Revelation 13

The First Beast

1 And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads.2 And 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. And to it the dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority.3 One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed, and the whole earth marveled as they followed the beast.4 And they worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, "Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?"

5 And the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months.6 It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling,t that is, those who dwell in heaven.7 Also it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them.t And authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation,8 and all who dwell on 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.9 If anyone has an ear, let him hear:

10  If anyone is to be taken captive,
to captivity he goes;
if anyone is to be slain with the sword,
with the sword must he be slain.
Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.

The Second Beast

11 Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon.12 It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence,t and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose mortal wound was healed.13 It performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people,14 and by the signs that it is allowed to work in the presence oft the beast it deceives those who dwell on earth, telling them to make an image for the beast that was wounded by the sword and yet lived.15 And it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast might even speak and might cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain.16 Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave,t to be marked on the right hand or the forehead,17 so 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.18 This 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.t

Revelation 13

The two beasts

1 I looked and saw a beast coming up from the sea. This one had ten horns and seven heads, and a crown was on each of its ten horns. On each of its heads were names that were an insult to God.t 2 The beast that I saw had the body of a leopard, the feet of a bear, and the mouth of a lion. The dragon handed over its own power and throne and great authority to this beast.t 3 One of its heads seemed to have been fatally wounded, but now it was well. Everyone on earth marvelled at this beast,

4 and they worshipped the dragon who had given its authority to the beast. They also worshipped the beast and said, “No one is like this beast! No one can fight against it.”
5 The beast was allowed to boast and claim to be God, and for forty-two months it was allowed to rule.t 6 The beast cursed God, and it cursed the name of God. It even cursed the place where God lives, as well as everyone who lives in heaven with God. 7 It was allowed to fight against God's people and defeat them. It was also given authority over the people of every tribe, nation, language, and race.t

8 The beast was worshipped by everyone whose name wasn't written before the time of creation in the book of the Lamb who was killed.tt

9 If you have ears,
then listen!

10 If you are doomedt
to be captured,
you will be captured.
If you are doomed
to be killed by a sword,
you will be killed
by a sword.
This means that God's people must learn to endure and be faithful!
11 I now saw another beast. This one came out of the ground. It had two horns like a lamb, but spoke like a dragon. 12 It worked for the beast whose fatal wound had been healed. And it used all its authority to force the earth and its people to worship that beast.

13 It performed mighty miracles, and while people watched, it even made fire come down from the sky.
14 This second beast fooled people on earth by performing miracles for the first one. Then it talked them into making an idol in the form of the beast that did not die after being wounded by a sword. 15 It was allowed to put breath into the idol, so that it could speak. Everyone who refused to worship the idol of the beast was put to death. 16 All people were forced to put a mark on their right hand or forehead. Whether they were powerful or weak, rich or poor, free people or slaves,

17 they all had to have this mark, or else they could not buy or sell anything. This mark stood for the name of the beast and for the number of its name.
18 You need wisdom to understand the number of the beast! But if you are clever enough, you can work this out. Its number is six hundred and sixty-six, and it stands for a person.