Revelation 13

The First Beast

1Then the dragon stood on the sand of the sea. I saw a beast rising out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on its horns ten diadems, and on its heads blasphemous names.

2And the beast that I saw was like a leopard, its feet were like a bear’s, and its mouth was like a lion’s mouth. The dragon gave it his power and his throne and great authority.

3One of its heads seemed as if it had been slain to death, and its deadly wound was healed, and the entire earth marveled as they followed 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 can make war with it?”

5And the beast was given a mouth speaking great 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 dwelling, that is, people who dwell in heaven. 7And it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them, and authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation, 8and everyone who dwell on the earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.

9If someone has an ear, let him hear: 10If someone is for captivity, into captivity he goes;

if anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword he must be killed.

Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.

11Then I saw another beast rising out of 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 people who dwell in it worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. 13It performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people,

14and by the signs that it is allowed to perform in the presence of the beast it deceives the earth’s inhabitants, telling them to make an image for the beast that was wounded by the sword and yet lived. 15And it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast might even speak and cause people who would not worship the image of the beast to be killed.

16Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, 17so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name.

18This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666.