Bible Strands
Revelation 17:4
The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls. She held in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator is carried by an angel into a wilderness where he sees a woman seated on a scarlet beast. The vision pauses to describe her attire and the cup she holds before revealing the name written on her forehead.
The words — περιβεβλημένη (peribeblēmenē) means clothed or draped, and πορφυροῦν (porphuroun) specifies the dye purple. These terms function alongside κόκκινον (kokkinon, scarlet) to catalog her lavish, royal garments.
The thread — The golden cup imagery parallels Jeremiah 51:7, which describes Babylon as a cup of divine judgment. The purple and scarlet clothing reappears in Revelation 18:16 for the same fallen city, and her condemnation is confirmed in Revelation 19:2.
Why it lands — The text first records the woman’s opulent dress and her cup of abominations before identifying her as Babylon the Great. The description demands a clear assessment of her corrupt influence and the impending judgment that follows.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 51:7 Babylon was a gold cup in the hand of the LORD, making the whole earth drunk. The nations drank her wine; therefore the nations have gone mad.
- Revelation 18:16 saying: “Woe, woe to the great city, clothed in fine linen and purple and scarlet, adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls!
- Revelation 19:2 For His judgments are true and just. He has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality. He has avenged the blood of His servants that was poured out by her hand.”
- Revelation 18:12 cargo of gold, silver, precious stones, and pearls; of fine linen, purple, silk, and scarlet; of all kinds of citron wood and every article of ivory, precious wood, bronze, iron, and marble;
- Lamentations 1:9 Her uncleanness stains her skirts; she did not consider her end. Her downfall was astounding; there was no one to comfort her. Look, O LORD, on my affliction, for the enemy has triumphed!
- 2 Thessalonians 2:3 Let no one deceive you in any way, for it will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness—the son of destruction—is revealed.
- Ezekiel 24:13 Because of the indecency of your uncleanness I tried to cleanse you, but you would not be purified from your filthiness. You will not be pure again until My wrath against you has subsided.
- Daniel 11:38 And in their place, he will honor a god of fortresses—a god his fathers did not know—with gold, silver, precious stones, and riches.
- Revelation 14:8 Then a second angel followed, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, who has made all the nations drink the wine of the passion of her immorality.”
- Revelation 18:6 Give back to her as she has done to others; pay her back double for what she has done; mix her a double portion in her own cup.