Devine Scripture

Revelation 17:9

What does Revelation 17:9 mean?

A plain-English look at Revelation 17:9 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.

What Revelation 17:9 means

A call for wisdom signals that careful, spiritually minded discernment is needed. The seven heads are seven mountains where the woman sits—language that original readers would naturally connect with a famous seven-hilled imperial city, and more broadly with entrenched centers of worldly dominion. The woman’s seat there shows how false religion and corrupt culture often ally with the strongest political structures. This is not a peripheral sect, but an establishment phenomenon. The symbol holds both a concrete historical reference and a pattern that recurs. The harlot does not merely visit the mountains; she sits on them, suggesting a settled, influential presence over powerful institutions.

Parallel translations

WEB

World English Bible · 2000

Here is the mind that hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth:

KJV

King James Version · 1611

And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.

ASV

American Standard Version · 1901

Here is the mind that hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth:

BBE

Bible in Basic English · 1949

Here is the mind which has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman is seated:

YLT

Young's Literal Translation · 1862

`Here <FI>is<Fi> the mind that is having wisdom; the seven heads are seven mountains, upon which the woman doth sit,

DRA

Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752

And here is the understanding that hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, upon which the woman sitteth: and they are seven kings.

DBY

Darby Bible · 1890

Here is the mind that has wisdom: The seven heads are seven mountains, whereon the woman sits.

Context

Having explained the beast’s cyclical rise and fall, the angel begins decoding its anatomy. Verse 9 interprets the seven heads first as mountains, evoking both geography and power. This sets up verse 10, where the same heads are further explained as a succession of kings. The dual meaning underscores the layered nature of apocalyptic symbols: they point to real places and regimes while also teaching enduring truths about how spiritual corruption attaches to secular might.

v.8The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and is about to come up out of the abyss, and to go into perdition. And they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, they whose name hath not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast, how that he was, and is not, and shall come.

v.9This passage

v.10and they are seven kings; the five are fallen, the one is, the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a little while.

Cross references

Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.

  • Hosea 14:9

    Who is wise, that he may understand these things? prudent, that he may know them? for the ways of Jehovah are right, and the just shall walk in them; but transgressors shall fall therein.

  • Revelation 17:7

    And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou wonder? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and the ten horns.

  • Matthew 24:15

    When therefore ye see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let him that readeth understand),

  • Revelation 13:18

    Here is wisdom. He that hath understanding, let him count the number of the beast; for it is the number of a man: and his number is Six hundred and sixty and six.

  • Revelation 17:18

    And the woman whom thou sawest is the great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

  • Revelation 17:3

    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.

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