Revelation 17:9

And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.

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Word by word — the Greek

Word	Greek	Strong’s	Meaning
here	ὧδε hōde	G5602	in this same spot · adverb
mind	νοῦς nous	G3563	the intellect · noun — nominative singular masculine
hath	ἔχων echōn	G2192	to hold (used in very various applications · verb — present active participle, nominative singular masculine
wisdom	σοφίαν. sophian	G4678	wisdom (higher or lower · noun — accusative singular feminine
seven	ἑπτὰ hepta	G2033	seven · adjective — numeral, indeclinable
heads	κεφαλαὶ kephalai	G2776	the head (as the part most readily taken hold of) · noun — nominative plural feminine
are	εἰσί eisí	G1526	they are
seven	ἑπτὰ hepta	G2033	seven · adjective — numeral, indeclinable
mountains	ὄρη orē	G3735	perhaps akin to G142 (αἴρω) · noun — nominative plural neuter
on	ἐπ᾽ ep᾽	G1909	properly · preposition
which	αὐτῶν. autōn	G846	the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — genitive plural neuter
woman	γυνὴ gunē	G1135	a woman · noun — nominative singular feminine
sitteth	κάθηται kathētai	G2521	and (to sit · verb — present middle or passive deponent indicative, 3rd person singular

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Revelation 13:18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred…
Revelation 17:7 And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, whic…
Daniel 12:4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be inc…
Daniel 12:8-10 And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things?
Hosea 14:9 Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them? for the ways of the LORD are right, and the just shall w…
Matthew 13:11 He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
Matthew 24:15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him…
Revelation 13:1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crown…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Revelation 17:7-13

Here we have the mystery of this vision explained. The apostle wonders at the sight of this woman: the angel undertakes to open this vision to him, it being the key of the former visions; and he tells the apostle what was meant by the beast on which the woman sat; but it is so explained as still to need further explanation. 1. This beast was, and is not, and yet is; that is, it was a seat of idolatry and persecution; and is not, that is, not in the ancient form, which was pagan; and yet it is, it is truly the seat of idolatry and tyranny, though of another sort and form. It ascends out of the bottomless pit (idolatry and cruelty are the issue and product of hell), and it shall return thither…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Revelation 17:9

Compare Rev 13:18; Dan 12:10, where similarly spiritual discernment is put forward as needed in order to understand the symbolical prophecy. seven heads and seven mountains--The connection between mountains and kings must be deeper than the mere outward fact to which incidental allusion is made, that Rome (the then world city) is on seven hills (whence heathen Rome had a national festival called Septimontium, the feast of the seven-hilled city [PLUTARCH]; and on the imperial coins, just as here, she is represented as a woman seated on seven hills. Coin of Vespasian, described by CAPTAIN SMYTH [Roman Coins, p. 310; ACKERMAN, 1, p. 87]). The seven heads can hardly be at once seven kings or k…

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Adam Clarke on Revelation 17:9

Here is the mind which hath wisdom - It was said before, Rev 13:18, Here is wisdom. Let him that hath A Mind, or understanding, (νουν), count the number of the beast. Wisdom, therefore, here means a correct view of what is intended by the number 666; consequently the parallel passage, Here is The Mind which hath Wisdom, is a declaration that the number of the beast must first be understood, before the angel's interpretation of the vision concerning the whore and the beast can admit of a satisfactory explanation. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth - This verse has been almost universally considered to allude to the seven hills upon which Rome originally stood. But…

The Church Fathers

"The seven heads are the seven hills, on which the woman sitteth." That is, the city of Rome.
— Victorinus of Pettau, Commentary on the Apocalypse of the Blessed John

The seven heads are seven mountains, etc. The heads of the beast, he says, are the kings of the world, equated to lofty mountains because of their pride. In these impiety wantonly rests, to oppress with force and to deceive with fraud.
— Bede, Commentary on Revelation

Therefore, he says, "here is the mind that has wisdom." Therefore, so says the mind that has been made wise: let the riddle be known how it "was and is not", and is about to ascend from the abyss. For even for that which departs from being into non-being, the thing that is about to ascend again from the abyss seems to be contradictory, unless someone should apprehend it in some other way, as has already been said. "The seven heads" he says "are seven mountains, on which the woman sits." From this most clearly it is shown that what has been said refers to Rome; for it is related that she herself sits on seven mountains, and there is no other city.
— Oecumenius, Commentary on Revelation

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Antichrist — Against Christ, or an opposition Christ, a rival Christ. The word is used only by the apostle John. Referring to false teachers, he says (1 John 2:18, 22; 4:3; 2 John 1:7), “Even now are there many…
Rome — The most celebrated city in the world at the time of Christ. It is said to have been founded B.C. 753. When the New Testament was written, Rome was enriched and adorned with the spoils of the world,…
Cities · Built: On hills — Built: On hills
Horn · SYMBOLI — SYMBOLI

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Revelation 17:9

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Revelation 17:7-13

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Revelation 17:9

Adam Clarke on Revelation 17:9

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Revelation 17:9

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Revelation 17:7-13

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Revelation 17:9

Adam Clarke on Revelation 17:9

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Gill on Revelation 17:9

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Revelation 17:9