KJV: So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
YLT: and he carried me away to a wilderness in the Spirit, and I saw a woman sitting upon a scarlet-coloured beast, full of names of evil-speaking, having seven heads and ten horns,
Darby: And he carried me away in spirit to a desert; and I saw a woman sitting upon a scarlet beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
ASV: And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness: and I saw a woman sitting upon a scarlet-colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
ἀπήνεγκέν | he carried away |
Parse: Verb, Aorist Indicative Active, 3rd Person Singular Root: ἀποφέρω Sense: to carry off or bring away. |
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με | me |
Parse: Personal / Possessive Pronoun, Accusative 1st Person Singular Root: ἐγώ Sense: I, me, my. |
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εἰς | into |
Parse: Preposition Root: εἰς Sense: into, unto, to, towards, for, among. |
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ἔρημον | a wilderness |
Parse: Adjective, Accusative Feminine Singular Root: ἔρημος Sense: solitary, lonely, desolate, uninhabited. |
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Πνεύματι | [the] Spirit |
Parse: Noun, Dative Neuter Singular Root: πνεῦμα Sense: a movement of air (a gentle blast. |
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εἶδον | I saw |
Parse: Verb, Aorist Indicative Active, 1st Person Singular Root: εἶδον Sense: to see with the eyes. |
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γυναῖκα | a woman |
Parse: Noun, Accusative Feminine Singular Root: γυνή Sense: a woman of any age, whether a virgin, or married, or a widow. |
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καθημένην | sitting |
Parse: Verb, Present Participle Middle or Passive, Accusative Feminine Singular Root: κάθημαι Sense: to sit down, seat one’s self. |
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ἐπὶ | upon |
Parse: Preposition Root: ἐπί Sense: upon, on, at, by, before. |
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θηρίον | a beast |
Parse: Noun, Accusative Neuter Singular Root: θηρίον Sense: an animal. |
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κόκκινον | scarlet |
Parse: Adjective, Accusative Neuter Singular Root: κόκκινος Sense: crimson, scarlet coloured. |
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γέμοντα | being full |
Parse: Verb, Present Participle Active, Accusative Neuter Plural Root: γέμω Sense: to be full, filled, full. |
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ὀνόματα | of names |
Parse: Noun, Accusative Neuter Plural Root: ὄνομα Sense: name: univ. |
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βλασφημίας | of blasphemy |
Parse: Noun, Genitive Feminine Singular Root: βλασφημία Sense: slander, detraction, speech injurious, to another’s good name. |
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κεφαλὰς | heads |
Parse: Noun, Accusative Feminine Plural Root: κεφαλή Sense: the head, both of men and often of animals. |
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ἑπτὰ | seven |
Parse: Adjective, Accusative Feminine Plural Root: ἑπτά Sense: seven. |
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κέρατα | horns |
Parse: Noun, Accusative Neuter Plural Root: κέρας Sense: a horn. |
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δέκα | ten |
Parse: Adjective, Accusative Neuter Plural Root: δέκα Sense: ten. |
Greek Commentary for Revelation 17:3
Second aorist active indicative of αποπερω apopherō to bear away, prophetic aorist. This verb is used of angels at death (Luke 16:22) or in an ecstasy (Revelation 21:10 and here). [source]
Probably his own spirit, though the Holy Spirit is possible (Revelation 1:10; Revelation 4:2; Revelation 21:10), without Paul‘s uncertainty (2 Corinthians 12:2). Cf. Ezekiel 3:14.; Ezekiel 8:3; Ezekiel 11:24.Into a wilderness (εις ερημον eis erēmon). In Isaiah 21:1 there is το οραμα της ερημου to horama tēs erēmou (the vision of the deserted one, Babylon), and in Isaiah 14:23 Babylon is called ερημον erēmon John may here picture this to be the fate of Rome or it may be that he himself, in the wilderness (desert) this side of Babylon, sees her fate. In Revelation 21:10 he sees the New Jerusalem from a high mountain.Sitting Present middle participle of κατημαι kathēmai as in Revelation 17:1. “To manage and guide the beast” (Vincent).Upon a scarlet-coloured beast (επι τηριον κοκκινον epi thērion kokkinon). Accusative with επι epi here, though genitive in Revelation 17:1. Late adjective (from κοκκος kokkos a parasite of the ilex coccifera), a crimson tint for splendour, in Revelation 17:3, Revelation 17:4; Revelation 18:12, Revelation 18:16; Matthew 27:28; Hebrews 9:19.Full of names of blasphemy See Revelation 13:1 for “names of blasphemy” on the seven heads of the beast, but here they cover the whole body of the beast (the first beast of Revelation 13:1; Revelation 19:20). The harlot city (Rome) sits astride this beast with seven heads and ten horns (Roman world power). The beast is here personified with masculine participles instead of neuter, like τηριον thērion (γεμοντα gemonta accusative singular, εχων echōn nominative singular, though some MSS. read εχοντα echonta), construction according to sense in both instances. The verb γεμω gemō always has the genitive after it in the Apocalypse (Revelation 4:6, Revelation 4:8; Revelation 5:8; Revelation 15:7; Revelation 17:4; Revelation 21:9) save here and apparently once in Revelation 17:4. [source]
In Isaiah 21:1 there is το οραμα της ερημου to horama tēs erēmou (the vision of the deserted one, Babylon), and in Isaiah 14:23 Babylon is called ερημον erēmon John may here picture this to be the fate of Rome or it may be that he himself, in the wilderness (desert) this side of Babylon, sees her fate. In Revelation 21:10 he sees the New Jerusalem from a high mountain. [source]
Present middle participle of κατημαι kathēmai as in Revelation 17:1. “To manage and guide the beast” (Vincent).Upon a scarlet-coloured beast (επι τηριον κοκκινον epi thērion kokkinon). Accusative with επι epi here, though genitive in Revelation 17:1. Late adjective (from κοκκος kokkos a parasite of the ilex coccifera), a crimson tint for splendour, in Revelation 17:3, Revelation 17:4; Revelation 18:12, Revelation 18:16; Matthew 27:28; Hebrews 9:19.Full of names of blasphemy See Revelation 13:1 for “names of blasphemy” on the seven heads of the beast, but here they cover the whole body of the beast (the first beast of Revelation 13:1; Revelation 19:20). The harlot city (Rome) sits astride this beast with seven heads and ten horns (Roman world power). The beast is here personified with masculine participles instead of neuter, like τηριον thērion (γεμοντα gemonta accusative singular, εχων echōn nominative singular, though some MSS. read εχοντα echonta), construction according to sense in both instances. The verb γεμω gemō always has the genitive after it in the Apocalypse (Revelation 4:6, Revelation 4:8; Revelation 5:8; Revelation 15:7; Revelation 17:4; Revelation 21:9) save here and apparently once in Revelation 17:4. [source]
Accusative with επι epi here, though genitive in Revelation 17:1. Late adjective (from κοκκος kokkos a parasite of the ilex coccifera), a crimson tint for splendour, in Revelation 17:3, Revelation 17:4; Revelation 18:12, Revelation 18:16; Matthew 27:28; Hebrews 9:19. [source]
See Revelation 13:1 for “names of blasphemy” on the seven heads of the beast, but here they cover the whole body of the beast (the first beast of Revelation 13:1; Revelation 19:20). The harlot city (Rome) sits astride this beast with seven heads and ten horns (Roman world power). The beast is here personified with masculine participles instead of neuter, like τηριον thērion (γεμοντα gemonta accusative singular, εχων echōn nominative singular, though some MSS. read εχοντα echonta), construction according to sense in both instances. The verb γεμω gemō always has the genitive after it in the Apocalypse (Revelation 4:6, Revelation 4:8; Revelation 5:8; Revelation 15:7; Revelation 17:4; Revelation 21:9) save here and apparently once in Revelation 17:4. [source]
To manage and guide the beast. [source]
The same as in Revelation 13:1. This beast is ever after mentioned as τὸ θηρίον thebeast. For scarlet, see on Matthew 27:6. [source]
Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Revelation 17:3
The phrase I was in the Spirit occurs only here and Revelation 4:2: in the Spirit, in Revelation 17:3; Revelation 21:10. The phrase denotes a state of trance or spiritual ecstasy. Compare Acts 10:10; 2 Corinthians 12:2, 2 Corinthians 12:4. “Connection with surrounding objects through the senses is suspended, and a connection with the invisible world takes place” (Ebrard). “A divine release from the ordinary ways of men” (Plato, “Phaedrus,” 265). “You ask, 'How can we know the infinite?' I answer, not by reason. It is the office of reason to distinguish and define. The infinite, therefore, cannot be ranked among its objects. You can only apprehend the infinite by a faculty superior to reason; by entering into a state in which you are your finite self no longer; in which the divine essence is communicated to you. This is ecstacy. It is the liberation of your mind from its finite consciousness … . But this sublime condition is not of permanent duration. It is only now and then that we can enjoy this elevation (mercifully made possible for us) above the limits of the body and the world … . All that tends to purify and elevate the mind will assist you in this attainment, and facilitate the approach and the recurrence of these happy intervals. There are then different roads by which this end may be reached. The love of beauty which exalts the poet; that devotion to the One, and that ascent of science which makes the ambition of the philosopher; and that love and those prayers by which some devout and ardent soul tends in its moral purity towards perfection. These are the great highways conducting to heights above the actual and the particular, where we stand in the immediate presence of the Infinite who shines out as from the deeps of the soul” (Letter of Plotinus, about A D. 260). -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- Richard of St. Victor (died 1173) lays down six stages of contemplation: two in the province of the imagination, two in the province of reason, and two in the province of intelligence. The third heaven is open only to the eye of intelligence - that eye whose vision is clarified by divine grace and a holy life. In the highest degrees of contemplation penitence avails more than science; sighs obtain what is impossible to reason. Some good men have been ever unable to attain the highest stage; few are fully winged with all the six pinions of contemplation. In the ecstasy he describes, there is supposed to be a dividing asunder of the soul and the spirit as by the sword of the Spirit of God. The body sleeps, and the soul and all the visible world is shut away. The spirit is joined to the Lord, and, one with Him, transcends itself and all the limitations of human thought. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- Sufism is the mystical asceticism of Mohammedanism. The ecstasy of a Sufi saint is thus described:“My tongue clave fever-dry, my blood ran fire,My nights were sleepless with consuming lore, Till night and day sped past - as flies a lance-DIVIDER- Grazing a buckler's rim; a hundred faiths-DIVIDER- Seemed there as one; a hundred thousand years-DIVIDER- No longer than a moment. In that hour-DIVIDER- All past eternity and all to come-DIVIDER- Was gathered up in one stupendous Now, - -DIVIDER- Let understanding marvel as it may. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- Where men see clouds, on the ninth heaven I gaze,-DIVIDER- And see the throne of God. All heaven and hell-DIVIDER- Are bare to me and all men's destinies,-DIVIDER- The heavens and earth, they vanish at my glance:-DIVIDER- The dead rise at my look. I tear the veil-DIVIDER- From all the world, and in the hall of heaven-DIVIDER- I set me central, radiant as the Sun.”Vaughan, “Hours with the Mystics,” ii., 19 Beatrice says to Dante:“We from the greatest bodyHave issued to the heaven that is pure light; Light intellectual replete with love,-DIVIDER- Love of true good replete with ecstasy,Ecstasy that transcendeth every sweetness.”Dante says:“I perceived myselfTo be uplifted over my own power, And I with vision new rekindled me,-DIVIDER- Such that no light whatever is so pure-DIVIDER- But that mine eyes were fortified against it.”“Paradiso,” xxx., 38-60. Again, just before the consummate beatific vision, Dante says:“And I, who to the end of all desiresWas now approaching, even as I ought The ardor of desire within me ended. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- Bernard was beckoning unto me, and smiling,-DIVIDER- That I should upward look; but I already-DIVIDER- Was of my own accord such as he wished;-DIVIDER- Because my sight, becoming purified,-DIVIDER- Was entering more and more into the ray-DIVIDER- Of the High Light which of itself is true. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- From that time forward what I saw was greater-DIVIDER- Than our discourse, that to such vision yields,-DIVIDER- And yields the memory unto such excess.”“Paradiso,” xxxiii., 46-57. [source]
The accusative case as in Revelation 7:1; Revelation 8:3, etc. Αμμος Ammos is an old word for sand, for innumerable multitude in Revelation 20:8.Out of the sea (εκ της ταλασσης ek tēs thalassēs). See Revelation 11:7 for “the beast coming up out of the abyss.” The imagery comes from Daniel 7:3. See also Revelation 17:8. This “wild beast from the sea,” as in Daniel 7:17, Daniel 7:23, is a vast empire used in the interest of brute force. This beast, like the dragon (Revelation 12:3), has ten horns and seven heads, but the horns are crowned, not the heads. The Roman Empire seems to be meant here (Revelation 17:9, Revelation 17:12). On “diadems” (διαδηματα diadēmata) see Revelation 12:3, only ten here, not seven as there.Names of blasphemy See Revelation 17:3 for this same phrase. The meaning is made plain by the blasphemous titles assumed by the Roman emperors in the first and second centuries, as shown by the inscriptions in Ephesus, which have τεος theos constantly applied to them. [source]
See Revelation 17:3 for this same phrase. The meaning is made plain by the blasphemous titles assumed by the Roman emperors in the first and second centuries, as shown by the inscriptions in Ephesus, which have τεος theos constantly applied to them. [source]
Accusative with επι epi here, though genitive in Revelation 17:1. Late adjective (from κοκκος kokkos a parasite of the ilex coccifera), a crimson tint for splendour, in Revelation 17:3, Revelation 17:4; Revelation 18:12, Revelation 18:16; Matthew 27:28; Hebrews 9:19. [source]
Either the accusative after γεμον gemon as in Revelation 17:3 (and full of the unclean things of her fornication) or the object of εχουσα echousa like ποτηριον potērion f0). [source]
Probably his own spirit, though the Holy Spirit is possible (Revelation 1:10; Revelation 4:2; Revelation 21:10), without Paul‘s uncertainty (2 Corinthians 12:2). Cf. Ezekiel 3:14.; Ezekiel 8:3; Ezekiel 11:24.Into a wilderness (εις ερημον eis erēmon). In Isaiah 21:1 there is το οραμα της ερημου to horama tēs erēmou (the vision of the deserted one, Babylon), and in Isaiah 14:23 Babylon is called ερημον erēmon John may here picture this to be the fate of Rome or it may be that he himself, in the wilderness (desert) this side of Babylon, sees her fate. In Revelation 21:10 he sees the New Jerusalem from a high mountain.Sitting Present middle participle of κατημαι kathēmai as in Revelation 17:1. “To manage and guide the beast” (Vincent).Upon a scarlet-coloured beast (επι τηριον κοκκινον epi thērion kokkinon). Accusative with επι epi here, though genitive in Revelation 17:1. Late adjective (from κοκκος kokkos a parasite of the ilex coccifera), a crimson tint for splendour, in Revelation 17:3, Revelation 17:4; Revelation 18:12, Revelation 18:16; Matthew 27:28; Hebrews 9:19.Full of names of blasphemy See Revelation 13:1 for “names of blasphemy” on the seven heads of the beast, but here they cover the whole body of the beast (the first beast of Revelation 13:1; Revelation 19:20). The harlot city (Rome) sits astride this beast with seven heads and ten horns (Roman world power). The beast is here personified with masculine participles instead of neuter, like τηριον thērion (γεμοντα gemonta accusative singular, εχων echōn nominative singular, though some MSS. read εχοντα echonta), construction according to sense in both instances. The verb γεμω gemō always has the genitive after it in the Apocalypse (Revelation 4:6, Revelation 4:8; Revelation 5:8; Revelation 15:7; Revelation 17:4; Revelation 21:9) save here and apparently once in Revelation 17:4. [source]
Present middle participle of κατημαι kathēmai as in Revelation 17:1. “To manage and guide the beast” (Vincent).Upon a scarlet-coloured beast (επι τηριον κοκκινον epi thērion kokkinon). Accusative with επι epi here, though genitive in Revelation 17:1. Late adjective (from κοκκος kokkos a parasite of the ilex coccifera), a crimson tint for splendour, in Revelation 17:3, Revelation 17:4; Revelation 18:12, Revelation 18:16; Matthew 27:28; Hebrews 9:19.Full of names of blasphemy See Revelation 13:1 for “names of blasphemy” on the seven heads of the beast, but here they cover the whole body of the beast (the first beast of Revelation 13:1; Revelation 19:20). The harlot city (Rome) sits astride this beast with seven heads and ten horns (Roman world power). The beast is here personified with masculine participles instead of neuter, like τηριον thērion (γεμοντα gemonta accusative singular, εχων echōn nominative singular, though some MSS. read εχοντα echonta), construction according to sense in both instances. The verb γεμω gemō always has the genitive after it in the Apocalypse (Revelation 4:6, Revelation 4:8; Revelation 5:8; Revelation 15:7; Revelation 17:4; Revelation 21:9) save here and apparently once in Revelation 17:4. [source]
Accusative retained after this passive verb of clothing, as so often. Πορπυρους Porphurous is old adjective for purple (from πορπυρα porphura), in N.T. only here and John 19:2, John 19:5. See preceding verse for κοκκινος kokkinos Perfect passive participle of χρυσοω chrusoō old verb, to gild, to adorn with gold, here alone in N.T.With gold and precious stone and pearls (χρυσιωι και λιτωι τιμιωι και μαργαριταις chrusiōi kai lithōi timiōi kai margaritais). Instrumental case. Χρυσιωι Chrusiōi is cognate with the participle. Λιτωι τιμιωι Lithōi timiōi is collective (Revelation 18:12, Revelation 18:16; Revelation 21:19). There is a ζευγμα zeugma also with μαργαριταις margaritais (Revelation 18:12, Revelation 18:16; Revelation 21:21), for which word see Matthew 7:6. Probably John is thinking of the finery of the temple prostitutes in Asia Minor.Full of abominations Agreeing with ποτηριον potērion “cup” (neuter singular accusative). Some MSS. read γεμων gemōn (nominative masculine like εχων echōn in Revelation 17:3, quite irregular). For βδελυγματων bdelugmatōn (genitive after γεμον gemon) see Matthew 24:15; (Mark 13:14), common in the lxx for idol worship and its defilements (from βδελυσσω bdelussō to render foul), both ceremonial and moral. See Jeremiah 15:7.Even the unclean things of her fornication (και τα ακαταρτα της πορνειας αυτης kai ta akatharta tēs porneias autēs). Either the accusative after γεμον gemon as in Revelation 17:3 (and full of the unclean things of her fornication) or the object of εχουσα echousa like ποτηριον potērion f0). [source]
Agreeing with ποτηριον potērion “cup” (neuter singular accusative). Some MSS. read γεμων gemōn (nominative masculine like εχων echōn in Revelation 17:3, quite irregular). For βδελυγματων bdelugmatōn (genitive after γεμον gemon) see Matthew 24:15; (Mark 13:14), common in the lxx for idol worship and its defilements (from βδελυσσω bdelussō to render foul), both ceremonial and moral. See Jeremiah 15:7.Even the unclean things of her fornication (και τα ακαταρτα της πορνειας αυτης kai ta akatharta tēs porneias autēs). Either the accusative after γεμον gemon as in Revelation 17:3 (and full of the unclean things of her fornication) or the object of εχουσα echousa like ποτηριον potērion f0). [source]