¹⁸ Wisdom is needed here. Let the one with understanding solve the meaning of the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man.^[a] His number is 666.^[b]

² I saw before me what seemed to be a glass sea mixed with fire. And on it stood all the people who had been victorious over the beast and his statue and the number representing his name. They were all holding harps that God had given them.

⁹ “This calls for a mind with understanding: The seven heads of the beast represent the seven hills where the woman rules. They also represent seven kings.

¹⁷ Then he measured the walls and found them to be 216 feet thick^[a] (according to the human standard used by the angel).

³ God blesses the one who reads the words of this prophecy to the church, and he blesses all who listen to its message and obey what it says, for the time is near.

¹⁴ “The day is coming when you will see the sacrilegious object that causes desecration^[a] standing where he^[b] should not be.” (Reader, pay attention!) “Then those in Judea must flee to the hills.

¹⁰ Many will be purified, cleansed, and refined by these trials. But the wicked will continue in their wickedness, and none of them will understand. Only those who are wise will know what it means.

¹¹ (King Og of Bashan was the last survivor of the giant Rephaites. His bed was made of iron and was more than thirteen feet long and six feet wide.^[a] It can still be seen in the Ammonite city of Rabbah.)