There are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come. But when he does come, he must remain for only a little while.
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.
Commenting on Revelation 17:7-13
And there are seven kings,.... The Arabic version renders it, "who are seven kings"; and it should be rendered, as it is by the Vulgate Latin, Syriac and Ethiopic versions, "and they are seven kings"; that is, the seven heads signify seven kings also, for they have in them a double representation, first of seven mountains, and then of seven kings; by which are meant...
Verse 10. And there are seven kings. That is, seven in all, as they are enumerated in this verse and the next. An eighth is mentioned in , but it is at the same time said that this one so pertains to the seven, or is so properly in one sense of the number seven, though in another sense to be regarded as an eighth...