(31) And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, (32) are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.
(31) This is the other part of the narration, as I said in See Revelation 17:7 belonging to the harlot, showed in the vision, (Revelation 17:3). In this history of the harlot, these three things are distinctly propounded, what is her magnificence, in this verse, what is her fall, and by whom it shall happen to her, in (Revelation 17:16-17): and lastly, who that harlot is, in (Revelation 17:18). This passage which by order of nature should have been the first, is therefore made the last, because it was more fit to be joined with the next chapter.
(32) That is, as changing and variable as the waters. Upon this foundation sits this harlot as queen, a vain person, on that which is vain.