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I believe "sit" in Rev 17:1 is intended to convey the settledness of a potentate in pomp (as also seen in an earlier answer). This sitting/setting needs to be seen in the immediate context, and in relation to John's use of the Hebrew scriptures.

I believe "sit" in Rev 17:1 is intended to convey the settledness of a potentate in pomp (as also seen in an earlier answer). This sitting/setting needs to be seen in the immediate context, and in relation to John's use of the Hebrew scriptures.

Okay - I'll take a shot at this.

[tl;dr: with @rhetorician, I believe "sit" in Rev 17:1 is intended to convey the settledness of a potentate in pomp. This sitting/setting needs to be seen in the immediate context, and in relation to John's use of the Hebrew scriptures.]

This is "Biblical Hermeneutics.SE", though, so I'll start with two general principles for interpreting the book of Revelation (the two most helpful for this question; there are others, of course!), then proceed to apply them to Rev. 17:1, and draw out the nuance that, to my mind, best suits the verse.

That's my take anyway, for what it's worth...

G. R. Beasley-Murray, The Book of Revelation (New Century Bible; London: Marshall, Morgan & Scott, 1978).

I believe "sit" in Rev 17:1 is intended to convey the settledness of a potentate in pomp (as also seen in an earlier answer). This sitting/setting needs to be seen in the immediate context, and in relation to John's use of the Hebrew scriptures.

I'll start with two general principles for interpreting the book of Revelation (the two most helpful for this question; there are others, of course!), then proceed to apply them to Rev. 17:1, and draw out the nuance that, to my mind, best suits the verse.

G. R. Beasley-Murray, The Book of Revelation (New Century Bible; London: Marshall, Morgan & Scott, 1978; now reprinted by Wipf & Stock).

• 18:7 For she says in her heart, ‘I sit a queen, and am no widow, and will in no way see mourning.’

(3) The "many waters", so often associated with the Lord's coming in majestic power (esp. Psalms, Ezekiel), here further promote the idolatrous presumption of Whore Babylon.

• 18:7 For she says in her heart, ‘I sit a queen, and am no widow, and will in no way see mourning.’

(3) The "many waters", so often associated with the Lord's coming in majestic power (esp. Psalms, Ezekiel), here further promote the idolatrous presumption of Whore Babylon. It is also a point at which different strands of OT imagery get overlaid, because in Revelation 17, it also resonates with the Isaiah 17 text (cited above) in which this metaphor (some would root it in "myth" - deep mysteries of the supernatural realm) is not only the unruly chaotic force over which the Lord reigns supreme (the pattern in Psalms), but also that threatens to overflow in destructive power on human existence (so Isaiah 17). Both nuances occur here, one in Rev 17:1, the other in its explanation in v. 15.