Was written a name of mystery: the passive was written does not here imply that God wrote the name; it simply says that there was a mysterious name on her forehead. As Good News Translation shows, the phrase a name of mystery means “a name that has a secret meaning.” In languages that do not use the passive, there are often special verbs for “written” or “inscribed” that help to avoid the passive but do not require a subject; something like the following English sentence: “On her forehead she had a name written (or, inscribed),” or “on her forehead someone had written a name.” Good News Translation‘s “secret meaning” may also be rendered “hidden meaning” or “meaning not known to others.” See also 1.20.

Babylon the great: see 14.8. In some languages it may be necessary to make a complete sentence out of what is a title in Greek: “I am Mighty (or, Powerful) Babylon.”

Mother of harlots and of earth’s abominations: it is easy enough to translate mother of harlots, but it is more difficult to translate mother … of earth’s abominations. Good News Translation “perverts” takes this last expression to indicate people, but it is better to take it to refer to actions: “the one who is the source of all obscene (or, filthy) actions in the world.” Revised English Bible has “of every obscenity on earth,” and New Jerusalem Bible “all the filthy practices on earth.”

An alternative translation model for this verse is:

• On her forehead she had a name inscribed that had a secret meaning. The name said, “I am great (or, powerful) Babylon, the mother of all prostitutes and the one who is the source of all obscene (or, filthy) actions in the world.”

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Revelation to John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1993. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .