Revelation 17:6; I Wondered With Great Admiration

Revelation 17:6  And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration. 

John’s amazement at what he had seen provides a natural transition to his explanation – And I marvelled with great amazement, seeing her.

“Complete astonishment” is not too strong to express John’s reaction to the sight of the woman on the beast.

The literal translation “I marvel… with great marvel” emphasise his great astonishment. It surprised him to the utmost.

The reason for his great amazement is unstated. It may have been the sight of such unrestrained wickedness in the true nature of the woman and God’s permitting her to exist (Kiddle). It may have been his inability to grasp the symbolic meaning of what he saw. It may have been the contrast between the splendidly attired woman and beast on the one hand and a city in ruins that he had expected to see (Swete, Ladd). It could have been some combination of these, but whatever it was, it was different from the marvelling of the earth-dwellers over the beast in Revelation 13:3, because he was not about to become a follower of the beast.

[Robert L. Thomas, Revelation 8-22 – An Exegetical Commentary, Moody, 1995, 290-291]