Am reading revelation 17 and want to know who the seven kings are in verse 10. Any bible scholars out there?

Question

Am interested in all denominational answers so I can get ideas as to who the kings are.

Answer 1

Rev. 17:12 And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
Rev 17:13 These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.
Rev 17:14 These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them:

As we approach the last crisis, it is of vital moment that harmony and unity exist among the Lord's instrumentalities. The world is filled with storm and war and variance. Yet under one head--the papal power--the people will unite to oppose God in the person of His witnesses.
What is it that gives its kingdom to this power? Protestantism, a power which, while professing to have the temper and spirit of a lamb and to be allied to Heaven, speaks with the voice of a dragon. It is moved by a power from beneath.
"These have one mind." There will be a universal bond of union, one great harmony, a confederacy of Satan's forces. "And shall give their power and strength unto the beast." Thus is manifested the same arbitrary, oppressive power against religious liberty, freedom to worship God according to the dictates of conscience, as was manifested by the papacy, when in the past it persecuted those who dared to refuse to conform with the religious rites and ceremonies of Romanism.
In the warfare to be waged in the last days there will be united, in opposition to God's people, all the corrupt powers that have apostatized from allegiance to the law of Jehovah. In this warfare the Sabbath of the fourth commandment will be the great point at issue; for in the Sabbath commandment the great Lawgiver identifies Himself as the Creator of the heavens and the earth.
Through the two great errors, the immortality of the soul and Sunday sacredness, Satan will bring the people under his deceptions. While the former lays the foundation of spiritualism, the latter creates a bond of sympathy with Rome. The Protestants of the United States will be foremost in stretching their hands across the gulf to grasp the hand of spiritualism; they will reach over the abyss to clasp hands with the Roman power; and under the influence of this threefold union, this country will follow in the steps of Rome in trampling on the rights of conscience.

Answer 2

Re 17:10 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.

RE 17:10 And they are seven kings - Anciently there were royal palaces on all the seven Roman bills. These were the Palatine, Capitoline, Coelian, Exquiline, Viminal, Quirinal, Aventine hills. But the prophecy respects the seven hills at the time of the beast, when the Palatine was deserted and the Vatican in use. Not that the seven heads mean hills distinct from kings; but they have a compound meaning, implying both together. Perhaps the first head of the beast is the Coelian hill, and on it the Lateran, with Gregory VII. and his successors; the second, the Vatican with the church of St. Peter, chosen by Boniface VIII. the third, the Quirinal, with the church of St. Mark, and the Quirinal palace built by Paul II. and the fourth, the Exquiline hill, with the temple of St. Maria Maggiore, where Paul V. reigned. The fifth will be added hereafter. Accordingly, in the papal register, four periods are observable since Gregory VII. In the first almost all the bulls made in the city are dated in the Lateran; in the second, at St. Peter's; in the third, at St. Mark's, or in the Quirinal; in the fourth, at St. Maria Maggiore. But no fifth, sixth, or seventh hill has yet been the residence of any Pope. Not that the hill was deserted, when another was made the papal residence; but a new one was added to the other sacred palaces. Perhaps the times hitherto mentioned might be fixed thus: 1058 Wings are given to the woman.

1077 The beast ascends out of the sea.

1143 The forty - two months begin.

1810 The forty - two months end.

1832 The beast ascends out of the bottomless pit.

1836 The beast finally overthrown.

The fall of those five kings seems to imply, not only the death of the Popes who reigned on those hills, but also such a disannulling of all they had done there, that it will be said, The beast is not; the royal power, which had so long been lodged in the Pope, being then transferred to the city. One is, the other is not yet come - These two are remarkably distinguished from the five preceding, whom they succeed in their turns. The former of them will continue not a short space, as may be gathered from what is said of the latter: the former is under the government of Babylon; the latter is with the beast. In this second period, one is, at the same time that the beast is not. Even then there will be a Pope, though not with the power which his predecessors had. And he will reside on one of the remaining hills, leaving the seventh for his successor.

RE 17:10 there are--Translate, "they (the seven heads) are seven kings."
five . . . one--Greek, "the five . . . the one"; the first five of the seven are fallen (a word applicable not to forms of government passing away, but to the fall of once powerful empires: Egypt, Ezekiel 29:1-30:26'; Assyria and Nineveh, Nahum 3:1-19; Babylon, Revelation 18:2'Jeremiah 50:1-51:64'; Medo-Persia, Daniel 8:3-7,20-22, 10:13, 11:2; Greece, Daniel 11:4). Rome was "the one" existing in John's days. "Kings" is the Scripture phrase for kingdoms, because these kingdoms are generally represented in character by some one prominent head, as Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar, Medo-Persia by Cyrus, Greece by Alexander, &c.
the other is not yet come--not as ALFORD, inaccurately representing AUBERLEN, the Christian empire beginning with Constantine; but, the Germanic-Slavonic empire beginning and continuing in its beast-like, that is, HEATHEN Antichristian character for only "a short space." The time when it is said of it, "it is not" (Revelation 17:11), is the time during which it is "wounded to death," and has the "deadly wound" (Revelation 13:3). The external Christianization of the migrating hordes from the North which descended on Rome, is the wound to the beast answering to the earth swallowing up the flood (heathen tribes) sent by the dragon, Satan, to drown the woman, the Church. The emphasis palpably is on "a short space," which therefore comes first in the Greek, not on "he must continue," as if his continuance for some [considerable] time were implied, as ALFORD wrongly thinks. The time of external Christianization (while the beast's wound continues) has lasted for centuries, ever since Constantine. Rome and the Greek Church have partially healed the wound by image worship.

Answer 3

I have heard it explained that the seven kings are seven dynasties of the roman empire.
5 of those dynasties had fallen (was) one existed at the time but recently fallen (is not) and one was in the future (will be)

I am cautious though of any explanation, because the revelations are written in cryptic language they can be interpreted in any way that suits the denomonation

The passage also refers to Babylon, which was a great power in the past but at the time did not exist (is not)...

Some have equated Babylon and the Roman empire, as both were nation spanning empires with cruel and powerful leadership.

I am not a bible scholar, but I too wonder about the revelations and make no claim to understand them.

Answer 4

The seven heads are seven anti-God empires. Five of them have passed away, the sixth is pagan Rome. The seventh has not yet come, and when it appears, it shall exist only a short time. That is the empire of the anti-Christ.

The 10 horns gets complicated. There were ten great persecutions of pagans trying to destroy the Church, in bed with the whore, certain Jewish colaborators who lost their fidelity with God, and wanted the church out of the way.

1. Nero 64 AD
2. Domitan 95 AD.
3. Trajan 107 AD (he killed Pope Clement)
4. Marcus Aurelius 167 AD (he killed Polycarp, student of St. John the Apostle)
5. Septimius Servitus 202 AD (killed at least 2 popes)
6. Maximus Thrax 236 AD
7. Decius 250 AD
8. Valerian 258 AD
9. Emporer Aurelian
10. Diocletian 303 AD

Whore of Babylon
http://www.ewtn.com/expert/answers/whore_of_babylon.htm

Some anti-Catholics claim the Catholic Church is the Whore of Babylon of Revelation 17 and 18. Dave Hunt, in his 1994 book, A Woman Rides the Beast, presents nine arguments to try to prove this. His claims are a useful summary of those commonly used by Fundamentalists, and an examination of them shows why they don’t work.
http://www.catholic.com/library/Hunting_the_Whore_of_Babylon.asp

Answer 5

well im not an bible student really but when they are telling about the seven kings, I believe they refer to seven nations and not people at all. thats my answer, I have read revelations also and alot are like hidden messages so to say, ever listen to pastor paul murry? or his mark of the beast tape? hope this was any kind of answer to you at all.

Answer 6

"The five that are fallen are the five during the 1260 years in which power was given, by religious authority [the Roman Catholic Church] for the healed beast to continue. the one that 'is,' is the kingdom that extended from Garibaldi to the downfall of Mussolini.... The 7th head with its 10 horns, in the 17th chapter, will be, as the 17th chapter explains, the revival of the beast, the Roman Empire,..."

Answer 7

Keep reading - the answer is right there. The seven kings were the seven church's leaders, if I remember my bible right. Could be wrong.

Answer 8

John, Bruce, peter, Bo, Mike and the guy around the corner
the rest couldn't turn up for the end of the world as thay had a previous engagement

Answer 9

Please follow up on this, there is much evidence to believe that since the catholics resumed there immunity since 1929 or 1922 (can't quirte remember) the seven kings are the popes who reighned. Visit the site called www.worldslastchance.com, they provide a very interresting .pdf on this matter

good luck