1Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great whore who is seated on many waters,
The Greek, Latin, and Hebrew that is typically translated as “prostitute” in English (in some, mostly earlier translation also as “harlot” or “whore”) is translated in the 2024 revision of the inter-confessional LatvianJauna Pārstrādāta latviešu Bībele as netikle or “hussy.” This replaced the previous translation mauka or “whore.” Nikita Andrejevs, editor of the Bible explains the previous and current translations: “The translators at the time felt that this strong word best described the thought contained in the main text. Many had objections, as it seemed that this word would not be the most appropriate for public reading in church.” (Source: Updated Bible published in Latvia ).
Other translations include:
Bariai: “a woman of the road” (source: Bariai Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “a woman who sells her body” (source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
Uma: “a woman whose behavior is not appropriate” or “a loose woman” (source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “a bad woman” (source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “a woman who make money through their reputation” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “a woman who makes money with her body” (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “a woman whose womanhood is repeatedly-bought” (source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Apali: “God’s one with talk from the head” (“basically God’s messenger since head refers to any leader’s talk”) (source: Martha Wade)
Michoacán Nahuatl: “clean helper of God” (source: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.)
Noongar: Hdjin-djin-kwabba or “spirit good” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Wè Northern (Wɛɛ): Kea ‘a “sooa or “the Lord’s soldier” (also: “God’s soldier” or “his soldier”) (source: Drew Maust)
Iwaidja: “a man sent with a message” (Sam Freney explains the genesis of this term [in this article ): “For example, in Darwin last year, as we were working on a new translation of Luke 2:6–12 in Iwaidja, a Northern Territory language, the translators had written ‘angel’ as ‘a man with eagle wings’. Even before getting to the question of whether this was an accurate term (or one that imported some other information in), the word for ‘eagle’ started getting discussed. One of the translators had her teenage granddaughter with her, and this word didn’t mean anything to her at all. She’d never heard of it, as it was an archaic term that younger people didn’t use anymore. They ended up changing the translation of ‘angel’ to something like ‘a man sent with a message’, which is both more accurate and clear.”)
Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between. One way to do this is through the usage (or a lack) of an honorific prefix as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. When the referent is God, the “divine” honorific prefix mi- (御 or み) is used as in mi-tsukai (御使い) or “messenger (of God).” (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
Bender / Belt (2025, p. 2f.) report about the translation of “angel” in Cherokee: “In John, the concept of angel is translated using a descriptive neologism rather than a semantic extension, suggesting the lack of a ready parallel. The plural is dmikahnawadidohi, ‘the law-givers’ or ‘those who go around looking after the medicine.’ Cherokee speakers argue that the Cherokee word for ‘law,’ dikahnawadvsdi, expresses the intent to maintain social, physical, and spiritual health and has at its core the word for ‘medicine,’ mwoli, which encompasses all aspects of social and spiritual well-being, including balance and order (Altman and Belt 2009), much more than the English word. Thus, the Cherokee word for ‘angel’ represents a new perspective on this category of spiritual beings named in the Bible. It does not derive from the concept of messenger present in both its Greek (angelos) and Hebrew (malak) antecedents perhaps because the Cherokee word for ‘messenger,’ atsinvsidasdi, is widely used to translate the foreign lexeme ‘servant.'”
Following are a number of back-translations of Revelation 17:1:
Uma: “After that one of the seven angel who held the seven bowls came to me, he said to me: ‘Come, I will show you (sing.) the judgment on the woman who is very loose [sexually], who sits where there is the much water.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “After this, one of the seven angels who carried the bowls came to me. He said to me, ‘Come, I will show you how the one called the famous bad woman will be punished, that means the famous city there beside the waters/rivers.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And then one of the seven angels who carry the seven bowls spoke to me, he said, ‘Come here because I will show you the punishment of the famous prostitute (the term refers to a female dog in heat) who sits on many waters.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “When that was finished, one of the seven angels holding the seven bowls approached and said to me, ‘Come so I will show you (sing.) the punishment of the famous (lit. newsed) woman whose womanhood is repeatedly-bought. She is the one who is seated at the location of many-rivers.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “After those things, one of those seven angels who were holding the bowls approached me. He spoke, saying, ‘Come now, for I will show you how that famous woman will be punished who uses her body to make money, what is being alluded to being the famous city which stands where there are many rivers.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “Then there came one of the seven angels who had held the bowls. He said to me: ‘Come here. I will show you the punishment which will come to the woman who overflowingly committed fornication, she who sits on top of the sea.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls: these are the angels of chapter 16.
Came: presumably the angel came from heaven down to earth, where John was.
The judgment of the great harlot: see comments on the verb “to judge,” 6.10; the noun occurs also at 18.10, 20; 20.4. The word for judgment may mean “condemnation,” so that a translation can say “I will show you how God is going to condemn (or, punish) the great harlot.” In translating the word for harlot, care should be taken not to use a vulgar or obscene term. The translation of great is a problem, for in English, at least, “great” refers either to size (large) or quality (excellent). Something like “notorious,” or “powerful,” or “infamous” will be better. Other terms for harlot in various languages are “woman who sells her body,” “woman of the night,” “woman of bad reputation,” or just “bad woman.”
John is speaking of “Babylon,” that is, Rome (see comment at verse 18). The prophet Nahum (3.1-4) called Nineveh a whore, and Isaiah said the same of Jerusalem (1.21) and of the city of Tyre (23.15-16).
Who is seated upon many waters: this describes the city as being near rivers, which fits the city of Babylon (see Jer 51.13), not the city of Rome itself. The Greek preposition translated upon by Revised Standard Version may mean “by” or “near” as in John 21.1, “by the Sea of Tiberias,” which suits the meaning of the passage here. There may be some difficulty in maintaining the figure of a prostitute sitting near many rivers, and a translation may want to follow the lead of Good News Translation and say “the infamous prostitute, that is, the great city that stands near many rivers.”
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 .
In this section, John saw a woman sitting on a red beast. The woman had the symbolic name “Babylon.” An angel referred to her as a prostitute. The red beast had seven heads and ten horns. The beast worked together with her, but later he destroyed her.
Other examples of headings for this section are:
The great/famous prostitute with the ⌊symbolic⌋ name Babylon ⌊was destroyed⌋ -or-
The red beast turned against the woman Babylon ⌊and destroyed her⌋
Paragraph 17:1–2
17:1a–b
Come: In this vision, after speaking to John, the angel took him to a wilderness (17:3). So the word Come is an invitation for John to accompany the angel. For example:
Come with me. (New Living Translation (2004))
I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as punishment often refers to the decision of a judge about whether someone is guilty or not. It can also refer to the declaration of what the punishment will be. For example, the Revised Standard Version says:
judgment
In 17:16–17, the angel shows John how the great prostitute is punished. If your word for “judgment” clearly implies here that the prostitute is punished as well, you may want to follow the Revised Standard Version.
The noun punishment refers to that event. In some languages it is more natural to use a verb. For example:
I will show you how the great prostitute will be punished. -or-
I will show to you how God will punish the great prostitute.
great: Here this word means “important” or “well-known.” It does not mean that the woman was large or fat. It does not indicate that the woman was good or had good character. The context implies that she was a bad person. Other ways to translate this word are:
notorious (God’s Word) -or-
famous (Good News Translation)
prostitute: This word refers to a woman who has sexual relations for money. A prostitute often entices men to have sexual relations with her.
Here the word is a metaphor for an evil and powerful city. Like a prostitute, this evil city enticed the kings of the earth. But in this case it enticed them to live in luxury with her and to worship idols with her. The English versions translate this word literally here. For example:
harlot (New American Standard Bible) -or-
whore (New Revised Standard Version)
Be careful to use a word or phrase that is not vulgar. Use a word that can be read aloud in church without people being embarrassed by the word.
In some languages people will not understand the meaning of the metaphor. If that is true in your language, you may want to:
• Explain the meaning in your translation. For example:
I will show you how the famous prostitute is to be punished, that great city… (Good News Translation)
• Include a footnote. For example:
This word refers to an evil and powerful city. Like a prostitute who entices men to have sexual relations with her, this evil city enticed the kings of the earth to live in luxury with her and to worship idols with her.
17:1c
who sits on many waters: The phrase who sits on many waters indicates figuratively that this city was located near many rivers. It controlled the trade on these rivers. This was true of the city of Babylon at the time when it was a powerful city. At that time, most goods were carried by ship, so being near rivers meant that the city had power over trade there.
In some languages a literal translation would not indicate the figurative meaning of the word on. If that is true in your language, you may want to:
• Indicate that the word is symbolic. For example:
who ⌊symbolically⌋ sits on many waters
• Explain the meaning in your translation. For example:
who sits over/by many waters ⌊and controls them⌋
many waters: The phrase many waters refers to rivers, streams, canals, and so on. In some languages it is not possible or natural to use the word waters for that general meaning. If that is true in your language, use the correct word or phrase. For example:
many rivers (Good News Translation)
In some languages it is better to list several kinds of bodies of water. For example:
many rivers and canals -or-
many rivers and waterways
Living Water is produced for the Bible translation movement in association with Lutheran Bible Translators. Lyrics derived from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®).
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