Revelation 13

The beast that rises from the sea

¹And I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on its horns ten diadems, and on its heads names of blasphemy.^•²The beast that I saw was like a leopard, and its feet were like those of a bear, and its mouth like the mouth of a lion. The dragon gave it his power, and his throne, and great authority.^•

³And one of its heads was as though slain to death, and its mortal wound was healed. And the whole earth marveled, following the beast,^•⁴and they worshiped the dragon, because he had given his authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying: Who is like the beast? And who is able to make war against it?^•

⁵A mouth was given to it, speaking great things and blasphemies, and authority was given to it to act for forty-two months.^•⁶It opened its mouth in blasphemies against God, to blaspheme His name and His tabernacle, those who have their tabernacle in heaven.^•⁷And it was granted to make war against the saints and to conquer them; and authority was given to it over every tribe, and people, and tongue, and nation.^•⁸And all who dwell on the earth will worship it, everyone whose name is not written in the book of life of the slain Lamb from the foundation of the world.^•

⁹If anyone has an ear, let him hear.^•¹⁰If anyone is for captivity, into captivity he goes;^•if anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword he is to be killed.^•Here is the perseverance and the faith of the saints.^•

The beast that rises from the earth

¹¹And I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and it had two horns like those of a lamb, and it spoke like a dragon.^•¹²It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence, and makes the earth and those who dwell in it worship the first beast, whose mortal wound was healed.^•¹³It performs great signs, so that it even makes fire come down from heaven to the earth in the presence of men.^•¹⁴And it deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs that it was granted to perform in the presence of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast that has the wound of the sword and came to life.^•

¹⁵It was granted to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would even speak and would cause all who would not worship the image of the beast to be killed.^•¹⁶It causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead,^•¹⁷and that no one may be able to buy or sell except the one who has the mark, the name of the beast or the number of its name.^•

¹⁸Here is wisdom. Let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man; and its number is six hundred and sixty-six.^•

Notes

13:1 “Coming up out of the sea”: cf. Dan 7:3. “Ten horns and seven heads”: cf. 12:3; 17:3, 7, 12; Dan 7:7, 24; the Textus Receptus reverses the order (“seven heads and ten horns”). “Names of blasphemy”: the Textus Receptus reads “name”. Variant: the Byzantine text and the Textus Receptus begin the verse with “And I stood on the sand of the sea” (cf. 12:17). ↩
13:2 “Leopard… bear… lion”: cf. Dan 7:4–6. “Power… throne… authority”: Gr. δύναμις, θρόνος, ἐξουσία (cf. 2:13; 12:9). ↩
13:3 “And one of its heads was”: lit. “and one of its heads”, with no verb; the Textus Receptus reads “And I saw one of its heads”. “As though slain to death”: Gr. ὡς ἐσφαγμένην εἰς θάνατον, the same participle used for the Lamb (5:6, “as though slain”, in the neuter). “Mortal wound”: Gr. ἡ πληγὴ τοῦ θανάτου, lit. “the wound of its death”; πληγή, also “plague” (cf. 9:18). “Following the beast”: lit. “after the beast”. ↩
13:4 “Who is like”: cf. Ex 15:11; Ps 35:10 [LXX 34:10]; 89:6–8 (Heb. 89:7–9) [LXX 88:7–9]; Mic 7:18. ↩
13:5 “Great things and blasphemies”: cf. Dan 7:8, 11, 20, 25. “To act”: Gr. ποιῆσαι, “to do, to act”; alternative reading: “to continue”. Variant: the Byzantine text reads “blasphemy” (singular) and “to make war”. “Forty-two months”: cf. 11:2; 12:6, 14. ↩
13:6 “Tabernacle… those who have their tabernacle in heaven”: Gr. σκηνή… σκηνοῦντας (cf. 7:15; 12:12; 21:3); the Textus Receptus reads “and those who”; the Byzantine text and the Textus Receptus read “blasphemy”, singular. Cf. Dan 8:10–11; 11:36. ↩
13:7 “Make war against the saints and to conquer them”: cf. 11:7; Dan 7:21, 25. “Every tribe, and people, and tongue, and nation”: cf. 5:9; 7:9; 14:6; the Textus Receptus omits “and people”. ↩
13:8 “Worship it”: Gr. αὐτόν, masculine. “Book of life”: cf. 3:5; 17:8; 20:12, 15; 21:27. Variant: the Byzantine text and the Textus Receptus read ὧν, “all whose name” (the Textus Receptus, “whose names”). “From the foundation of the world”: alternative reading: it goes with “written”, “whose name is not written from the foundation of the world” (cf. 17:8). ↩
13:9 Cf. 2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22. ↩
13:10 Lit. “if anyone for captivity, into captivity he goes; if anyone with the sword to be killed, he with the sword to be killed”. Cf. Jer 15:2; 43:11 [LXX 50:11]. The SBLGNT is followed, with Codex Alexandrinus. Variants: codices Sinaiticus and Ephraemi, the Byzantine text and the Textus Receptus read “if anyone kills with the sword, he must be killed with the sword”; in the first clause, the Textus Receptus reads “if anyone gathers captives, into captivity he goes”, and the Byzantine text, “if anyone has captivity, he goes”. “Perseverance”: Gr. ὑπομονή (cf. 1:9; 14:12). ↩
13:11 “Lamb”: Gr. ἀρνίον, the same term as in 5:6; here in a comparison, without the article, and so in lowercase. “Out of the earth”: in contrast with “out of the sea” (13:1). ↩
13:12 “Exercises”: Gr. ποιεῖ, lit. “does”. “In its presence”: Gr. ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ. ↩
13:13 “Signs”: Gr. σημεῖα (cf. 16:14; 19:20). “Fire… from heaven”: cf. 1 Kgs 18:38; 2 Kgs 1:10. ↩
13:14 “Deceives”: Gr. πλανάω (cf. 12:9; 19:20). “Image”: Gr. εἰκών (cf. Dan 3:1–7). “That has”: Gr. ὅς, masculine; the Byzantine text and the Textus Receptus read ὅ, neuter. “Came to life”: Gr. ἔζησεν (cf. 2:8; 20:4). ↩
13:15 “Breath”: Gr. πνεῦμα (cf. 11:11). “All who would not worship… to be killed”: cf. Dan 3:6, 15. ↩
13:16 “The small and the great”: cf. 11:18; 19:5, 18; 20:12. “Slaves”: Gr. δοῦλοι, beside “free” (cf. 6:15). “Mark”: Gr. χάραγμα (cf. 14:9, 11; 16:2; 19:20; 20:4). Variant: the Textus Receptus reads “that he give them”, singular. “Right hand… forehead”: cf. 7:3; 14:1; Deut 6:8. ↩
13:17 “Buy or sell”: Gr. ἀγοράζω (cf. 3:18; 5:9). “The number of its name”: cf. 15:2. Variant: the Textus Receptus reads “or the name”. ↩
13:18 “Understanding”: Gr. νοῦς (cf. 17:9). “Calculate”: Gr. ψηφισάτω, “count, calculate”. “The number of a man”: Gr. ἀριθμὸς ἀνθρώπου, without the article; also “a human number”. “Six hundred and sixty-six”: so Papyrus 47 and codices Sinaiticus and Alexandrinus. Variant: Codex Ephraemi and Papyrus 115 read “six hundred and sixteen”. ↩