Verse 1. And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems upon its horns. The beast has appeared already in 11:7 as one who ascends from the bottomless pit to make war upon the two witnesses. This vision is directly dependent upon the vision recorded in Daniel 7, in which he saw four beasts coming up out of the sea, representing a succession of four worldly empires. Some commentators see in the sea a symbol of the agitated surface of unregenerate humanity