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All its carved figures shall be broken to pieces,(A)
    all its wages shall be burned in the fire,
    and all its idols I will destroy.
As the wages of a prostitute[a] it gathered them,
    and to the wages of a prostitute they shall return.

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Footnotes

  1. 1:7 The wages of a prostitute: as often in the prophets, prostitution is a metaphor for idolatry (Hos 1–3; 4:14). They shall return: i.e., Samaria’s idols shall come to nothing just as the wages of a prostitute are counted as nothing.

V. The Punishment of Babylon and the Destruction of Pagan Nations

Chapter 17

Babylon the Great. [a]Then one of the seven angels who were holding the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come here. I will show you the judgment on the great harlot[b] who lives near the many waters.(A)

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Footnotes

  1. 17:1–19:10 The punishment of Babylon is now described as a past event and, metaphorically, under the image of the great harlot who leads people astray into idolatry.
  2. 17:1–6 Babylon, the symbolic name (Rev 17:5) of Rome, is graphically described as “the great harlot.”