³⁶ “Then the king will ^(A)do as he pleases, and he will exalt himself and ^(B)boast against every god and will ^(C)speak ^[a]dreadful things against the ^(D)God of gods; and he will be successful until the ^(E)indignation is finished, because that which is ^(F)determined will be done. ³⁷ And he will show no regard for the ^[b]gods of his fathers or for the ^[c]desire of women, nor will he show regard for any other god; for he will boast against them all. ³⁸ But ^[d]instead he will honor a god of fortresses, a god whom his fathers did not know; he will honor him with gold, silver, precious stones, and treasures.

^3 (A)No one is to deceive you in any way! For it will not come unless the ^[a](B)apostasy comes first, and the ^(C)man of lawlessness is revealed, the ^(D)son of destruction, ⁴ who opposes and exalts himself above ^[b](E)every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, ^(F)displaying himself as being God.

The Beast from the Earth

¹¹ Then ^(A)I saw another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had ^(B)two horns like a lamb, and he spoke as a ^(C)dragon. ¹² He ^(D)exercises all the authority of the first beast ^[a](E)in his presence. And he makes ^(F)the earth and those who live on it ^(G)worship the first beast, whose ^(H)fatal wound was healed. ¹³ He ^(I)performs great signs, so that he even makes ^(J)fire come down out of the sky to the earth in the presence of people. ¹⁴ And he ^(K)deceives ^(L)those who live on the earth because of ^(M)the signs which it was given him to perform ^[b](N)in the presence of the beast, telling those who live on the earth to make an image to the beast who *had the ^(O)wound of the sword and has come to life. ¹⁵ And it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would even ^[c]speak and cause ^(P)all who do not ^(Q)worship the image of the beast to be killed.