⁹ “This calls for a mind with wisdom.^(A) The seven heads^(B) are seven hills on which the woman sits.

¹⁸ This calls for wisdom.^(A) Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man.^[a](B) That number is 666.

⁷ Then the angel said to me: “Why are you astonished? I will explain to you the mystery^(A) of the woman and of the beast she rides, which has the seven heads and ten horns.^(B)

¹⁸ The woman you saw is the great city^(A) that rules over the kings of the earth.”

³ Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit^(A) into a wilderness.^(B) There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet^(C) beast that was covered with blasphemous names^(D) and had seven heads and ten horns.^(E)

The Beast out of the Sea

13 The dragon^[a] stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea.^(A) It had ten horns and seven heads,^(B) with ten crowns on its horns, and on each head a blasphemous name.^(C)

¹⁵ “So when you see standing in the holy place^(A) ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’^[a](B) spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand—

¹¹ He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven^(A) has been given to you,^(B) but not to them.