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 ²The 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 ³One 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 ⁶It opened its mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven.^t ⁷It 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 ⁸All 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.^b^z

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.”^d^b

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

The Beast out of the Earth

¹¹Then I saw a second beast, coming out of the earth.^e It had two horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon.^f ¹²It exercised all the authority^g of the first beast on its behalf,^h and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast,ⁱ whose fatal wound had been healed.^j ¹³And it performed great signs,^k even causing fire to come down from heaven^l to the earth in full view of the people. ¹⁴Because of the signs^m it was given power to perform on behalf of the first beast, it deceivedⁿ the inhabitants of the earth.^o It ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived.^p ¹⁵The second beast was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship^q the image to be killed.^r ¹⁶It also forced all people, great and small,^s rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads,^t ¹⁷so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark,^u which is the name of the beast or the number of its name.^v

¹⁸This calls for wisdom.^w Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man.^e^x That number is 666.

Read in Logos

Footnotes

aSome manuscripts And I
bOr written from the creation of the world in the book of life belonging to the Lamb who was slain
cSome manuscripts anyone kills
d Jer. 15:2
eOr is humanity’s number

Cross references

h Da 7:1–6; Rev 15:2; 16:13
iSee Rev 12:3
j Da 11:36; Rev 17:3
k Da 7:6
l Da 7:5
m Da 7:4
n Rev 2:13; 16:10
over 12, 14
p Rev 17:8
q Ex 15:11
r Da 7:8, 11, 20, 25; 11:36; 2 Th 2:4
sSee Rev 11:2
t Rev 12:12
u Da 7:21; Rev 11:7
v Rev 5:9; 7:9; 10:11; 17:15
wver 12, 14; See Rev 3:10
xSee Rev 20:12
ySee Jn 1:29
zSee Mt 25:34
aSee Rev 2:7
b Jer 15:2; 43:11
cSee Heb 6:12
d Rev 14:12
ever 1, 2
f Rev 16:13
gver 4
hver 14; Rev 19:20
iver 15; Rev 14:9, 11; 16:2; 19:20; 20:4
jver 3
kSee Mt 24:24
l 1 Ki 18:38; 2 Ki 1:10; Lk 9:54; Rev 20:9
m 2 Th 2:9, 10
n Rev 12:9
oSee Rev 3:10
pver 3, 12
qSee ver 12
r Da 3:3–6
sSee Rev 19:5
t Rev 7:3; 14:9; 20:4
u Rev 14:9
vver 18; Rev 14:11; 15:2
w Rev 17:9
x Rev 15:2; 21:17