World English Bible · Under Rome
Revelation 17
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One of the seven who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me, saying, "Come here. I will show you the of the great who sits on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth committed sexual immorality. Those who in the earth were made drunken with the of her sexual immorality." He carried me away in into a . I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet-colored beast, full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and ten . The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden full of and the impurities of the sexual immorality of the earth. And on her forehead a name was written, ", THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF THE AND OF THE OF THE EARTH." I saw the woman drunken with of and with of the martyrs of . When I saw her, I wondered with great amazement. said to me, "Why do you wonder? I will tell you of the woman and of that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten . that you saw was, and is not; and is about to come up out of the abyss and to go into . Those who on the earth and whose names have not been written in the from the foundation of the world will marvel when they see that was, and is not, and shall be present. Here is that has . The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits. 10They are seven kings. Five have fallen, the one is, and the other has not yet come. When he comes, he must continue a little while. that was, and is not, is himself also an eighth, and is of the seven; and he goes to . The ten that you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive as kings with for one hour. These have one , and they give their and to . These will war against , and will overcome them, for he is of lords and King of kings; and those who are with him are called, chosen, and ." He said to me, "The waters which you saw, where the sits, are peoples, , nations, and . The ten which you saw, they and will hate the , will make her desolate, will strip her , will eat her , and will burn her utterly with . For has put in their to do what he has in , to be of one , and to give their kingdom to , until the words of should be accomplished. The woman whom you saw is the great city which reigns over the kings of the earth."
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The world at this moment · Under Rome, 63 BC to AD 100 ›
Judea as a client kingdom and then a province. Roads, garrisons, taxes, crucifixion, and a common Greek language that let a message travel the empire faster than any before it.
- Rome
- The republic tears itself apart in civil war and comes out as an empire under Augustus. What follows is two centuries of relative peace across the whole Mediterranean, enforced by legions and paid for by taxes, with safe roads and safe sea lanes. Every one of Paul's journeys depends on that.
- Judea
- Governed first through Herod the Great, a client king of enormous ability and enormous brutality who rebuilds the temple into one of the wonders of the ancient world, then directly by Roman prefects. Crucifixion is the standard penalty for sedition and is used often and publicly.
- The wider world
- Greek is spoken from Spain to Syria, which means a letter written in Corinth can be read in Rome without translation. Jewish communities already exist in most major cities, which is where the first Christian preaching lands. Mystery religions, imperial cult, and philosophy all compete in the same marketplace.
- Further afield
- The Han dynasty rules China and trades silk westward along routes that touch the Roman world at second hand. In Britain the Roman conquest begins within a decade of the crucifixion.