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.

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]

⁷ “Why are you so amazed?” the angel asked. “I will tell you the mystery of this woman and of the beast with seven heads and ten horns on which she sits.

¹⁸ And this woman you saw in your vision represents the great city that rules over the kings of the world.”

³ So the angel took me in the Spirit^[a] into the wilderness. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that had seven heads and ten horns, and blasphemies against God were written all over it.

The Beast out of the Sea

13 Then I saw a beast rising up out of the sea. It had seven heads and ten horns, with ten crowns on its horns. And written on each head were names that blasphemed God.

¹⁵ “The day is coming when you will see what Daniel the prophet spoke about—the sacrilegious object that causes desecration^[a] standing in the Holy Place.” (Reader, pay attention!)

¹¹ He replied, “You are permitted to understand the secrets^[a] of the Kingdom of Heaven, but others are not.

⁸ I heard what he said, but I did not understand what he meant. So I asked, “How will all this finally end, my lord?”

⁹ But he said, “Go now, Daniel, for what I have said is kept secret and sealed until the time of the end. 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.