Revelation 17:15
Translations
King James Version (KJV)
And he said to me, The waters which you saw, where the whore sits, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.
American King James Version (AKJV)
And he said to me, The waters which you saw, where the whore sits, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.
American Standard Version (ASV)
And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the harlot sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.
Basic English Translation (BBE)
And he said to me, The waters which you saw, where the evil woman is seated, are peoples, and armies, and nations and languages.
Webster's Revision
And he saith to me, The waters which thou sawest, where the harlot sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and languages.
World English Bible
He said to me, "The waters which you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and languages.
English Revised Version (ERV)
And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the harlot sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.
Clarke's Revelation 17:15 Bible Commentary
And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues - "So many words," Bishop Newton observes, "in the plural number, fitly denote the great extensiveness of her power and jurisdiction. She herself glories in the title of the Catholic Church, and exults in the number of her votaries as a certain proof of the true religion. Cardinal Bellarmin's first note of the true Church is, the very name of the Catholic Church; and his fourth note is, amplitude, or multitude, and variety of believers; for the truly Catholic Church, says he, ought not only to comprehend all ages, but likewise all places, all nations, all kinds of men."
Barnes's Revelation 17:15 Bible Commentary
And he saith unto me - The angel, Revelation 17:7. This commences the more "literal" statement of what is meant by these symbols. See the Analysis of the chapter.
The waters which thou sawest - See the notes on Revelation 17:1.
Are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues - For an explanation of these terms, see the notes on Revelation 7:9. The meaning here is:
(a) that these waters represent a multitude of people. This is a common and an obvious symbol - for outspread seas or raging floods would naturally represent such a multitude. See Isaiah 8:7-8; Isaiah 17:12-13; Jeremiah 47:2. Compare Iliad, v. 394. The sense here is, that vast numbers of people would be subject to the power here represented by the woman.
(b) They would be composed of different nations, and would be of different languages, It is unnecessary to show that this, in both respects, is applicable to the papacy. Nations have been, and are subject to its control, and nations speaking a large part of the languages of the world. Perhaps under no one government - not even the Babylonian, the Macedonian, or the ancient Roman - was there so great a diversity of people, speaking so many different languages, and having so different an origin.
Wesley's Revelation 17:15 Bible Commentary
17:15 People, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues — It is not said tribes: for Israel hath nothing to do with Rome in particular.