In Revelation 17:1 (NIV), it is written,
One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, "Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits by many waters.
I have come to understand that the "many waters" refer to men from every people, tribe, nation, and language who are the followers of God.
What does the word "sits" mean in the above scripture? Does it mean to rest, oppress, burden, etc.?
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.
It should be obvious that these two principles go hand-in-hand: the palette that John uses to paint his pictures with is the Hebrew Scriptures (less metaphorically, his visions are formed and informed by OT imagery).
Just for clarity and ease of reference (English provided is WEB; the NET notes are also handy), even though it's only the last line/phrase or two that we're interested in:
Καὶ ἦλθεν εἷς ἐκ τῶν ἑπτὰ ἀγγέλων τῶν ἐχόντων τὰς ἑπτὰ φιάλας
Kai ēlthen eis ek tōn hepta angellōn tōn echontōn tas hepta phialas
One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came
καὶ ἐλάλησεν μετ᾽ ἐμοῦ λέγων·
kai elalēsen met’ emou legōn:
and spoke with me, saying,
δεῦρο, δείξω σοι τὸ κρίμα
deuro, deixō soi to krima
“Come here. I will show you the judgment
τῆς πόρνης τῆς μεγάλης
tēs pornēs tēs megalēs
of the great prostitute
τῆς καθημένης ἐπὶ ὑδάτων πολλῶν...
tēs kathēmenēs epi hudatōn pollōn...
who sits on many waters...”
There are three elements in the picture here that constrain how we interpret "sit": (a) the "great prostitute"; (b) her deportment, "who sits"; and (c) "many waters". (I'll worry about the preposition later.) I won't pursue (a) here, but it will intersect with "who sits" and "many waters", as we'll see.
"who sits": Obviously "sitting" is a pervasive, every-day action. But there are a few OT settings that have quite a bit of resonance with our Revelation text:
Isa 47:1, 8
1 “Come down, and sit in the dust, virgin daughter of Babylon.
Sit on the ground without a throne, daughter of the Chaldeans. ...
8 “Now therefore hear this, you who are given to pleasures,
who sit securely, who say in your heart,
‘I am, and there is no one else besides me.
I shall not sit as a widow,
neither shall I know the loss of children.’ ...
This text, like Isaiah 46 preceding it, is about the great reversal of Babylon the splendid being reduced to humiliation in divine judgment. In ch. 47 this is accomplished through personification as a woman. Note especially in the verses cited how this movement is precisely around two kinds of "sitting": the arrogance of Babylon in her pomp (v. 8) shall give way to desolation of sitting in the dust (v. 1).
Other OT texts echo this motif: I'll just mention Ezekiel 23:41 -- another reversal, personification of nation-as-woman, this time the sisters Samaria and Jerusalem, also at the point of self-delusion leading to destruction.
Life is short, so I'll go on to the next item:
"many waters":
Jer 51:13
You who dwell on many waters, abundant in treasures,
your end has come, the measure of your covetousness.
Babylon is being addressed here, as in Isaiah 47 (notice the pattern). This comes into Greek as kataskēnountas eph' udasi pollois = "dwelling upon many waters". The echo between this text and Rev 17:1 is fairly obvious, but the echoes ripple out.
Isa 17:12-13
12 Ah, the uproar of many peoples, who roar like the roaring of the seas; and the rushing of nations, that rush like the rushing of mighty waters! 13 The nations will rush like the rushing of many waters: but he will rebuke them, and they will flee far off, and will be chased like the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like the whirling dust before the storm.
Not about Babylon this time, but still in Isaiah's foreign nation oracles, this one addressed to Damascus (Syria), if that address is still in force here, later in the chapter. Notice how the "mighty waters" theme mutates into a mountain metaphor around the conglomeration of people who come to destroy.
More widely, the "many waters" motif usually has to do with the roar and power of the primeval sea. This is especially prevalent in the Psalms (see, e.g., 29:3; 77:19, of the exodus waters; 93:4). It is this note that really frames, almost, the whole book of Ezekiel (compare 1:24; 43:2 when the glory of the Lord returns to the renewed temple; via a double-duty literal-metaphorical judgement of Tyre (by the sea) in 26:19). This aspect of the motif also appears in Revelation (1:15; 14:2; 19:6), and in these cases it's the sound that is the important aspect -- just like the Psalms and Ezekiel parallels.
You'll appreciate that I'm trying to keep this a bit brief (but losing), and there is more to be said about those two OT motifs (I might need to come back for an edit) ... but I think we're in a position to see how these come to bear on Revelation 17, so now it's time for the immediate context.
First, we need to be clear that sitting is not restricted to this occurrence in verse 1:
And to these need to be added one from the next chapter:
The first three in ch. 17 give the woman three different "things" to sit on: the waters (v. 1), the beast (v. 3), the "mountains" (!, v. 9). Only then does John's angel explain what this is about, but by returning to the scenario of v. 1.
This is where the two "principles for interpretation" come back into play. John's vision is a technicolour picture drawn from a set of related OT texts. The details are distinctive even while those distinctions seem not to be of great importance to the vision. Woven into John's vision, though, are elements from both of Jer 51:13 and Isaiah 47.
The amalgamation of "sea" and "mountain" might seem especially strange, but even this is explained by OT usage, where (in a related set of images) the LORD "treads on the backs [al bamothey = waves] of the sea" (Job 9:8), or "treads on the backs [al bamothey = heights] of the earth" (Amos 4:13; cf. Micah 1:3). "Waves" are waters' "mountains", in other words, and YHWH treads on them both. (Hebrew "bamah" is difficult here; see Crenshaw in the bibliography below for the standard treatment of this language.)
So! With those principles and observations in mind, with (1) and (2) most important for OP:
(1) "sit", then, is echoing especially Isaiah 47, in tandem with Jer 51:13. It's clear that the whore's proud perch is a prelude to punishment. In 17:1, though, she is in her pomp and power. This also explains where the odd "epi" (upon) preposition comes from, and (to my mind) its precise nuance is less important than its scriptural source. There is plenty in in Revelation that doesn't quite make literal sense, and we shouldn't be too literalistic about it. (Maybe that's "Principle for interpretation 3"!)
(2) The broad movement of the chapter, then, is of pride going before the fall, in the most dramatic way. The string of "sitting" references trace this movement. Earlier in Revelation, "sitting" mostly has to do with God (or the elders) on his (or their) throne(s) - e.g. (not exhaustive, there are many!) 4:2-4, 9-10; 5:1; 7:15; 14:14-16; 20:11. This reinforces the impression that Whore Babylon's sitting is hubristic pretension to divine status. (This would require greater space to work out in full, though.)
(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.
(4) [Bonus!] The interpretation of 17:15, far from associating a multitude with the people of God (as in Rev 7:9) are those in league with the "ten kings" who turn against "Babylon"(/Rome?). The association of "Babylon" with "Rome" in the symbolism of the vision is fairly widely shared among commentators, and also helps to explain the "mountain" references (around Rome) as pictorial and realistic features coalesce at various points. The emperor in mind is often thought to be Nero, but these things are debated.
(Very) Select Bibliography
G. R. Beasley-Murray, The Book of Revelation (New Century Bible; London: Marshall, Morgan & Scott, 1978; now reprinted by Wipf & Stock).
G. B. Caird, A Commentary on the Revelation of St. John the Divine, 2nd edition (Black's NT Commentary; London: Black, 1984).
James L. Crenshaw, "wedorek 'al-bamotê 'arets," Catholic Biblical Quarterly 34 (1972) 39-53 [on the motif of the Lord "treading the heights"]
James Moffat, "The Revelation of St. John the Divine", in The Expositor's Greek Testament, ed. by W. Roberston Nicoll (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1897), vol. 5, see pp. 449-455.
The imagery at the beginning of Revelation 17 is of the "great prostitute," who is a symbol of spiritual apostasy and idolatry. Another term for her is Babylon the Great. Constable suggests she is sitting beside, not on, many waters, since beside is perhaps a better translation of the Greek word epi (cf. John 21:1, where Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias, meaning on the shore). "Many waters" is a symbol for the sea of humanity, since the kings of the world and their billions of subjects have been seduced and deceived by the harlot.
In answer to your question, then, in chapter 17, which addresses primarily the "religious branch" of the two Babylonian systems of world domination, the religious and the commercial (as in chapter 18), this "God substitute" sits on the shore looking out over the sea of humankind, reveling in the power she wields in the kingdoms of this world. She is sitting, I suggest, because she has accomplished a "great" work, and she delights in surveying her handiwork, having deceived so many people.
According to other New Testament texts (which I believe are related to the topics and themes of Revelation), these kingdoms (plural) comprise but one kingdom, and that kingdom is Satan's counterfeit of the one true kingdom (see Mt 12:25-29; cf. the "cosmos" of 1 John 2:15-17). According to these texts, the one true kingdom is the Kingdom of God (or the Kingdom of Heaven), which Jesus illustrated with many metaphors and analogies ("The kingdom of heaven is like . . .," as in Mt 13:24,31,33,44,45,47).
After the same angel who promised John he would show him the great harlot's judgment (v.1), the imagery changes, as the angel carries John into the wilderness where the woman is now seated on a scarlet beast with seven heads and ten horns. On her forehead in just 14 words (in our English versions, that is) is the mystery of who she is, and when John sees her she is drunk with the blood of God's holy ones and God's witnesses.
In conclusion, when a potentate sits, he or she rests having accomplished a great work.1 The great prostitute is resting, temporarily, as she surveys what will soon—unbeknownst to her—come crashing round about her when the kingdom of this world will give way to
"the Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever" (Rev 11:15).
1 We read, for example, of Jesus who was seated (and sits) at the right hand of God (Lk 22:69; Eph 1:20; Col 3:1) until His enemies are made a footstool for His feet (see, for example, Psalm 110:1). He sits because the great work of redeeming humankind from the penalty and power of sin, once and for all, was finished at the cross when He cried out with a loud voice, "Accomplished!" (Greek, tetelesthai, Jn 19:30).
The Greek verb κάθημαι occurs in two ways in the Christian New Testament:
(a) to sit down somewhere (figurative and literal)
(b) to sit down somewhere to exercise authority (figurative and literal)
The figurative and literal occur for each case.
For example, in Acts 20:9 we find someone simply sitting with no figurative connotation; that is, the young man Eutychus falls asleep sitting on an upper storey window sill. (He was listening to the Apostle Paul preaching into the late night.) After falling asleep he leaned over and fell to his death. There are also figurative examples, such as found in Matthew 4:16 (or its parallel passage in Luke 1:79) where people are found sitting in darkness due to spiritual blindness. The allusion is not literal, but figurative.
Now sitting also carries the implication of authority, and the most obvious example are those who are kings or magistrates. In the Christian New Testament, the literal references to those sitting in authority include Pontius Pilate, who took his seat of judgment in order to exercise judicial authority (Matt 27:19). Another example is Caiaphas the high priest, who sat in judgment in order to exercise his priestly authority (Acts 23:3). These individuals literally took their seats in order to exercise their authority.
There is also the figurative use of the Greek word, which indicates that someone "sits" in authority, and of course there is really no literal implication that such a person is necessarily physically sitting. A perfect example is the Office of the President of the United States. We often hear in history class that Richard M. Nixon was the first sitting president who ever resigned from the office of the President of the United States. We know that our presidents elect need not necessarily have to recline in a chair in order to exercise their authority, however the idea of sitting carries the figurative connotation of the exercise of authority. So we say our sitting president to refer to the current president-elect (although he does not have to recline in a chair in order for us to call himself the president). So the exercise of authority also carries the figurative connotation of sitting as well.
This figurative sense is what we find in Revelation, where this woman of ill-repute is exercising her authority over the beast who is both the head of state and the nations over whom the head of state exercises his authority. (In the Hebrew Bible, there is precedent that the head of state is the "head" of the state according to Isaiah 7:8-9, and so there is the connotation that the state and its head are one corporate body.) This woman, who is commercialized religion, is exercising her authority over this corporate body, which is both the state and its head.
Now what is so backward about this arrangement is that this woman is the analog of the corporate body of Christ. (The body of Christ are those followers of Jesus in all lands and peoples around the world, and the "head" of this corporate body of believers is Jesus Christ according to Ephesians 5:23 compared to Ephesians 5:29-32.) That is, this woman is the apostate body of Christ, who is now the bride of the beast. Since she is apostate, she is an adulteress from the divine perspective of John, who wrote the Revelation.
So under the correct arrangement of the divine order, it is the woman who is under the authority of the man (1 Cor 11:3), who in turn "nourishes" and "cherishes" his wife as his own body (Eph 5:28-29). The church or body of Christ is therefore under the authority of the head, Jesus Christ. Neither a man in a marriage, nor Christ in relation to his body (the church), ever "sits" on her. On the contrary, the biblical authority stems on the basis of love, since the divine mandate for men is to love their wives (Eph 5:25, Col 3:18, and 1 Pet 3:7). Women are encouraged to learn to love their husbands (Tit 2:3-4), but they are never commanded in the Christian New Testament to love their husbands per se (as men are commanded), but instead to respect and submit to them (Eph 5:33, Col 3:18, and 1 Pet 3:1).
Thus the woman sitting on the beast does not respect him, which is why he eventually destroys her (Rev 17:16). That is, she engaged in fornication with the nations of the entire world from whom she derived her power and wealth ("drunk" in world commerce and finance), and her unfaithfulness to her erstwhile husband (the head of state and his immediate domain) was why he destroyed her. So the adulteress (apostate body of Christ) is eventually destroyed for being unfaithful to her paramour husband (the beast).
For further background and information on the divine order, and how the divine order goes "flip-flop" at the end times by the beast and the apostate church, please click here.
First of all, who is the Great Prostitute? Some say that this title belongs to the Roman Catholic Church:
Babylon the Great, also known as the Whore of Babylon and the Mother of Harlots, is the main apostate antichrist church. She is described as the "mother church" which has lead the world astray with her false teachings and doctrines. Now a woman in Bible prophecy represents a church, the pure woman in Revelation 12 being the pure church, God's own people, and the harlot woman in Revelation 17 is the apostate fallen church. But she can also represent a city, which the angel described in Revelation 17:18, saying that Babylon the Great is that great city which reigns over the kings of the earth. What city? It's none other than Vatican city, the little horn power that reigns over all the earth. There is no other institution or city that has such influence throughout the world like the Vatican (Roman Catholic Church) has. http://www.the-bible-antichrist.com/babylon-the-great.html
Now I am just throwing this interpretation out there as one possibility. I am not stating that the Roman Catholic Church is the Great Prostitute because I don't know for certain who that title fits. But the Catholic church does fit the description in many ways.
So this is our first clue as to who Babylon the Great is. This verse tells us that the whore of Babylon sits upon many waters. Now in Revelation 17:15, we are told that the waters where the whore sits, are people, nations and tongues. The Roman Catholic Church fits this in two ways. First, the Roman Catholic Church rose to power in Europe AMONG the people, nations and tongues of the world. In other words, she rose up in a populated area, and the Vatican is based in amongst the countries of Europe. Second, the Roman Catholic Church "sits" upon the largest membership of people around the world. Her support is far greater than the support of any other church in the world.http://www.the-bible-antichrist.com/babylon-the-great.html
The word "sits" refers in scripture to a position of judgment or authority.
He will be a spirit of justice to the one who sits in judgment, a source of strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate. Isaiah 28:6
The LORD sits enthroned over the flood; the LORD is enthroned as King forever. Psalm 29:10
When a king sits on his throne to judge, he winnows out all evil with his eyes. Proverbs 20:8
The Roman Catholic Church certainly fits that description.
The papacy is so influential and powerful that nearly every major country consults her before making major policy moves. Her "large diplomatic corps maintains relations with more than 100 nations." (U.S. News and World Report, October 30, 1978, p. 24)
In Revelation 17:1, what does “sits” mean in “the great prostitute, who sits by many waters”?
By extension to the question, we have to know who "the great prostitute" is.
Revelation 17:1-2 (NASB)
17 "Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me, saying, “Come here, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, 2 with whom the kings of the earth committed acts of immorality, and those who dwell on the earth were made drunk with the wine of her immorality.”
The Great harlot, Who is she? She is the religious empires of the world.
The "great harlot" named "Babylon the great" is not a political empire, since the scriptures say that the kings of the earth (including Rome) have committed sexual immorality with her.(Rev. 18:9-10). It is not a commercial empire, because the traders of the world stand by "weep and mourn" her destruction.(Rev. 18:15-16) She is called "the great prostitute" because she has practiced sexual immorality with them, by pursuing alliances with the kings and traders of the world and doing everything to gain wealth, power and influence over them. James wrote:
James 4:4 (MEV)
4 "You adulterers and adulteresses, do you not know that the friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God."
All the nations of the world were led astray/deceived by her magic potion/magic spell/sorcery /poisonous charm. (From various Bible versions)
Revelation 18:23 (NIV)
23 "The light of a lamp will never shine in you again .The voice of bridegroom and bride will never be heard in you again.Your merchants were the world’s important people. By your magic spell all the nations were led astray."
By your magic spell all the nations of the world were led astray, over the centuries of human history the religions of the world have dominated and deceived all the nations and on many occasions led them into holy wars against each other. Who can than possibly be : Other than " Harlot the great", the religious empires of the world.
https://religionnews.com/2014/05/22/world-war-religious-crusade-interview-philip-jenkins/
https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/churches-and-religion-in-the-second-world-war-9781472504807/
Sitting on many waters.
Ancient Babylon sat on many waters of the Euphrates , the river, moats and canals afforded her great protection, and provided her with enormous wealth from the trade of commerce , all these dried up, Jeremiah 51:12-13.
The many waters that the "great harlot" is sitting , are : peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues. (Rev. 17:5 NASB) . Figurative she is sitting on them, in the sense that by the use of her magic spell/sorcery/magic potion, she has gained great power and influence over them , and at same time amassed huge wealth. These waters are drying up or loosing their support.
Revelation 18:19 (NASB)
19 "And they threw dust on their heads and were crying out, weeping and mourning, saying, ‘Woe, woe, the great city, in which all who had ships at sea became rich by her wealth, for in one hour she has been laid waste!’
"The Prostitute who sits on many waters"
This is the symbology of the book of Revelation, a harlot who sits on many waters. 'Sitting can have many different meanings, but in the link below, a similar type of sitting is described.
See example at: http://www.businessinsider.com/stocks-gop-congress-sitting-democrat-president-2014-11
The terms used are 'sitting President" and mean one who is 'in office' and 'on the job', 'engaging in the tasks of their position.'
κάθημαι kathēmai- is the root , translated here and elsewhere as 'place', and 'dwell', so with these meanings we can put together - "the sitting Harlot (is in office) in her place where she dwells and engages in activity from."
