17:1 - And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come here; I will show unto you the judgment of the great whore that sits upon many waters:
Cyprian Treatise XII Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews
And that woman was clothed with a purple and scarlet robe; and she was adorned with gold, and precious stones, and pearls, holding a golden cup in her hand full of curses, and impurity, and fornication of the whole earth."[587]
17:3 - So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
Shepherd of Hermas Vision First
I fell asleep. And the Spirit carried me away, and took me through a pathless place,[4]
17:6 - And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.
Tertullian Scorpiace
When great Babylon likewise is represented as drunk with the blood of the saints,[90]
17:8 - The beast that you saw was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.
Irenaeus Against Heresies Book V
For if it had been declared by Him, he (Antichrist) might perhaps continue for a long period. But now as "he was, and is not, and shall ascend out of the abyss, and goes into perdition,"[260]Shepherd of Hermas Vision Fourth
proceeded. But the size of that beast was about a hundred feet, and it had a head like an urn.[7]
17:9 - And here is the mind which has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sits.
Hippolytus Dogmatical and Historical Fragments
For if the blessed prophets who preceded us did not choose to proclaim these things, though they knew them, openly and boldly, lest they should disquiet the souls of men, but recounted them mystically in parables and dark sayings, speaking thus, "Here is the mind which hath wisdom,"[70]
17:12 - And the ten horns which you saw are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
Irenaeus Against Heresies Book V
These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them, because He is the Lord of lords and the King of kings."[228]
17:14 - These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.
Tertullian On Baptism
[161]
17:15 - And he says unto me, The waters which you saw, where the whore sits, are races and tribes, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.
A Treatise Against the Heretic Novatian by an Anonymous Bishop
Moreover, by the waters, the cataracts broken forth meeting together on all sides, and growing, were signified the peoples which grew up for the desolation of the Church; as the Apocalypse teaches, saying, "The waters which thou sawest are peoples, and nations, and kingdoms."[16]