Revelation 17:7-11 And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns. The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space. And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition. (KJV)
The angel tells John that he will explain vision to him.
Rev 17:8 The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. (KJV)
The beast in verse 8 is the Roman Empire. It was in existence at the time of Y'shua, then it was not around for many years and it will be revived again. The phrase "shall ascend out of the bottomless pit" appears to refer to the fact that Satan will control the Revived Roman Empire.
The phrase "go into perdition" refers to the Anti- Messiah. There are only two people in the Bible referred to as the "son of perdition" Judas in John 17:12 and the Anti-Messiah in the verse below. Both totally controlled by Satan himself.
2 Thess 2:3 "Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;" (KJV)
In verse 9 and 10 we are told that the 7 heads symbolize 7 mountains and also 7 kings. These are not literal mountains but great world powers. The 5 kingdoms which are past at Johns time are 1) Assyrian 2) Egyptian 3) Babylonian 4) Medo-Persian 5) Greek. The current world power at John's time was Rome. The one to come is the Anti-Messiah's kingdom.
The prostitute is seen riding on all of them, indicating that she is an influence during all of these world governments.
Rev 17:11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition. (KJV)
Out of the 7th kingdom, the revived Roman Empire, the Anti-Messiah a rises. He is the 8th king. Again we are told he will go into perdition, in other words he will be damned.
Definition of "perdition" from Biblesoft: NT:684 apoleia (ap-o'-li-a); from a presumed derivative of NT:622; ruin or loss (physical, spiritual or eternal): KJV - damnable (-nation), destruction, die, perdition, X perish, pernicious ways, waste.
These are the 10 rulers who are joined in a confederacy represented by the 10 horns. They are like-minded and support the Anti-Messiah and his one world government.
In Rev 17:14 we learn this world government will make war with Y'shua. This is at the Battle of Armagedon. But Y'shua will win the victory.
Verse 15 tells us that the waters, which she, the prostitute, sits on, refers to people, multitudes, nations, and tongues.
Revelation 17:16-18 And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. For G-d hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth. (KJV)
There will come a day during the tribulation period that the Anti-Messiah's government will decide it has no more use for the false religion and turn on it and destroy it. Verse 17 tells us that G-d puts the idea into their hearts to destroy it.
If we check our files for the Hebrew letter that corresponds to Seventeen, it is "Peh" and means "mouth".
This mouth could imply she is the mouth of Satan and declares the false
religion down through many ages and leads people away from the Messiah.
It is certainly spread by word of mouth from a long time ago.