<< Salmos 137:8 >>

本节经文

  • 新标点和合本
    将要被灭的巴比伦城啊,报复你像你待我们的,那人便为有福!
  • 和合本2010(上帝版-简体)
    将要被灭的巴比伦哪,用你待我们的恶行报复你的,那人有福了。
  • 和合本2010(神版-简体)
    将要被灭的巴比伦哪,用你待我们的恶行报复你的,那人有福了。
  • 当代译本
    巴比伦城啊,你快要灭亡了,那向你以牙还牙为我们复仇的人有福了!
  • 圣经新译本
    将要被毁灭的(“将要被毁灭的”有古译本作“毁灭者”)巴比伦城(“城”原文作“女子”)啊!照着你待我们的行为报复你的,那人有福了。
  • 中文标准译本
    将被毁灭的巴比伦城啊,照着你向我们所做的去报应你的,那人是蒙福的!
  • 新標點和合本
    將要被滅的巴比倫城啊,報復你像你待我們的,那人便為有福!
  • 和合本2010(上帝版-繁體)
    將要被滅的巴比倫哪,用你待我們的惡行報復你的,那人有福了。
  • 和合本2010(神版-繁體)
    將要被滅的巴比倫哪,用你待我們的惡行報復你的,那人有福了。
  • 當代譯本
    巴比倫城啊,你快要滅亡了,那向你以牙還牙為我們復仇的人有福了!
  • 聖經新譯本
    將要被毀滅的(“將要被毀滅的”有古譯本作“毀滅者”)巴比倫城(“城”原文作“女子”)啊!照著你待我們的行為報復你的,那人有福了。
  • 呂振中譯本
    毁滅者巴比倫國啊,照你所待我們的去報復你的、那人有福啊!
  • 中文標準譯本
    將被毀滅的巴比倫城啊,照著你向我們所做的去報應你的,那人是蒙福的!
  • 文理和合譯本
    將亡之巴比倫女歟、以爾之待我者待爾、斯人其有福兮、
  • 文理委辦譯本
    巴比倫之邑民兮、昔爾害予、擲嬰孩於石、今有人待爾若此者、必得純嘏兮。
  • 施約瑟淺文理新舊約聖經
    必滅亡之巴比倫邑邑原文作女乎、有人報復爾、如爾之待我儕、願其得福、
  • 吳經熊文理聖詠與新經全集
    巴比倫人恣刼奪。可憐稚子亦遭殃。
  • New International Version
    Daughter Babylon, doomed to destruction, happy is the one who repays you according to what you have done to us.
  • New International Reader's Version
    People of Babylon, you are sentenced to be destroyed. Happy is the person who pays you back according to what you have done to us.
  • English Standard Version
    O daughter of Babylon, doomed to be destroyed, blessed shall he be who repays you with what you have done to us!
  • New Living Translation
    O Babylon, you will be destroyed. Happy is the one who pays you back for what you have done to us.
  • Christian Standard Bible
    Daughter Babylon, doomed to destruction, happy is the one who pays you back what you have done to us.
  • New American Standard Bible
    Daughter of Babylon, you devastated one, Blessed will be one who repays you With the retribution with which you have repaid us.
  • New King James Version
    O daughter of Babylon, who are to be destroyed, Happy the one who repays you as you have served us!
  • American Standard Version
    O daughter of Babylon, that art to be destroyed, Happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee As thou hast served us.
  • Holman Christian Standard Bible
    Daughter Babylon, doomed to destruction, happy is the one who pays you back what you have done to us.
  • King James Version
    O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed; happy[ shall he be], that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us.
  • New English Translation
    O daughter Babylon, soon to be devastated! How blessed will be the one who repays you for what you dished out to us!
  • World English Bible
    Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, he will be happy who repays you, as you have done to us.

交叉引用

  • Apocalipse 18:6
    Give back to her as she has given; pay her back double for what she has done. Pour her a double portion from her own cup. (niv)
  • Isaías 13:1-22
    A prophecy against Babylon that Isaiah son of Amoz saw:Raise a banner on a bare hilltop, shout to them; beckon to them to enter the gates of the nobles.I have commanded those I prepared for battle; I have summoned my warriors to carry out my wrath— those who rejoice in my triumph.Listen, a noise on the mountains, like that of a great multitude! Listen, an uproar among the kingdoms, like nations massing together! The Lord Almighty is mustering an army for war.They come from faraway lands, from the ends of the heavens— the Lord and the weapons of his wrath— to destroy the whole country.Wail, for the day of the Lord is near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty.Because of this, all hands will go limp, every heart will melt with fear.Terror will seize them, pain and anguish will grip them; they will writhe like a woman in labor. They will look aghast at each other, their faces aflame.See, the day of the Lord is coming— a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger— to make the land desolate and destroy the sinners within it.The stars of heaven and their constellations will not show their light. The rising sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light.I will punish the world for its evil, the wicked for their sins. I will put an end to the arrogance of the haughty and will humble the pride of the ruthless.I will make people scarcer than pure gold, more rare than the gold of Ophir.Therefore I will make the heavens tremble; and the earth will shake from its place at the wrath of the Lord Almighty, in the day of his burning anger.Like a hunted gazelle, like sheep without a shepherd, they will all return to their own people, they will flee to their native land.Whoever is captured will be thrust through; all who are caught will fall by the sword.Their infants will be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses will be looted and their wives violated.See, I will stir up against them the Medes, who do not care for silver and have no delight in gold.Their bows will strike down the young men; they will have no mercy on infants, nor will they look with compassion on children.Babylon, the jewel of kingdoms, the pride and glory of the Babylonians, will be overthrown by God like Sodom and Gomorrah.She will never be inhabited or lived in through all generations; there no nomads will pitch their tents, there no shepherds will rest their flocks.But desert creatures will lie there, jackals will fill her houses; there the owls will dwell, and there the wild goats will leap about.Hyenas will inhabit her strongholds, jackals her luxurious palaces. Her time is at hand, and her days will not be prolonged. (niv)
  • Apocalipse 14:8-11
    A second angel followed and said,“‘ Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great,’ which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries.”A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice:“ If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand,they, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb.And the smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever. There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name.” (niv)
  • Jeremias 25:12-14
    “ But when the seventy years are fulfilled, I will punish the king of Babylon and his nation, the land of the Babylonians, for their guilt,” declares the Lord,“ and will make it desolate forever.I will bring on that land all the things I have spoken against it, all that are written in this book and prophesied by Jeremiah against all the nations.They themselves will be enslaved by many nations and great kings; I will repay them according to their deeds and the work of their hands.” (niv)
  • Isaías 14:4-24
    you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon: How the oppressor has come to an end! How his fury has ended!The Lord has broken the rod of the wicked, the scepter of the rulers,which in anger struck down peoples with unceasing blows, and in fury subdued nations with relentless aggression.All the lands are at rest and at peace; they break into singing.Even the junipers and the cedars of Lebanon gloat over you and say,“ Now that you have been laid low, no one comes to cut us down.”The realm of the dead below is all astir to meet you at your coming; it rouses the spirits of the departed to greet you— all those who were leaders in the world; it makes them rise from their thrones— all those who were kings over the nations.They will all respond, they will say to you,“ You also have become weak, as we are; you have become like us.”All your pomp has been brought down to the grave, along with the noise of your harps; maggots are spread out beneath you and worms cover you.How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations!You said in your heart,“ I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon.I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.”But you are brought down to the realm of the dead, to the depths of the pit.Those who see you stare at you, they ponder your fate:“ Is this the man who shook the earth and made kingdoms tremble,the man who made the world a wilderness, who overthrew its cities and would not let his captives go home?”All the kings of the nations lie in state, each in his own tomb.But you are cast out of your tomb like a rejected branch; you are covered with the slain, with those pierced by the sword, those who descend to the stones of the pit. Like a corpse trampled underfoot,you will not join them in burial, for you have destroyed your land and killed your people. Let the offspring of the wicked never be mentioned again.Prepare a place to slaughter his children for the sins of their ancestors; they are not to rise to inherit the land and cover the earth with their cities.“ I will rise up against them,” declares the Lord Almighty.“ I will wipe out Babylon’s name and survivors, her offspring and descendants,” declares the Lord.“ I will turn her into a place for owls and into swampland; I will sweep her with the broom of destruction,” declares the Lord Almighty.The Lord Almighty has sworn,“ Surely, as I have planned, so it will be, and as I have purposed, so it will happen. (niv)
  • Jeremias 50:1-51:64
    This is the word the Lord spoke through Jeremiah the prophet concerning Babylon and the land of the Babylonians:“ Announce and proclaim among the nations, lift up a banner and proclaim it; keep nothing back, but say,‘ Babylon will be captured; Bel will be put to shame, Marduk filled with terror. Her images will be put to shame and her idols filled with terror.’A nation from the north will attack her and lay waste her land. No one will live in it; both people and animals will flee away.“ In those days, at that time,” declares the Lord,“ the people of Israel and the people of Judah together will go in tears to seek the Lord their God.They will ask the way to Zion and turn their faces toward it. They will come and bind themselves to the Lord in an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten.“ My people have been lost sheep; their shepherds have led them astray and caused them to roam on the mountains. They wandered over mountain and hill and forgot their own resting place.Whoever found them devoured them; their enemies said,‘ We are not guilty, for they sinned against the Lord, their verdant pasture, the Lord, the hope of their ancestors.’“ Flee out of Babylon; leave the land of the Babylonians, and be like the goats that lead the flock.For I will stir up and bring against Babylon an alliance of great nations from the land of the north. They will take up their positions against her, and from the north she will be captured. Their arrows will be like skilled warriors who do not return empty-handed.So Babylonia will be plundered; all who plunder her will have their fill,” declares the Lord.“ Because you rejoice and are glad, you who pillage my inheritance, because you frolic like a heifer threshing grain and neigh like stallions,your mother will be greatly ashamed; she who gave you birth will be disgraced. She will be the least of the nations— a wilderness, a dry land, a desert.Because of the Lord’s anger she will not be inhabited but will be completely desolate. All who pass Babylon will be appalled; they will scoff because of all her wounds.“ Take up your positions around Babylon, all you who draw the bow. Shoot at her! Spare no arrows, for she has sinned against the Lord.Shout against her on every side! She surrenders, her towers fall, her walls are torn down. Since this is the vengeance of the Lord, take vengeance on her; do to her as she has done to others.Cut off from Babylon the sower, and the reaper with his sickle at harvest. Because of the sword of the oppressor let everyone return to their own people, let everyone flee to their own land.“ Israel is a scattered flock that lions have chased away. The first to devour them was the king of Assyria; the last to crush their bones was Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.”Therefore this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says:“ I will punish the king of Babylon and his land as I punished the king of Assyria.But I will bring Israel back to their own pasture, and they will graze on Carmel and Bashan; their appetite will be satisfied on the hills of Ephraim and Gilead.In those days, at that time,” declares the Lord,“ search will be made for Israel’s guilt, but there will be none, and for the sins of Judah, but none will be found, for I will forgive the remnant I spare.“ Attack the land of Merathaim and those who live in Pekod. Pursue, kill and completely destroy them,” declares the Lord.“ Do everything I have commanded you.The noise of battle is in the land, the noise of great destruction!How broken and shattered is the hammer of the whole earth! How desolate is Babylon among the nations!I set a trap for you, Babylon, and you were caught before you knew it; you were found and captured because you opposed the Lord.The Lord has opened his arsenal and brought out the weapons of his wrath, for the Sovereign Lord Almighty has work to do in the land of the Babylonians.Come against her from afar. Break open her granaries; pile her up like heaps of grain. Completely destroy her and leave her no remnant.Kill all her young bulls; let them go down to the slaughter! Woe to them! For their day has come, the time for them to be punished.Listen to the fugitives and refugees from Babylon declaring in Zion how the Lord our God has taken vengeance, vengeance for his temple.“ Summon archers against Babylon, all those who draw the bow. Encamp all around her; let no one escape. Repay her for her deeds; do to her as she has done. For she has defied the Lord, the Holy One of Israel.Therefore, her young men will fall in the streets; all her soldiers will be silenced in that day,” declares the Lord.“ See, I am against you, you arrogant one,” declares the Lord, the Lord Almighty,“ for your day has come, the time for you to be punished.The arrogant one will stumble and fall and no one will help her up; I will kindle a fire in her towns that will consume all who are around her.”This is what the Lord Almighty says:“ The people of Israel are oppressed, and the people of Judah as well. All their captors hold them fast, refusing to let them go.Yet their Redeemer is strong; the Lord Almighty is his name. He will vigorously defend their cause so that he may bring rest to their land, but unrest to those who live in Babylon.“ A sword against the Babylonians!” declares the Lord—“ against those who live in Babylon and against her officials and wise men!A sword against her false prophets! They will become fools. A sword against her warriors! They will be filled with terror.A sword against her horses and chariots and all the foreigners in her ranks! They will become weaklings. A sword against her treasures! They will be plundered.A drought on her waters! They will dry up. For it is a land of idols, idols that will go mad with terror.“ So desert creatures and hyenas will live there, and there the owl will dwell. It will never again be inhabited or lived in from generation to generation.As I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah along with their neighboring towns,” declares the Lord,“ so no one will live there; no people will dwell in it.“ Look! An army is coming from the north; a great nation and many kings are being stirred up from the ends of the earth.They are armed with bows and spears; they are cruel and without mercy. They sound like the roaring sea as they ride on their horses; they come like men in battle formation to attack you, Daughter Babylon.The king of Babylon has heard reports about them, and his hands hang limp. Anguish has gripped him, pain like that of a woman in labor.Like a lion coming up from Jordan’s thickets to a rich pastureland, I will chase Babylon from its land in an instant. Who is the chosen one I will appoint for this? Who is like me and who can challenge me? And what shepherd can stand against me?”Therefore, hear what the Lord has planned against Babylon, what he has purposed against the land of the Babylonians: The young of the flock will be dragged away; their pasture will be appalled at their fate.At the sound of Babylon’s capture the earth will tremble; its cry will resound among the nations.This is what the Lord says:“ See, I will stir up the spirit of a destroyer against Babylon and the people of Leb Kamai.I will send foreigners to Babylon to winnow her and to devastate her land; they will oppose her on every side in the day of her disaster.Let not the archer string his bow, nor let him put on his armor. Do not spare her young men; completely destroy her army.They will fall down slain in Babylon, fatally wounded in her streets.For Israel and Judah have not been forsaken by their God, the Lord Almighty, though their land is full of guilt before the Holy One of Israel.“ Flee from Babylon! Run for your lives! Do not be destroyed because of her sins. It is time for the Lord’s vengeance; he will repay her what she deserves.Babylon was a gold cup in the Lord’s hand; she made the whole earth drunk. The nations drank her wine; therefore they have now gone mad.Babylon will suddenly fall and be broken. Wail over her! Get balm for her pain; perhaps she can be healed.“‘ We would have healed Babylon, but she cannot be healed; let us leave her and each go to our own land, for her judgment reaches to the skies, it rises as high as the heavens.’“‘ The Lord has vindicated us; come, let us tell in Zion what the Lord our God has done.’“ Sharpen the arrows, take up the shields! The Lord has stirred up the kings of the Medes, because his purpose is to destroy Babylon. The Lord will take vengeance, vengeance for his temple.Lift up a banner against the walls of Babylon! Reinforce the guard, station the watchmen, prepare an ambush! The Lord will carry out his purpose, his decree against the people of Babylon.You who live by many waters and are rich in treasures, your end has come, the time for you to be destroyed.The Lord Almighty has sworn by himself: I will surely fill you with troops, as with a swarm of locusts, and they will shout in triumph over you.“ He made the earth by his power; he founded the world by his wisdom and stretched out the heavens by his understanding.When he thunders, the waters in the heavens roar; he makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth. He sends lightning with the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses.“ Everyone is senseless and without knowledge; every goldsmith is shamed by his idols. The images he makes are a fraud; they have no breath in them.They are worthless, the objects of mockery; when their judgment comes, they will perish.He who is the Portion of Jacob is not like these, for he is the Maker of all things, including the people of his inheritance— the Lord Almighty is his name.“ You are my war club, my weapon for battle— with you I shatter nations, with you I destroy kingdoms,with you I shatter horse and rider, with you I shatter chariot and driver,with you I shatter man and woman, with you I shatter old man and youth, with you I shatter young man and young woman,with you I shatter shepherd and flock, with you I shatter farmer and oxen, with you I shatter governors and officials.“ Before your eyes I will repay Babylon and all who live in Babylonia for all the wrong they have done in Zion,” declares the Lord.“ I am against you, you destroying mountain, you who destroy the whole earth,” declares the Lord.“ I will stretch out my hand against you, roll you off the cliffs, and make you a burned-out mountain.No rock will be taken from you for a cornerstone, nor any stone for a foundation, for you will be desolate forever,” declares the Lord.“ Lift up a banner in the land! Blow the trumpet among the nations! Prepare the nations for battle against her; summon against her these kingdoms: Ararat, Minni and Ashkenaz. Appoint a commander against her; send up horses like a swarm of locusts.Prepare the nations for battle against her— the kings of the Medes, their governors and all their officials, and all the countries they rule.The land trembles and writhes, for the Lord’s purposes against Babylon stand— to lay waste the land of Babylon so that no one will live there.Babylon’s warriors have stopped fighting; they remain in their strongholds. Their strength is exhausted; they have become weaklings. Her dwellings are set on fire; the bars of her gates are broken.One courier follows another and messenger follows messenger to announce to the king of Babylon that his entire city is captured,the river crossings seized, the marshes set on fire, and the soldiers terrified.”This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says:“ Daughter Babylon is like a threshing floor at the time it is trampled; the time to harvest her will soon come.”“ Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has devoured us, he has thrown us into confusion, he has made us an empty jar. Like a serpent he has swallowed us and filled his stomach with our delicacies, and then has spewed us out.May the violence done to our flesh be on Babylon,” say the inhabitants of Zion.“ May our blood be on those who live in Babylonia,” says Jerusalem.Therefore this is what the Lord says:“ See, I will defend your cause and avenge you; I will dry up her sea and make her springs dry.Babylon will be a heap of ruins, a haunt of jackals, an object of horror and scorn, a place where no one lives.Her people all roar like young lions, they growl like lion cubs.But while they are aroused, I will set out a feast for them and make them drunk, so that they shout with laughter— then sleep forever and not awake,” declares the Lord.“ I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams and goats.“ How Sheshak will be captured, the boast of the whole earth seized! How desolate Babylon will be among the nations!The sea will rise over Babylon; its roaring waves will cover her.Her towns will be desolate, a dry and desert land, a land where no one lives, through which no one travels.I will punish Bel in Babylon and make him spew out what he has swallowed. The nations will no longer stream to him. And the wall of Babylon will fall.“ Come out of her, my people! Run for your lives! Run from the fierce anger of the Lord.Do not lose heart or be afraid when rumors are heard in the land; one rumor comes this year, another the next, rumors of violence in the land and of ruler against ruler.For the time will surely come when I will punish the idols of Babylon; her whole land will be disgraced and her slain will all lie fallen within her.Then heaven and earth and all that is in them will shout for joy over Babylon, for out of the north destroyers will attack her,” declares the Lord.“ Babylon must fall because of Israel’s slain, just as the slain in all the earth have fallen because of Babylon.You who have escaped the sword, leave and do not linger! Remember the Lord in a distant land, and call to mind Jerusalem.”“ We are disgraced, for we have been insulted and shame covers our faces, because foreigners have entered the holy places of the Lord’s house.”“ But days are coming,” declares the Lord,“ when I will punish her idols, and throughout her land the wounded will groan.Even if Babylon ascends to the heavens and fortifies her lofty stronghold, I will send destroyers against her,” declares the Lord.“ The sound of a cry comes from Babylon, the sound of great destruction from the land of the Babylonians. (niv)
  • Zacarias 2:7
    “ Come, Zion! Escape, you who live in Daughter Babylon!” (niv)
  • Apocalipse 18:20
    “ Rejoice over her, you heavens! Rejoice, you people of God! Rejoice, apostles and prophets! For God has judged her with the judgment she imposed on you.” (niv)
  • Salmos 149:6-9
    May the praise of God be in their mouths and a double-edged sword in their hands,to inflict vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples,to bind their kings with fetters, their nobles with shackles of iron,to carry out the sentence written against them— this is the glory of all his faithful people. Praise the Lord. (niv)
  • Isaías 21:1
    A prophecy against the Desert by the Sea: Like whirlwinds sweeping through the southland, an invader comes from the desert, from a land of terror. (niv)
  • Isaías 44:28
    who says of Cyrus,‘ He is my shepherd and will accomplish all that I please; he will say of Jerusalem,“ Let it be rebuilt,” and of the temple,“ Let its foundations be laid.”’ (niv)
  • Isaías 47:1-15
    “ Go down, sit in the dust, Virgin Daughter Babylon; sit on the ground without a throne, queen city of the Babylonians. No more will you be called tender or delicate.Take millstones and grind flour; take off your veil. Lift up your skirts, bare your legs, and wade through the streams.Your nakedness will be exposed and your shame uncovered. I will take vengeance; I will spare no one.”Our Redeemer— the Lord Almighty is his name— is the Holy One of Israel.“ Sit in silence, go into darkness, queen city of the Babylonians; no more will you be called queen of kingdoms.I was angry with my people and desecrated my inheritance; I gave them into your hand, and you showed them no mercy. Even on the aged you laid a very heavy yoke.You said,‘ I am forever— the eternal queen!’ But you did not consider these things or reflect on what might happen.“ Now then, listen, you lover of pleasure, lounging in your security and saying to yourself,‘ I am, and there is none besides me. I will never be a widow or suffer the loss of children.’Both of these will overtake you in a moment, on a single day: loss of children and widowhood. They will come upon you in full measure, in spite of your many sorceries and all your potent spells.You have trusted in your wickedness and have said,‘ No one sees me.’ Your wisdom and knowledge mislead you when you say to yourself,‘ I am, and there is none besides me.’Disaster will come upon you, and you will not know how to conjure it away. A calamity will fall upon you that you cannot ward off with a ransom; a catastrophe you cannot foresee will suddenly come upon you.“ Keep on, then, with your magic spells and with your many sorceries, which you have labored at since childhood. Perhaps you will succeed, perhaps you will cause terror.All the counsel you have received has only worn you out! Let your astrologers come forward, those stargazers who make predictions month by month, let them save you from what is coming upon you.Surely they are like stubble; the fire will burn them up. They cannot even save themselves from the power of the flame. These are not coals for warmth; this is not a fire to sit by.That is all they are to you— these you have dealt with and labored with since childhood. All of them go on in their error; there is not one that can save you. (niv)
  • Apocalipse 17:1-18
    One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me,“ Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits by many waters.With her the kings of the earth committed adultery, and the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries.”Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns.The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls. She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries.The name written on her forehead was a mystery: babylon the great the mother of prostitutes and of the abominations of the earth.I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of God’s holy people, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus. When I saw her, I was greatly astonished.Then the angel said to me:“ Why are you astonished? I will explain to you the mystery of the woman and of the beast she rides, which has the seven heads and ten horns.The beast, which you saw, once was, now is not, and yet will come up out of the Abyss and go to its destruction. The inhabitants of the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the creation of the world will be astonished when they see the beast, because it once was, now is not, and yet will come.“ This calls for a mind with wisdom. The seven heads are seven hills on which the woman sits.They are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; but when he does come, he must remain for only a little while.The beast who once was, and now is not, is an eighth king. He belongs to the seven and is going to his destruction.“ The ten horns you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but who for one hour will receive authority as kings along with the beast.They have one purpose and will give their power and authority to the beast.They will wage war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will triumph over them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings— and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers.”Then the angel said to me,“ The waters you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations and languages.The beast and the ten horns you saw will hate the prostitute. They will bring her to ruin and leave her naked; they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire.For God has put it into their hearts to accomplish his purpose by agreeing to hand over to the beast their royal authority, until God’s words are fulfilled.The woman you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth.” (niv)