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Revelation 13

1I saw a beast rising from the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, ten diadems on its horns, and blasphemous names on its heads. 2The beast I saw was like a leopard; its feet were like a bear's, and its mouth like a lion's mouth. The dragon gave it his power and his throne and great authority. 3One of its heads was as though slaughtered to death, but its deadly wound was healed. The whole earth followed the beast in amazement. 4They worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who can wage war against it?”

5It was given a mouth speaking boastful things and blasphemies, and it was given authority to act for forty-two months. 6It opened its mouth in blasphemies against God, to blaspheme his name and his tent, those who dwell in heaven. 7It was permitted to wage war against the holy ones and overcome them, and it was given authority over every tribe and people and language and nation. 8All who live on the earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slaughtered. 9If anyone has an ear, let that person hear. 10If anyone is destined for captivity, into captivity that person goes. If anyone is to be killed with a sword, with a sword that person is to be killed. Here is the endurance and faith of the holy ones.

11I saw another beast rising from the earth. It had two horns like a lamb, and it spoke like a dragon. 12It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence, and it makes the earth and those who live on it worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. 13It performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to the earth before people. 14It misleads those who live on the earth because of the signs it was permitted to perform in the beast's presence, telling those who live on the earth to make an image for the beast that had the sword wound and lived. 15It was permitted to give breath to the beast's image, so that the beast's image could even speak and cause those who did not worship the beast's image to be killed. 16It makes everyone—the small and the great, the rich and the poor, the free and the slaves—receive a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, 17so that no one can buy or sell except the one with the mark, the beast's name or the number of its name. 18Here is wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the beast's number, because it is a human number. Its number is six hundred sixty-six.

Translation notes 5

13:1–7 — Beast and worship. The animal imagery recalls Daniel 7. The beast receives its throne from the dragon and receives worship; these are features of its opposition to God. “It” preserves the visible beast without deciding whether every detail refers to one ruler or an empire. The tent in verse 6 is explained by the following phrase about heaven's inhabitants.

13:8 — From the foundation of the world. The draft connects this phrase with the writing of names, as the similar wording in 17:8 favors. Another possible attachment is “the Lamb slaughtered from the foundation of the world.” The difference is grammatical interpretation, not a different set of Greek words.

13:10 — Captivity and sword. The base describes suffering to be endured: someone destined for captivity or death undergoes it. A significant textual alternative instead says that someone who kills with a sword must be killed with a sword, making the second line a statement of retribution. “Destined” supplies the sense of the opening's compressed Greek, literally “if anyone into captivity.”

13:11–17 — Image and mark. The second beast later appears as the false prophet. “Breath” preserves the word used for what is given to the image. “In its presence” can also imply acting on its behalf. The mark identifies allegiance and controls commerce in the vision; the text does not name a modern technology.

13:18 — Number. “A human number” may also mean “the number of a person,” traditionally “a man's number.” The base reads 666; 616 is an ancient textual alternative. Calculating a name's letter values is a plausible approach, with Nero Caesar a leading historical proposal, but neither that name nor a modern candidate is inserted into the verse.