³ Then he carried me away in spirit to a deserted place where I saw a woman seated on a scarlet beast^[a] that was covered with blasphemous names, with seven heads and ten horns.^{(A) 4} The woman was wearing purple and scarlet and adorned with gold, precious stones, and pearls.^(B) She held in her hand a gold cup that was filled with the abominable and sordid deeds of her harlotry. ⁵ On her forehead was written a name, which is a mystery, “Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth.”