complete verse (Revelation 17:15)

Following are a number of back-translations of Revelation 17:15:

  • Uma: “The angel also said saying to me: ‘The water that you (sing.) saw earlier, on which the woman sat, stands for people from all over the world, people/crowds from many countries and many kinds of languages.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “The angel yet said to me, ‘The water/river you saw, the place where the bad woman sits, the meaning of that is, the people from all tribes and countries and kingdoms and from all sorts of languages.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Then the angel spoke to me again, and he said, ‘the waters which you saw where the woman sits are to be interpreted as kingdoms and races and very many people whose languages are different.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “The angel continued to say to me, ‘The multiple-rivers which you (sing.) saw which is where the woman whose womanhood is repeatedly-bought is seated, they are the nations and groups whose languages and skin are mutually-different.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “What the angel further said to me was, ‘Those rivers which you saw where that woman is sitting, numerous people are meant by those, of many different nations, blood-clans and languages.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Then again he said to me: ‘That sea you saw where the woman was seated, that prostitute, stands for the nations all over the earth, for the people who live in their cities, those who speak all kinds of languages.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on Revelation 17:15

He said to me: it is better to specify the speaker: “The angel said to me.” Good News Translation adds “also” because what follows is a continuation of the speech of the same angel in the previous verses.

The waters … where the harlot is seated: the translation here must be the same as in verse 1.

Are: or “represent,” “stand for” (as in verses 9-10, 12).

Peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues: this is the same list that appears in 5.9 and other passages, except that here multitudes (Good News Translation “peoples”) is used instead of “tribes” in the other passages. The explanation of The waters makes it clear that the powerful prostitute rules over all of the world’s nations. In certain languages that do not speak about all these categories of people, this phrase will be rendered more naturally as “represent all the peoples of the world.”

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Revelation to John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1993. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .