746. 17:16 "And the ten horns which you saw on the beast, these will hate the harlot." This symbolizes the Word as to the power it has from Divine truths among Protestants, who have thrown off entirely the yoke of papal dominion. We find the phrase here, as in verse 12 above, "the ten horns which you saw on the beast," where it says that they were ten kings, but here simply "these," because there, as here, the subject is people who have turned away from the Roman Catholic religion - there people who have done so partly, but here people who have done so entirely.

That Protestants or the Reformed are the subject here is apparent from the predictions that follow, that they will make the harlot desolate and naked, eat her flesh and burn her with fire, and give their kingdom to the beast. That "the ten horns which you saw on the beast" symbolize the Word as to the power it has from Divine truths - this may be seen in no 740 above. That to hate the harlot is not to endure the Roman Catholic religion, and therefore to throw off entirely the yoke of papal dominion, is apparent without explanation.