Revelation 12:17–13:10

¹⁷Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to wage war^d against the rest of her offspring^e—those who keep God’s commands^f and hold fast their testimony about Jesus.^g

The Beast out of the Sea

13The dragon^a stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea.^h It had ten horns and seven heads,ⁱ with ten crowns on its horns, and on each head a blasphemous name.^{j 2}The beast I saw resembled a leopard,^k but had feet like those of a bear^l and a mouth like that of a lion.^m The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority.^{n 3}One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed.^o The whole world was filled with wonder^p and followed the beast. ⁴People worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, “Who is like^q the beast? Who can wage war against it?”

⁵The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies^r and to exercise its authority for forty-two months.^{s 6}It opened its mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven.^{t 7}It was given power to wage war^u against God’s holy people and to conquer them. And it was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation.^{v 8}All inhabitants of the earth^w will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life,^x the Lamb^y who was slain from the creation of the world.^bz

⁹Whoever has ears, let them hear.^a

¹⁰“If anyone is to go into captivity,

into captivity they will go.

If anyone is to be killed^c with the sword,

with the sword they will be killed.”^db

This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness^c on the part of God’s people.^d