Who is the great whore in Revelation 17? Which city today is the great city mentioned in Revelation 18?
The great whore is one of the many mysterious symbols in the book of Revelation. We read of her in Revelation 17. The whore is described as being adorned in purple, scarlet and gold. She sits on a beast with 7 heads and 10 horns, and is drunk with the blood of saints. The whore has a name on her forehead: “Babylon” and she represents a certain city that would rule over the earth during the end of days, before it is judged and destroyed.
It is actually very easy to decode the identity of the whore of babylon. In fact, it should be the easiest prophecy to decipher because the Bible gives us the answer within its pages. In spite of this, a lot of Christians have come up convoluted theories to wrongly conclude the great whore is the Vatican city (and the catholic church), New York, America, the EU, Mecca etc. These claims are pure speculation and are simply not in line with what the Bible very plainly teaches.
In this video, I will prove using the Bible — both the old and the new testament — that the great whore of Revelation 17, is none other than Jerusalem.
24/03/21 edit: This subject is explained in in this video:
One of the many mysterious symbols in the book of revelation is an evil woman known as “the great whore” or “the great harlot”. We read of her in Revelation 17. This whore is described as being adorned in purple, scarlet and gold. She sits on a beast with 7 heads and 10 horns, and is drunk with the blood of saints and prophets. The book of revelation tells that this whore represents a certain city that would rule over the earth.
The woman you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth. (Revelation 17:18)
A lot of Christians assert that this “whore” and the city she represents is the Vatican city. Others have claimed that this city is New York. Yet others have said that it is Mecca in Saudi Arabia. The reality is that these claims are speculations and are simply not in line with what the Bible teaches.
I will prove using the Bible that the great whore of Revelation, is none other than Jerusalem. Yes. The great whore is not the Vatican. It is not New York. It is not Mecca. But Jerusalem.
We begin by first building a profile of the whore of Babylon.
1) The whore is guilty of spilling the blood of saints
2) She sits on seven hills
3) The whore is adorned in scarlet and gold
4) The whore is killed by her own lovers
In order to identify the whore of revelation, we need to only pinpoint the city that matches all of these traits. It can be Biblically proven that there is only one entity in the entire Bible that matches the whores description. And that city is Jerusalem.
a) The whore is guilty of spilling the blood of saints
Revelation 17 tells us that the whore had spilled the blood of God’s holy people, as well as those who bore testimony to Jesus.
I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of God’s holy people, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus. (Revelation 17:6)
In her was found the blood of prophets and of God’s holy people, of all who have been slaughtered on the earth.” (Revelation 18:24)
Now. Put your thinking caps on. Is there any city that was guilty of the killing God’s people? Jesus tells us very plainly that Jerusalem was guilty of killing God’s people, that is, the prophets .
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you… (Matthew 23:37)
What he means is that the people in charge of Jerusalem, that is, the Jewish spiritual leaders, were guilty of killing the prophets. Jesus repeats this idea in other verses in the same chapter:
Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets (Matthew 23:31)
That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. (Matthew 23:35)
Elsewhere, the Christian martyr, Stephen, who was stoned to death for being a follower of Jesus, also accused the Jewish spiritual leaders of being killers of the prophets. We read this on Acts 7
Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him— you who have received the law that was given through angels but have not obeyed it.” (Acts 7:52-53)
That Jerusalem — or rather — it’s people killed prophets is not just a theme in the New Testament. Even in the Old Testament, Jerusalem is accused of killing prophets too.
For example, in Jeremiah 2:30, which is addressed to Jerusalem or the Israelites, God accuses the Jews of killing their prophets:
“In vain I punished your people; they did not respond to correction. Your sword has devoured your prophets like a ravenous lion. (Jeremiah 2:30)
and in Nehemiah 9:26, we read that the Jews killed their own prophets:
But they were disobedient and rebelled against You; they flung Your law behind their backs. They killed Your prophets who had admonished them to turn back to You. They committed terrible blasphemies. (Nehemiah 9:26)
So Jerusalem is guilty of killing saints and prophets. It is the only city that is accused of the same exact crime that the whore is guilty of. This alone should be enough to establish the identity of the whore as Jerusalem. But, there is more to prove that the great whore of Revelation is none other than Jerusalem!
b) Jerusalem – a city on seven hills.
The whore sits on a beast with 7 heads. We read that the 7 heads of the beast mean 2 things. One meaning is that they are hills, as we read in Revelation 17:9
the seven heads are seven hills on which the woman sits. (Revelation 17:9)
So the whore or the great city is a city that is on 7 hills. Does Jerusalem sit on 7 hills?
The answer is YES. Jerusalem makes the list of List of cities claimed to be built on seven hills.
– The northern summit (hill) is called Scopus (Hill One)
– The middle summit (hill) was called Nob (Hill Two)
– The highest point of Olivet itself, and the southern summit (hill) was called in the Holy Scriptures the “Mount of Corruption” or “Mount of Offence” (Hill Three)
– On the middle ridge between the Kedron and the Tyropoeon Valleys there was (formerly) in the south “Mount Zion” (Hill Four)
– The “Ophel Mount” (Hill Five)
– To the north of that the “Rock” around which “Fort Antonia” was built (Hill Six),
– The southwest hill itself (Hill Seven)
Since Jerusalem is built on 7 hills, this serves as a sound rebuttal to those who claim that Vatican or Mecca or some other city they don’t like is the “great city” of Revelation simply because they are built on 7 hills. There is no need to dwell on this point further as it has been shown that Jerusalem is a city built on 7 hills, thus meeting the criteria given in Revelation 17.
c) The whore is adorned in scarlet and gold
Revelation chapters 17 and 18 tell us that the whore or the great city was dressed in purple and scarlet and was adorned with gold and precious things.
And the woman was clothed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in in her hand a gold cup full of abominations and of the unclean things of her immorality (Revelation 17:4)
Woe! Woe to you, great city, dressed in fine linen, purple and scarlet, and glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls! (Revelations 18:16)
The prophet Jeremiah, in his 4th chapter addresses Jerusalem as a woman. He also points out that she, Jerusalem, is adorned in scarlet and gold.
And you, O desolate one, what will you do? Although you dress in scarlet, Although you decorate yourself with ornaments of gold, Although you enlarge your eyes with paint, In vain you make yourself beautiful; Your lovers despise you; They seek your life. I hear a cry as of a woman in labor, a groan as of one bearing her first child-the cry of the Daughter of Zion gasping for breath, stretching out her hands and saying, “Alas! I am fainting; my life is given over to murderers.” (Jeremiah 4:30-31)
This is not a random coincidence. Because the second part of the passage mentions Jerusalem’s lovers lovers despising her and seeking to kill her. This perfectly mirrors the account of the great whore being despised and destroyed by her lovers, as given in Revelation 17. We will go over this in the next point.
d) The whore is killed by her lovers
Revelation tells us that the whore fornicated with the kings of the earth. We read this in Revelations 17:2.
With her the kings of the earth committed adultery, (Revelation 17:2)
We also read that the 10 horns on the beast that she sat upon were kings:
The ten horns you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom (Revelation 17:12)
Later, those 10 horns turn against the whore and utterly destroy her:
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. (Revelations 17:16-17)
Once again, these are motifs that appeared earlier in the Old Testament.
The prophet Jeremiah portrays Jerusalem as being hated and destroyed by her lovers. We go back to Jeremiah 4, that we looked at earlier. He writes that Jerusalem’s lovers despise her and seek her life. Jerusalem, who is addressed as “daughter of Zion” laments that her life is given over to murderers.
And you, O desolate one, what will you do? Although you dress in scarlet, Although you decorate yourself with ornaments of gold, Although you enlarge your eyes with paint, In vain you make yourself beautiful; Your lovers despise you; They seek your life. I hear a cry as of a woman in labor, a groan as of one bearing her first child-the cry of the Daughter of Zion gasping for breath, stretching out her hands and saying, “Alas! I am fainting; my life is given over to murderers.” (Jeremiah 4:30-31)
Interestingly, in Ezekiel in chapters 16 and 23, Jerusalem is referred to as a prostitute, which is another word for whore.
Ezekiel 23 is particularly interesting as it mentions specific details with regard to the punishment of the whore, that is, Jerusalem. Ezekiel’s account of the whore’s destruction closely resembles what we read about the whore’s destruction in Revelation 17.
In Ezekiel 23, we read that the whore would be stripped of her clothes and jewelry.
Ezekiel 23 :They will also strip you of your clothes and take your fine jewelry. Revelations 17 :They will bring her to ruin and leave her naked;
Ezekiel 23 tells us that God Himself stirs up whore’s lovers to attack the whore
Ezekiel 23: I will stir up your lovers against you…They will come against you with weapons,chariots…I will turn you over to them for punishment… Revelations 17 : For God has put it into their hearts to accomplish his purpose…The beast and the ten horns you saw will hate the prostitute…
Ezekiel tells us that the whore would be violently killed and burned with fire.
Ezekiel 23 :They will cut off your noses and your ears…those of you who are left will fall by the sword….and those of you who are left will be consumed by fire. Revelations 17 : they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire.
Revelations 17 ends with the destruction of the whore and the very next chapter details the destruction of a city, Babylon.
In fact, the author of Revelation also reuses imagery from the book of Isaiah, specifically from chapter 47 that prophesied the destruction of the original Babylon.
In Revelation we read, that Babylon (that is, Jerusalem) glorified herself, and was confident in her belief that her glory would not end….only to be destroyed suddenly.
How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her. -Revelation 18:7
Compare this to what Isaiah 47, which is about the destruction of Babylon. The exact same theme appears: Babylon enjoys security and claims she will never be a widow. And all of a sudden, disaster befalls her and she is doomed!
“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.’11 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. (Isaiah 47:8-11)
All these cannot be co-incidences.
The author of revelation was telling us that Jerusalem is the new Babylon — the great city that is to be destroyed in the future.
He is telling us that in the end times, Jerusalem will be the Babylon of the end times. The author of Revelation simply used imagery spoken of by earlier prophets — Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Isaiah — to describe the fall of Jerusalem.
To summarize, the whore is guilty of spilling the blood of saints and holy men. Both the old and new testaments tell us that jerusalem is guilty of killing prophets. The whore sits on seven hills. Jerusalem sit on seven hills. The whore is adorned in purple, scarlet and gold. Jerusalem is described as being adorned in scarlet and gold. Jerusalem is also described as a prostitute. The whore is killed by her own lovers. Jeremiah and Ezekiel tell us that the whore was to be killed by her own lovers.
Thus, we can establish with full certainty that the great whore in Revelation 17, and the great city that is destroyed in Revelation 18 is none other than Jerusalem.
24/03/21 edit: This blog post can be seen as a video:
1. Introduction to the whore
The book of revelation is known to contain a lot of symbolic imagery. One of these symbols happens to be a “whore”, adorned in scarlet and gold. She is depicted as sitting on a beast with 7 heads and 10 horns (the same as the first beast) and is drunk with the blood of saints and prophets. In the same chapter we also read that the seven horns represent seven hills, and towards the end of the chapter, the whore is revealed to be a city. Bear in mind this imagery, as we will be going over them one by one.
2. Using the Bible to identify the whore
A lot of Christians identify the “whore” or the city as being related to the Vatican city or Catholicism. This is a falsehood perpetrated by those with an anti-Catholic bias. I am not defending the Catholic church, but the claim that the “whore” is the Vatican is simply not in line with what the Bible teaches.
Anybody who is serious about deciphering the Biblical concept of the “whore” needs to use the Bible as a guide… not their own imaginations and biases. Going by the verses in revelations 17:18, we know that the whore represents a certain city. This city can be profiled as having the following traits:
a) Has the blood of saints and holy men
b) Sits on seven hills
c) Adorned in scarlet and gold / killed by her lovers
The key to Biblically identifying the whore is to pinpoint exactly what city in the Bible matches all of the whores traits. Upon reading the Bible, we learn that there is only one entity in the entire Bible that matches up to the whores description. Jerusalem.
If we were to go over the whores traits and compare it to Jerusalem, we see that :
a) Jerusalem – killer of saints and holy men
Jesus himself said of Jerusalem… Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets -Matthew 23:29-31
That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. -Matthew 23:35
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, -Matthew 23:37
Only Jerusalem is accused of the same crime as the whore… of having spilled the blood of holy men and saints. This alone should be enough to establish the identity of the whore as Jerusalem.
– The northern summit (hill) is called Scopus (Hill One)
– The middle summit (hill) was called Nob (Hill Two)
– The highest point of Olivet itself, and the southern summit (hill) was called in the Holy Scriptures the “Mount of Corruption” or “Mount of Offence” (Hill Three)
– On the middle ridge between the Kedron and the Tyropoeon Valleys there was (formerly) in the south “Mount Zion” (Hill Four)
– The “Ophel Mount” (Hill Five)
– To the north of that the “Rock” around which “Fort Antonia” was built (Hill Six),
– The southwest hill itself (Hill Seven)
c) Jerusalem – Adorned in scarlet and gold / Killed by her lovers
First, these are the colors associated with the “priesthood” who Jesus condemned.
Have them use gold, and blue, purple and scarlet yarn, and fine linen.
“Make the ephod of gold, and of blue, purple and scarlet yarn, and of finely twisted linen—the work of skilled hands. It is to have two shoulder pieces attached to two of its corners, so it can be fastened. Its skillfully woven waistband is to be like it—of one piece with the ephod and made with gold, and with blue, purple and scarlet yarn, and with finely twisted linen.
-Exodus 28:5-8
“Fashion a breastpiece for making decisions—the work of skilled hands. Make it like the ephod: of gold, and of blue, purple -Exodus 28:15
Make pomegranates of blue, purple and scarlet yarn around the hem of the robe, with goldbells between them -Exodus 28:33
Gold = mentioned 16 times
Purple = mentioned 5 times
Scarlet = mentioned 5 times
Then, only Jerusalem is described in the Bible as being adorned in scarlet and gold.
We read in Jeremiah: And you, O desolate one, what will you do? Although you dress in scarlet, Although you decorate yourself with ornaments of gold, Although you enlarge your eyes with paint, In vain you make yourself beautiful; Your lovers despise you; They seek your life. I hear a cry as of a woman in labor, a groan as of one bearing her first child-the cry of the Daughter of Zion gasping for breath, stretching out her hands and saying, “Alas! I am fainting; my life is given over to murderers.” -Jeremiah 4:30-31
Now compare that verse with these ones in Revelations…
And the woman was clothed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a gold cup full of abominations and of the unclean things of her immorality
– Revelation 17:4
And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. – Revelations 17:16
“Daughter of zion” is a clear reference to Jerusalem. Just like the whore, she too is described as being adorned in scarlet and gold. And just like the whore, her former lovers turn against her and kill her. The whores is also destroyed by the 10 horns, who are revealed as kings and her former lovers in Revelations 17:2.
Several times im the bible, explicit sexual imagery has been used to describe Jerusalem / Israel’s unfaithfulness. Off the top of my head, 2 entire chapters in the book of Ezekiel describe Israel as a “prostitute”. Ezekiel 16 and Ezekiel 23
3. Jerusalem = the whore = the city of Babylon
Another important point to note is that Revelations 17 ends with the destruction of the whore and the very next chapter details the destruction of a city, Babylon. To put it simply, Jerusalem is the whore… the whore is Babylon, the city that is to be destroyed. We read in Revelations 18 that the destroyed city called “Babylon” is….
Adorned in scarlet and gold… “‘Woe! Woe to you, great city, dressed in fine linen, purple and scarlet, and glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls!
-Revelations 18:16
Has the blood of the prophets… In her was found the blood of prophets and of God’s holy people, of all who have been slaughtered on the earth.”
– Revelations 18:24
Its a perfect match. The fact that Jerusalem is equated with Babylon is no surprise, considering in Revelations 11:8, Jerusalem is equated to Sodom and Egypt.
We see that the descriptions of Jerusalem perfectly matches that of the whore. It is established that Jerusalem, and no other, is the whore of Revelations 17. Those who insist its the Vatican are either deluded or willfully deny whats there in their own Bibles.
4. Jerusalem – city of sin
Now that it has been biblically established that Jerusalem is the whore of revelations, lets look at the moral state of Jerusalem, the way it is today. For starters, modern day Jerusalem (or Israel for that matter) is not exactly the holy and God fearing Israel, as many Christians falsely assume. Instead, Israel is a hub for gay tourism, with gay pride parades taking place even in Jerusalem, where Jesus and the prophets once walked.
Prostitution is also rampant. Israel reportedly has one of the highest rates of prostitution in the world, with the sex trade raking in nearly $2 Billion a year. Furthermore, adding Israels wickedness, Jesus, the central figure of the Christian religion… is also mocked on national TV. So with all this open homosexuality, prostitution and insulting of Jesus going on… Do Christians really believe that this is the Israel that was prophesied to emerge in the holy land?
Something for pro-Isaeli Christians to ponder over.
I would also like to post this screenshot I took while researching for this thread.
Its interesting how an ad calling for Christians to unite and defend Israel is placed right above a chapter calling for a prophet to confront Jerusalem for its detestable practices
Is it a sign or just amazing irony?
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UPDATE :
Jerusalem has been called a whore even in Ezekiel, under the moniker “Oholibah”…who is directly called a prostitute.
Notice the parallels between Ezekiel 23 and that of Revelations 17.
Ezekiel 23: I will stir up your lovers against you…
They will come against you with weapons,chariots…
I will turn you over to them for punishment…
I will direct my jealous anger against you, and they will deal with you in fury… Revelations 17 : For God has put it into their hearts to accomplish his purpose…
The beast and the ten horns you saw will hate the prostitute…
Ezekiel 23 :They will also strip you of your clothes and take your fine jewelry. Revelations 17 :They will bring her to ruin and leave her naked;
Ezekiel 23 :They will cut off your noses and your ears…
those of you who are left will fall by the sword….
and those of you who are left will be consumed by fire. Revelations 17 : they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire.
humbleunderstanding 