¹And I saw a beast coming up out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads. On its horns were ten crowns, , and on its heads were blasphemous names. ,[#13:1 Dn 7:3; #13:1 Or diadems; #13:1 Rv 12:3; #13:1 Other mss read heads was a blasphemous name; #13:1 Rv 17:3]

²The beast 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 the beast his power, his throne, and great authority.[#13:2 Dn 7:4–6]

³One of its heads appeared to be fatally wounded, but its fatal wound was healed.

The whole earth was amazed and followed the beast.

⁴They worshipped the dragon because he gave authority to the beast. And they worshipped the beast, saying, ‘Who is like the beast? Who is able to wage war against it? ’[#13:4 Rv 12:3; #13:4 Ex 15:11; Is 46:5]

⁵The beast was given a mouth to utter boasts and blasphemies. It was allowed to exercise authority , for forty-two months.[#13:5 Dn 7:8,11,20; #13:5 Other mss read to wage war; #13:5 Or to rule; #13:5 Rv 11:2]

⁶It began to speak blasphemies against God: to blaspheme his name and his dwelling #– #those who dwell in heaven.[#13:6 Or He opened his mouth in]

⁷And it was permitted to wage war against the saints and to conquer them. It was also given authority over every tribe, people, language, and nation.[#13:7 Rv 12:17; #13:7 Jr 27:6; Dn 7:6,14; Lk 4:6; Jn 19:11; #13:7 Rv 5:9; 7:9; 11:9; 14:6]

⁸All those who live on the earth will worship it, everyone whose name was not written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slaughtered. ,[#13:8 Or scroll; #13:8 Ex 32:32–33; Ps 69:28; Php 4:3; Rv 3:5; 17:8; 20:12,15; 21:27; #13:8 Or written in the book of life of the Lamb who was slaughtered from the foundation of the world; #13:8 1Pt 1:19–20; Rv 5:6,12; 7:14]

⁹If anyone has ears to hear, let him listen.[#13:9 Mt 11:15; Rv 2:7,11,17,19; 3:6,13,22]

This calls for endurance and faithfulness from the saints.

The Beast from the Earth

¹¹Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth; it had two horns like a lamb, , but it spoke like a dragon.[#13:11 Or ram; #13:11 Dn 8:3]

¹²It exercises all the authority of the first beast on its behalf and compels the earth and those who live on it to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed.

¹³It also performs great signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to earth in front of people.[#13:13 Dt 13:1–3; Mk 13:22; 2Th 2:9–11; #13:13 1Kg 18:38; 2Kg 1:10; Lk 9:54]

¹⁴It deceives those who live on the earth because of the signs that it is permitted to perform in the presence of the beast, telling those who live on the earth to make an image of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived.[#13:14 Rv 12:9; #13:14 2Th 2:9–12; Rv 19:20; #13:14 Or a statue , or a likeness]

¹⁵It was permitted to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast could both speak and cause whoever would not worship the image of the beast to be killed.[#13:15 Or a spirit , or life; #13:15 Dn 3:5–6; Rv 20:4]

¹⁶And it makes everyone #– #small and great, rich and poor, free and slave #– # receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead,[#13:16 Rv 14:1,9,11; 16:2; 19:20; 20:4]

¹⁷so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark: the beast’s name or the number of its name.

¹⁸This calls for wisdom: , Let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, because it is the number of a person. Its number is 666.[#13:18 Or Here is wisdom; #13:18 Rv 17:9; #13:18 Or count , or work out; #13:18 Other Gk mss read 616]