启示录 13
Chinese Contemporary Bible (Simplified)
两只怪兽
13 我又看见一只怪兽从海中上来，有七头十角，每只角上都戴着一个冠冕，每个头上都写着亵渎上帝的名号。 2 它看起来像豹，却有熊的脚和狮子的口。巨龙将自己的能力、王位和大权柄都交给了怪兽。 3 我看见怪兽的一个头似乎受了致命伤，这伤却复原了。全世界的人都惊奇地跟从了它。 4 他们拜巨龙，因为巨龙将自己的权力给了怪兽。他们又拜怪兽，说：“有谁比得上这兽呢？谁能与它对抗呢？” 5 巨龙又使怪兽说狂妄、亵渎的话，并给它权柄，可以任意妄为四十二个月。 6 怪兽开口亵渎上帝的名、上帝的居所和一切居住在天上的。 7 它又获准去攻打圣徒，征服他们，并得到权柄制服各民族、各部落、各语言族群、各国家。 8 凡住在地上的人，就是从创世以来名字没有记在被杀羔羊的生命册上的，都会崇拜怪兽。
9 凡有耳朵的都应当听。
10 该被掳的人必被掳，
该被刀杀的必被刀杀。
因此，圣徒需要坚忍和信心。
11 我又看见另一只怪兽从地里窜出来，它的两只角像羔羊的角，说话却像龙， 12 在头一只怪兽面前行使头一只怪兽的一切权柄。它命令世上的人拜曾受了致命伤但已复原的头一只怪兽， 13 又行大奇迹，当众叫火从天降到地上。 14 它在头一只怪兽面前获准行奇迹，欺骗了普世的人，并吩咐他们为受了刀伤却仍然活着的头一只怪兽塑像。 15 它又获准给怪兽的塑像生命气息，使它不但能说话，还能使所有不敬拜那像的人遭害。 16 它又强迫所有的人，不论老少、尊卑、贫富、自由人或奴隶，都在右手或额上接受印记。 17 凡没有盖上怪兽印记的，就是没有怪兽的名字或代号的，都不能做买卖。 18 这里藏有玄机，聪明的人可以计算那怪兽的代号，因为那是一个人的代号，是“六百六十六”。
Revelation 13
Complete Jewish Bible
13 and I saw a beast come up out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads. On its horns were ten royal crowns and on its heads blasphemous names. 2 The beast which I saw was like a leopard, but with feet like those of a bear and a mouth like the mouth of a lion. To it the dragon gave its power, its throne and great authority. 3 One of the heads of the beast appeared to have received a fatal wound, but its fatal wound was healed, and the whole earth followed after the beast in amazement. 4 They worshipped the dragon, because he had given his authority to the beast; and they worshipped the beast, saying,
“Who is like the beast?
Who can fight against it?”
5 It was given a mouth speaking arrogant blasphemies; and it was given authority to act for forty-two months. 6 So it opened its mouth in blasphemies against God to insult his name and his Sh’khinah, and those living in heaven; 7 it was allowed to make war on God’s holy people and to defeat them; and it was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. 8 Everyone living on earth will worship it except those whose names are written in the Book of Life belonging to the Lamb slaughtered before the world was founded. 9 Those who have ears, let them hear!
10 “If anyone is meant for captivity,
into captivity he goes!
If anyone is to be killed with the sword,
with the sword he is to be killed!”[a]
This is when God’s holy people must persevere and trust!
11 Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth. It had two horns like those of a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon. 12 It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence; and it makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, the one whose fatal wound had been healed. 13 It performs great miracles, even causing fire to come down from heaven onto the earth as people watch. 14 It deceives the people living on earth by the miracles it is allowed to perform in the presence of the beast, and it tells them to make an image honoring the beast that was struck by the sword but came alive again. 15 It was allowed to put breath into the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast could even speak; and it was allowed to cause anyone who would not worship the image of the beast to be put to death. 16 Also it forces everyone — great and small, rich and poor, free and slave — to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead 17 preventing anyone from buying or selling unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name. 18 This is where wisdom is needed; those who understand should count the number of the beast, for it is the number of a person, and its number is 666.
Footnotes
- Revelation 13:10 Jeremiah 15:2, 43:11
Revelation 13
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 13
1 Then I saw a beast rising out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads. On its horns were ten diadems, and on its heads were blasphemous names. 2 The beast that I saw resembled a leopard, but it had feet like those of a bear, and its mouth was like the mouth of a lion. The dragon conferred on the beast his own power and his throne, as well as great authority.
3 One of his heads appeared to me to have been mortally wounded, but its mortal wound had been healed. The whole world then became fascinated with the beast, 4 and they worshiped the dragon because he had conferred authority on the beast. They also worshiped the beast, saying, “Who can compare with the beast? Who can fight against it?”
5 It was allowed to mouth its haughty and blasphemous words, and it was granted permission to exercise its authority for forty-two months.[a] 6 It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, as well as against his name and his dwelling and all those who live in heaven.
7 The beast was also allowed to wage war on the saints and conquer them, and it was given authority over every tribe, people, language, and nation. 8 All the inhabitants of the earth will worship it, all those whose names have not been written from the creation of the world[b] in the book of life belonging to the Lamb who was slain.
9 Whoever has ears should listen to these words:
10 “If anyone is to go into captivity,
into captivity he will go.
If anyone is destined to be slain by the sword,
by the sword he must be slain.”
This demands patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of the saints.
11 A Beast Rises from the Earth.[c] Then I saw another beast, this one rising up out of the earth. It had two horns like those of a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon. 12 It wielded all the authority of the first beast on its behalf, and it forced the earth and all its inhabitants to worship the first beast, whose mortal wound had been healed. 13 It performed great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in the sight of all.
14 By the signs it was allowed to perform on behalf of the beast, it deceived the inhabitants of the earth, persuading them to erect an image for the beast that had been wounded by the sword and yet lived. 15 It was permitted to give life to the beast’s image so that it could even speak and cause all those to be put to death who would not worship the image of the beast.
16 It also forced all the people, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be branded on the right hand or on the forehead. 17 No one could buy or sell anything except one who has been branded with the name of the beast or with the number of its name.
18 There is wisdom here. Let anyone who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a person. The number is six hundred and sixty-six.
Footnotes
- Revelation 13:5 Forty-two months: see note on Rev 11:2-3, 11.
- Revelation 13:8 Written from the creation of the world: some place these words at the very end of the sentence (after the word “slain”). Book of life belonging to the Lamb: see note on Rev 3:5.
- Revelation 13:11 The beast comes probably from Asia, because it was the East that gave rise to so many religious currents of thought that promoted emperor worship. The time has come when pressures are brought to bear and people are seduced. This picture fits in very well with the reign of Domitian, who banished Christians from the empire for refusing to practice emperor worship, the new sign of civic submission. The majority of believers resist, despite pressures and seductions of every kind.
The number of the beast has always been a snare for those who seek, by way of abstruse calculations, to identify the Antichrist with some figure of their own time. The number probably conceals the name of some personage known to readers of that time; the letters of the Greek alphabet and those of the Hebrew alphabet also stood for numbers, as is still the case with the Roman alphabet to some extent. Using gematria, a procedure for interpreting numbers, it was certainly possible to discern in the number 666 the words “Emperor Nero” in Hebrew. If we read “616” instead of “666,” as some manuscripts do, it could be “Emperor Nero” in Greek.
Chinese Contemporary Bible Copyright © 1979, 2005, 2007, 2011 by Biblica® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.
