A strumpet; figuratively, an idolater
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G4204 is a noun for a prostitute and, in Revelation's symbolic vision, the great prostitute representing Babylon's corrupt imperial power. 31-32, Jesus says tax collectors and prostitutes believed John's way of righteousness before resistant religious leaders.
Reader summary
Full entry for πόρνη (G4204) · Open the biblical lexicon
G4204 is a noun for a prostitute and, in Revelation's symbolic vision, the great prostitute representing Babylon's corrupt imperial power. 31-32, Jesus says tax collectors and prostitutes believed John's way of righteousness before resistant religious leaders.
The BSB source-word alignment has 12 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include prostitute (6), prostitutes (3), with a prostitute (2), OF PROSTITUTES (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 21:31. Its strongest book concentrations include Revelation (5), 1 Corinthians (2), Matthew (2), Hebrews (1).
G4204 is a noun for a prostitute and, in Revelation's symbolic vision, the great prostitute representing Babylon's corrupt imperial power. In Matt. 21. 31-32, Jesus says tax collectors and prostitutes believed John's way of righteousness before resistant religious leaders. In Heb. 11. 31, Rahab is remembered for faith and peaceful welcome, not erased by a social label.
In Rev. 17. 1, the figure of the great prostitute begins a symbolic judgment of an exploitative city and empire. G4204 opens teaching on repentance, embodied sexual ethics, dignity beyond stigma, Rahab's faith and agency, exploitation, and prophetic critique of corrupt power. It does not authorize contempt for women, blame exploited people, or permit sexualized labels for opponents.
G4204 ordinarily identifies a woman engaged in prostitution and is also used as Revelation's personified symbol for Babylon. Narrative, ethical, and apocalyptic uses must be distinguished while attending to people, systems, power, sexual conduct, idolatry, and exploitation.
Which of the two did the will of his father?” “The first,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you.
Jesus confronts resistant leaders by saying that socially despised tax collectors and prostitutes are entering God's kingdom ahead of them after believing John.
By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies in peace, did not perish with those who were disobedient.
Rahab is remembered within the witnesses of faith because she welcomed the spies in peace and did not perish with the disobedient.
Then one of the seven angels with the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits on many waters.
An angel introduces the great prostitute as an apocalyptic figure whose waters, luxury, alliances, violence, and city identity unfold across the vision.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Greek word. Woman engaged in sexual immorality; metaphorically, a city/system in idolatrous rebellion against God.
Woman engaged in sexual immorality; metaphorically, a city/system in idolatrous rebellion against God.
a prostitute, harlot: Mat.21:31-32, Luk.15:30, 1Co.6:15-16 Heb.11:31, Jas.2:25. Metaphorical (see Swete, Ap., 180 f.), of Babylon (i.e. Rome): Rev.17:1, 5 17:15-16 19:2.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
12 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
a prostitute
Read versea prostitute
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Read versea prostitute
Read versea prostitute
Read versea prostitute
Read versea prostitute
Read versea prostitute
Read versea prostitute
Read versea prostitute
Read verseFull New Testament corpus: 260 chapters, 7,957 verses, 140,628 tokens. Data source: honza/textus-receptus (data only), with authority check against byztxt/greektext-textus-receptus.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
This word appears as a noun across 6 case and number patterns. The form changes show how the word functions in a sentence; they do not change the basic lexical meaning by themselves.
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 4 selected witnesses from 12 lexical occurrence verses.
πόρνη is built from this root:
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
G4204 appears in texts where sexual conduct, social exclusion, faith, and power must be handled without collapsing a person into a label. Jesus places prostitutes who believed John ahead of religious leaders who saw the evidence yet refused repentance. Their history does not bar them from God's kingdom, and the saying confronts religious hardness rather than turning them into props for shame.
Hebrews and James remember Rahab as a woman of faith whose welcome and courageous action matter. First Corinthians calls believers to honor bodily union with Christ and reject sexual union with a prostitute, addressing the participant's conduct rather than inviting contempt for the other person. Revelation uses a female-coded city symbol for Babylon's luxury, political seduction, economic corruption, and bloodshed.
The symbol is interpreted within the vision as a city and imperial system, so it must not become a slur for actual women. Faithful application upholds sexual integrity, names exploitation and demand, protects vulnerable people, welcomes repentance, and directs prophetic judgment toward corrupt systems and violence without reproducing dehumanizing speech.
Matt.21.31
G4204 is a Greek feminine noun for a prostitute. Revelation employs it metaphorically as a personification of Babylon, so the symbol's literary referent and the ordinary noun's human referent must not be confused.
The Old Testament remembers Rahab's household, regulates sexual wrongdoing within broader covenant justice, and sometimes personifies unfaithful cities, while the New Testament emphasizes repentance, bodily holiness, welcome, faith, and judgment of exploitative empire.