Charles Ellicott Commentary Revelation 17:4

"And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and decked with gold and precious stone and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations, even the unclean things of her fornication," — Revelation 17:4 (ASV)

And the woman was arrayed . . .—Better, arrayed (or, clad) in purple (the color of the robe that was mockingly put on our Lord—John 19:2) and scarlet, gilded (not “decked”) with gold, etc. Her appearance is one of imperial splendor. (Compare the description of Tyre in Ezekiel 28:13.)

Having a golden cup in her hand . . .—Translate, Having a golden cup in her hand teeming with abominations and with the unclean things of the fornication of the earth. Jeremiah (Jeremiah 51:7) called Babylon a golden cup in the hand of the Lord. The cup had made all the earth drunken; the cup of intoxication, splendid and attractive, was full of an evil power, which robbed men’s senses and degraded them. The great city of the world always holds out such a glittering cup, which

“Most do taste through fond intemperate desire.
Soon as the potion works, their human countenance,
The express resemblance of the gods, is changed
Into some brutish form...
—Comus, 68-77.