Let's use scripture to interpret scripture, namely, let's use scripture to interpret the identity of the woman "Babylon the Great" in Revelation 17&18.
Revelation 17:18 & 18:10,18 say that the woman of Revelation 17 IS the "great city".
Revelation 11:8 says that the "great city" is "where the Lord was crucified".
Jerusalem is the city where the Lord was crucified.
Scripture calls Jerusalem a "great city (Jeremiah 22:8; Lamentations 1:1; Nehemiah 7:4 KJV)
Scripture calls Nineveh a "great city" (Jonah 1:9; 3:2,3; 4:11)
Scripture calls Gibeon a "great city" (Joshua 10:2)
If Jerusalem is to be rejected as the "great city" of Rev. 17:18 & 18:10,18 , then the next 2 leading canidates to be "Babylon the Great" are Nineveh & Gibeon.
The woman of Revelation 17 is also called a harlot.
Jerusalem is called a harlot in Isaiah 1:21, Jeremiah 2:20 & Ezekiel 16.
Phoenician Tyre is called a harlot in Isaiah 23:16.
Samaria is called a harlot in Micah 1:6,7.
If Jerusalem is to be rejected as the "harlot" of Rev. 17 , then the next 2 leading canidates to be "Babylon the Great" would be Tyre & Samaria.
Revelation 18:24 says that in the woman was found "the blood of the prophets".
"it cannot be that a prophet would perish outside of Jerusalem." Luke 13:34
"Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her!" Matthew 23:27
Thus scripture identifies Jerusalem as the city that kills prophets.
The harlot is a mother with daughters who are harlots also (Rev. 17:5).
Jerusalem is a mother with daughters who do as she does (Ezekiel 16:48 )
The harlot dresses in scarlet, decorated with gold and ornaments (Rev. 17:4).
The daughter of Zion dresses in scralet, decorated with gold and ornaments (Jeremiah 4:30-31)
God's people are instructed to flee the harlot before her punishment (Rev. 18:4).
God's people are instructed to flee Jerusalem before its destruction (Luke 21:21).
The punishment prescribed by Moses for general harlots was stoning (Deut. 21:22), but if the harlot was a daughter of an Israelite priest, the punishment was death by fire (Lev. 21:9).
The fact that the woman of Revelation 17&18 is punished for her harlotry specifically by fire indicates that she is associated with the Israelite priesthood - she is the Jerusalem of the corrupt Israelite priesthood of Caiaphas & his Sanhedrin.
Ezekiel 16:32 accuses Jerusalem "You adultress wife"
Ezekiel 16:25 accuses Jerusalem "you spread your legs to every passer-by to multiply your harlotry"
Ezekiel 16:21 accuses Jerusalem "You slaughtered My children"
Jeremiah 2:1,20 says of "Go and proclaim in the years of Jerusalem, , , , You have lain down as a harlot."
"Babylon the Great" has a kingdom that is in some way "over" other kingdoms:
exousa basileian epi ton basileon tes ges (greek)
"having a kingdom over the kings of the earth" (Rev. 17:18 literal)
Scripture speaks of Jerusalem as the loftiest of cities:
Ezekiel 5:5 "Thus says the Lord God, This is Jerusalem; I have set her at the center of the nations"
Likewise her people:
Deut. 15:8 "you will rule over many nations"
Deut. 28:1 "the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth"
What scripture means by "all the nations" or "all the kingdoms of the earth" is not necessarily the global notion that modern people might suppose :
Jeremiah 27:7 says "all the nations" shall serve Nebuchadnezzar, his son, and his grandson !
Ezra 1:2 & 2 Chron. 36:23 say that "all the kingdoms of the earth" were given to Cyrus !
In those ancient times, there were kingdoms in Peru & China.
Did the ancient Peruvians and the ancient Chinese serve Nebuchadnezzar, his son, his grandson, or Cyrus like all other nations ?
Did the ancient Peruvians and the ancient Chinese know that they served Nebuchadnezzar, his son, his grandson, or Cyrus like all other nations ?
Did Nebuchadnezzar, his son, his grandson, or Cyrus know that the ancient Peruvians and the ancient Chinese were serving them ?
Now if certain persons desire sources of information from outside the Bible, then such persons should consider these sources:
In his midrash, the ancient Jewish Rabbi Eliezer taught that Jerusalem sat on 7 hills.
Obviously, the pre-christian book of Enoch depicted the antidiluvian patriarch as having a vision of a Jerusalem that would exist after his time, and it would have 7 hills. The pre-christian Israelites who read the book of Enoch would easily have understood what 7-hilled place these chapters were talking about.
This image shows the ark of B'nei Israel synagogue in San Jose (their ark is where they store their torah scrolls)

In B'nei Israel's website's own words:
This is a Synagogue marriage contract made in AD 1750, from the Jewish National & University Library, also showing the 7 peaks of Jerusalem as recognized by believers in Judaism. Click on it for a very large version.

The text on that Jewish document says "hills of Jerusalem" and shows the 7 hills:

This is a Synagogue marriage contract from AD 1728, likewise depicting Jerusalem's 7 hills. Click on it for a very large version.

This is a candle holder by a sculptor of Jewish art. It has 2 candles, but can hold 8. It shows Jerusalem and its 7 hills.

Jerusalem's ancient walls enclosed 7 hills in the years just preceeding its destruction in AD 70 by the Romans, as reconstructed by english investigators/archeologists in the 19th century. In the ~40 years after the crucifixion, the north wall was extended out to the Psephenus tower.

Count the hills of Jerusalem of AD 70:
1. Gared
2. Goath
3. Acra
4. Bezetha
5. Moriah
6. Ophel
7. Zion
It is very strange that there are some people who imagine that the woman called "Babylon the Great" is a figure for something other than a city !
How many times does scripture have call her a "city", until the reader gets it that she is a figure for a city?
Revelation 16:19
The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed. God remembered Babylon the Great and gave her the cup filled with the wine of the fury of his wrath.
Revelation 18:10
'Woe! Woe, O great city, O Babylon, city of power!
Revelation 18:16
'Woe! Woe, O great city, dressed in fine linen, purple and scarlet, and glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls!
Revelation 18:18
When they see the smoke of her burning, they will exclaim, 'Was there ever a city like this great city?'
Revelation 18:21
Then a mighty angel picked up a boulder the size of a large millstone and threw it into the sea, and said: "With such violence the great city of Babylon will be thrown down, never to be found again.
That's more than enough times for the reader to learn that she is a figure for a city.
Revelation 17:18 & 18:10,18 say that the woman of Revelation 17 IS the "great city".
Revelation 11:8 says that the "great city" is "where the Lord was crucified".
Jerusalem is the city where the Lord was crucified.
Scripture calls Jerusalem a "great city (Jeremiah 22:8; Lamentations 1:1; Nehemiah 7:4 KJV)
Scripture calls Nineveh a "great city" (Jonah 1:9; 3:2,3; 4:11)
Scripture calls Gibeon a "great city" (Joshua 10:2)
If Jerusalem is to be rejected as the "great city" of Rev. 17:18 & 18:10,18 , then the next 2 leading canidates to be "Babylon the Great" are Nineveh & Gibeon.
The woman of Revelation 17 is also called a harlot.
Jerusalem is called a harlot in Isaiah 1:21, Jeremiah 2:20 & Ezekiel 16.
Phoenician Tyre is called a harlot in Isaiah 23:16.
Samaria is called a harlot in Micah 1:6,7.
If Jerusalem is to be rejected as the "harlot" of Rev. 17 , then the next 2 leading canidates to be "Babylon the Great" would be Tyre & Samaria.
Revelation 18:24 says that in the woman was found "the blood of the prophets".
"it cannot be that a prophet would perish outside of Jerusalem." Luke 13:34
"Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her!" Matthew 23:27
Thus scripture identifies Jerusalem as the city that kills prophets.
The harlot is a mother with daughters who are harlots also (Rev. 17:5).
Jerusalem is a mother with daughters who do as she does (Ezekiel 16:48 )
The harlot dresses in scarlet, decorated with gold and ornaments (Rev. 17:4).
The daughter of Zion dresses in scralet, decorated with gold and ornaments (Jeremiah 4:30-31)
God's people are instructed to flee the harlot before her punishment (Rev. 18:4).
God's people are instructed to flee Jerusalem before its destruction (Luke 21:21).
The punishment prescribed by Moses for general harlots was stoning (Deut. 21:22), but if the harlot was a daughter of an Israelite priest, the punishment was death by fire (Lev. 21:9).
The fact that the woman of Revelation 17&18 is punished for her harlotry specifically by fire indicates that she is associated with the Israelite priesthood - she is the Jerusalem of the corrupt Israelite priesthood of Caiaphas & his Sanhedrin.
Ezekiel 16:32 accuses Jerusalem "You adultress wife"
Ezekiel 16:25 accuses Jerusalem "you spread your legs to every passer-by to multiply your harlotry"
Ezekiel 16:21 accuses Jerusalem "You slaughtered My children"
Jeremiah 2:1,20 says of "Go and proclaim in the years of Jerusalem, , , , You have lain down as a harlot."
"Babylon the Great" has a kingdom that is in some way "over" other kingdoms:
exousa basileian epi ton basileon tes ges (greek)
"having a kingdom over the kings of the earth" (Rev. 17:18 literal)
Scripture speaks of Jerusalem as the loftiest of cities:
Ezekiel 5:5 "Thus says the Lord God, This is Jerusalem; I have set her at the center of the nations"
Likewise her people:
Deut. 15:8 "you will rule over many nations"
Deut. 28:1 "the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth"
What scripture means by "all the nations" or "all the kingdoms of the earth" is not necessarily the global notion that modern people might suppose :
Jeremiah 27:7 says "all the nations" shall serve Nebuchadnezzar, his son, and his grandson !
Ezra 1:2 & 2 Chron. 36:23 say that "all the kingdoms of the earth" were given to Cyrus !
In those ancient times, there were kingdoms in Peru & China.
Did the ancient Peruvians and the ancient Chinese serve Nebuchadnezzar, his son, his grandson, or Cyrus like all other nations ?
Did the ancient Peruvians and the ancient Chinese know that they served Nebuchadnezzar, his son, his grandson, or Cyrus like all other nations ?
Did Nebuchadnezzar, his son, his grandson, or Cyrus know that the ancient Peruvians and the ancient Chinese were serving them ?
Now if certain persons desire sources of information from outside the Bible, then such persons should consider these sources:
In his midrash, the ancient Jewish Rabbi Eliezer taught that Jerusalem sat on 7 hills.
Quote:Rabbi Eliezer was not the first Jewish person to speak of the 7-hilled city that is most important to Israelites. In the pre-christian book of Enoch, the anti-diluvian patriarch has a vision of the 7-hilled place most important to Israelites:
Pirke d'Rab. Eliezer, chap. 10.
"I went down to the bottoms of the mountains" (Jonah ii. 6). From this we learn that Jerusalem is situated on seven hills.
Quote:
www.biblehelpsonline.com/enoch/enochindex.htm
Chapter 24:1-6
"And from thence I went to another place of the earth, and he showed me a mountain range of fire which burnt day and night. And I went beyond it and saw seven magnificent mountains all differing each from the other, and the stones (thereof) were magnificent and beautiful, magnificent as a whole, of glorious appearance and fair exterior: three towards the east, one founded on the other, and three towards the south, one upon the other, and deep rough ravines, no one of which joined with any other. And the seventh mountain was in the midst of these, and it excelled them in height, resembling the seat of a throne: and fragrant trees encircled the throne. And amongst them was a tree such as I had never yet smelt, neither was any amongst them nor were others like it: it had a fragrance beyond all fragrance, and its leaves and blooms and wood wither not for ever: and its fruit is beautiful, and its fruit n resembles the dates of a palm. Then I said: 'How beautiful is this tree, and fragrant, and its leaves are fair, and its blooms very delightful in appearance.' Then answered Michael, one of the holy and honoured angels who was with me, and was their leader.
Chapter 25:1-4
And he said unto me: 'Enoch, why dost thou ask me regarding the fragrance of the tree, and why dost thou wish to learn the truth?' Then I answered him saying: 'I wish to know about everything, but especially about this tree.' And he answered saying: 'This high mountain which thou hast seen, whose summit is like the throne of God, is His throne, where the Holy Great One, the Lord of Glory, the Eternal King, will sit, when He shall come down to visit the earth with goodness."
Obviously, the pre-christian book of Enoch depicted the antidiluvian patriarch as having a vision of a Jerusalem that would exist after his time, and it would have 7 hills. The pre-christian Israelites who read the book of Enoch would easily have understood what 7-hilled place these chapters were talking about.
This image shows the ark of B'nei Israel synagogue in San Jose (their ark is where they store their torah scrolls)

In B'nei Israel's website's own words:
Quote:
The inspiration for the Ark came from several factors.
First, we wanted to represent the Jewish nation of Israel, through Jerusalem and its seven hills. This walled city has been the pulse of Judaism throughout history as a place of miracles, of great Jewish kings, and as a source of strength and spirituality.
This is a Synagogue marriage contract made in AD 1750, from the Jewish National & University Library, also showing the 7 peaks of Jerusalem as recognized by believers in Judaism. Click on it for a very large version.

The text on that Jewish document says "hills of Jerusalem" and shows the 7 hills:

This is a Synagogue marriage contract from AD 1728, likewise depicting Jerusalem's 7 hills. Click on it for a very large version.

This is a candle holder by a sculptor of Jewish art. It has 2 candles, but can hold 8. It shows Jerusalem and its 7 hills.

Jerusalem's ancient walls enclosed 7 hills in the years just preceeding its destruction in AD 70 by the Romans, as reconstructed by english investigators/archeologists in the 19th century. In the ~40 years after the crucifixion, the north wall was extended out to the Psephenus tower.
Quote:
"Mount Zion sometimes stands for the one hill on the south-western quarter of Jerusalem, now partly within and partly without the walls, which in ancient times, however, entirely encircled its summit; and sometimes for the whole site of the city, consisting of the seven hills on which it was situated, , , , ."
("Palestine Explored" by Rev. James Neil. Originally published by James Nisbet & Co., London. Printed in Great Britain September 1881.)

Count the hills of Jerusalem of AD 70:
1. Gared
2. Goath
3. Acra
4. Bezetha
5. Moriah
6. Ophel
7. Zion
It is very strange that there are some people who imagine that the woman called "Babylon the Great" is a figure for something other than a city !
How many times does scripture have call her a "city", until the reader gets it that she is a figure for a city?
Revelation 16:19
The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed. God remembered Babylon the Great and gave her the cup filled with the wine of the fury of his wrath.
Revelation 18:10
'Woe! Woe, O great city, O Babylon, city of power!
Revelation 18:16
'Woe! Woe, O great city, dressed in fine linen, purple and scarlet, and glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls!
Revelation 18:18
When they see the smoke of her burning, they will exclaim, 'Was there ever a city like this great city?'
Revelation 18:21
Then a mighty angel picked up a boulder the size of a large millstone and threw it into the sea, and said: "With such violence the great city of Babylon will be thrown down, never to be found again.
That's more than enough times for the reader to learn that she is a figure for a city.

