὅπου ἡ γυνή κάθηται ἐπʼ αὐτῶν Καί βασιλεῖς ἑπτά εἰσίν)
The expression Here is introduces something that the speaker is calling for. Alternate translation: [This calls for a mind that has wisdom]
Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / abstractnouns
ὧδε ὁ νοῦς ὁ ἔχων σοφίαν
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Ὧδε ὁ νοῦς ὁ ἔχων σοφίαν αἱ ἑπτά κεφαλαί ἑπτά ὄρη εἰσίν ὅπου ἡ γυνή κάθηται ἐπʼ αὐτῶν Καί βασιλεῖς ἑπτά εἰσίν)
If your language does not use an abstract noun for the idea of wisdom, you could express the same idea in another way. Alternate translation: [This calls for a wise mind]
Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / explicitinfo
ὅπου ἡ γυνὴ κάθηται ἐπ’ αὐτῶν
where the (Some words not found in SR-GNT: Ὧδε ὁ νοῦς ὁ ἔχων σοφίαν αἱ ἑπτά κεφαλαί ἑπτά ὄρη εἰσίν ὅπου ἡ γυνή κάθηται ἐπʼ αὐτῶν Καί βασιλεῖς ἑπτά εἰσίν)
It might seem that this expression contains extra information that would be unnatural to express in your language. If so, you could shorten it. Alternate translation: [where the woman is sitting]
OET-LV Here is the mind which having seven:
wisdom the seven heads mountains are, where the woman is_sitting on them.
And seven kings are:
OET (OET-RV) Here’s the mind understanding wisdom: The seven heads are seven hills that the woman is sitting on, and they’re seven rulers.
Note: The OET-RV is still only a first draft, and so far only a few words have been (mostly automatically) matched to the Hebrew or Greek words that they’re translated from.
Acknowledgements: The SR Greek text, lemmas, morphology, and VLT gloss are all thanks to the CNTR.
Open Bible Data site copyright © 2023–2026 Freely-Given.org.
Python source code for creating these static pages is available on GitHub under an open licence.
For Bible data copyrights, see the details for each displayed Bible version.
Visit the Open English Translation (OET) main site.