Revelation 13
Living Bible
13 And now, in my vision, I saw a strange Creature rising up out of the sea. It had seven heads and ten horns, and ten crowns upon its horns. And written on each head were blasphemous names, each one defying and insulting God. 2 This Creature looked like a leopard but had bear’s feet and a lion’s mouth! And the Dragon gave him his own power and throne and great authority.
3 I saw that one of his heads seemed wounded beyond recovery—but the fatal wound was healed! All the world marveled at this miracle and followed the Creature in awe. 4 They worshiped the Dragon for giving him such power, and they worshiped the strange Creature. “Where is there anyone as great as he?” they exclaimed. “Who is able to fight against him?”
5 Then the Dragon encouraged the Creature to speak great blasphemies against the Lord; and gave him authority to control the earth for forty-two months. 6 All that time he blasphemed God’s Name and his temple and all those living in heaven. 7 The Dragon gave him power to fight against God’s people[a] and to overcome them, and to rule over all nations and language groups throughout the world. 8 And all mankind—whose names were not written down before the founding of the world in the slain Lamb’s Book of Life[b]—worshiped the evil Creature.
9 Anyone who can hear, listen carefully: 10 The people of God who are destined for prison will be arrested and taken away; those destined for death will be killed.[c] But do not be dismayed, for here is your opportunity for endurance and confidence.
11 Then I saw another strange animal, this one coming up out of the earth, with two little horns like those of a lamb but a fearsome voice like the Dragon’s. 12 He exercised all the authority of the Creature whose death-wound had been healed, whom he required all the world to worship. 13 He did unbelievable miracles such as making fire flame down to earth from the skies while everyone was watching. 14 By doing these miracles, he was deceiving people everywhere. He could do these marvelous things whenever the first Creature was there to watch him. And he ordered the people of the world to make a great statue of the first Creature, who was fatally wounded and then came back to life. 15 He was permitted to give breath to this statue and even make it speak! Then the statue ordered that anyone refusing to worship it must die!
16 He required everyone—great and small, rich and poor, slave and free—to be tattooed with a certain mark on the right hand or on the forehead. 17 And no one could get a job or even buy in any store without the permit of that mark, which was either the name of the Creature or the code number of his name. 18 Here is a puzzle that calls for careful thought to solve it. Let those who are able, interpret this code: the numerical values of the letters in his name add to 666![d]
Footnotes
- Revelation 13:7 The Dragon gave him power to fight against God’s people, literally, “It was permitted to fight against God’s people.”
- Revelation 13:8 whose names were not written . . . in the slain Lamb’s Book of Life, or “those whose names were not written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain before the founding of the world.” That is, regarded as slain in the eternal plan and knowledge of God.
- Revelation 13:10 The people of God . . . will be killed, or “If anyone imprisons you, he will be imprisoned! If anyone kills you, he will be killed.”
- Revelation 13:18 666, some manuscripts read “616.”
Revelation 13
New King James Version
The Beast from the Sea
13 Then [a]I stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw (A)a beast rising up out of the sea, (B)having [b]seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a (C)blasphemous name. 2 Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. The (D)dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority. 3 And I saw one of his heads (E)as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed. And (F)all the world marveled and followed the beast. 4 So they worshiped the dragon who gave authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, (G)“Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?”
5 And he was given (H)a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to [c]continue for (I)forty-two months. 6 Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, (J)His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven. 7 It was granted to him (K)to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And (L)authority was given him over every [d]tribe, tongue, and nation. 8 All who dwell on the earth will worship him, (M)whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain (N)from the foundation of the world.
9 (O)If anyone has an ear, let him hear. 10 (P)He who leads into captivity shall go into captivity; (Q)he who kills with the sword must be killed with the sword. (R)Here is the [e]patience and the faith of the saints.
The Beast from the Earth
11 Then I saw another beast (S)coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon. 12 And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, (T)whose deadly wound was healed. 13 (U)He performs great signs, (V)so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. 14 (W)And he deceives [f]those who dwell on the earth (X)by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword (Y)and lived. 15 He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak (Z)and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. 16 He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, (AA)to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, 17 and that no one may buy or sell except one who has [g]the mark or (AB)the name of the beast, (AC)or the number of his name.
18 (AD)Here is wisdom. Let him who has (AE)understanding calculate (AF)the number of the beast, (AG)for it is the number of a man: His number is 666.
Footnotes
- Revelation 13:1 NU he
- Revelation 13:1 NU, M ten horns and seven heads
- Revelation 13:5 M make war
- Revelation 13:7 NU, M add and people
- Revelation 13:10 perseverance
- Revelation 13:14 M my own people
- Revelation 13:17 NU, M the mark, the name
Revelation 13
English Standard Version
The First Beast
13 And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, (A)with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems on its horns and (B)blasphemous names on its heads. 2 And the beast that I saw was (C)like a leopard; its feet were like (D)a bear's, and its mouth was like (E)a lion's mouth. And to it (F)the dragon gave his power and (G)his throne and great authority. 3 One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed, and (H)the whole earth marveled as they followed the beast. 4 And they worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, (I)“Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?”
5 And the beast was given (J)a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for (K)forty-two months. 6 It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling,[a] that is, those who dwell in heaven. 7 Also it was allowed (L)to make war on the saints and to conquer them.[b] And authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation, 8 and all (M)who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in (N)the book of life of (O)the Lamb (P)who was slain. 9 (Q)If anyone has an ear, let him hear:
10 (R)If anyone is to be taken captive,
to captivity he goes;
(S)if anyone is to be slain with the sword,
with the sword must he be slain.
(T)Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.
The Second Beast
11 Then (U)I saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon. 12 It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence,[c] and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, (V)whose mortal wound was healed. 13 (W)It performs great signs, even (X)making fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people, 14 and by the signs that it is allowed to work in the presence of[d] the beast (Y)it deceives those who dwell on earth, telling them to make an image for the beast (Z)that was wounded by the sword and yet lived. 15 And it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast might even speak and might cause those who would not (AA)worship the image of the beast (AB)to be slain. 16 Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave,[e] (AC)to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, 17 so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, (AD)the name of the beast or (AE)the number of its name. 18 (AF)This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number (AG)of a man, and his number is 666.[f]
Footnotes
- Revelation 13:6 Or tabernacle
- Revelation 13:7 Some manuscripts omit this sentence
- Revelation 13:12 Or on its behalf
- Revelation 13:14 Or on behalf of
- Revelation 13:16 For the contextual rendering of the Greek word doulos, see Preface
- Revelation 13:18 Some manuscripts 616
Revelation 13
Revised Geneva Translation
13 And I saw a beast rise out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns. And upon his horns were ten crowns. And upon his head, the name of Blasphemy.
2 And the beast which I saw was like a leopard; and his feet like a bear; and his mouth as the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him his power and his throne, and great authority.
3 And I saw one of his heads (as it were) mortally wounded. But his deadly wound was healed. And all the world wondered and followed the beast.
4 And they worshipped the dragon, who gave power to the beast. And they worshipped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast!? Who is able to make war with him!?”
5 And there was given to him a mouth that spoke great things and blasphemies. And power was given to him lasting 42 months.
6 And he opened his mouth to blaspheme God; to blaspheme His Name and His Tabernacle and those who dwell in Heaven.
7 And it was given to him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them. And power was given to him over every tribe and tongue and nation.
8 Therefore, all who dwell upon the Earth whose names are not written in the Book of Life by the Lamb, Who was slain from the beginning of the world, shall worship him.
9 If anyone has an ear, let him hear.
10 “If anyone is led into captivity, he shall go into captivity. If anyone kills with a sword, he must be killed by a sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.”
11 And I beheld another beast coming out of the Earth which had two horns like the Lamb, but spoke like the dragon.
12 And he did all that the first beast could do before him. And he caused the Earth and those who dwell therein to worship the first beast (whose mortal wound was healed).
13 And he did great wonders; so that he made fire come down from Heaven on the Earth, in the sight of man.
14 And he deceived those who dwell on the Earth by the signs which were permitted to him to do in the sight of the beast; saying to those who dwell on the Earth that they should make the image of the beast, which had the wound of a sword and had lived.
15 And it was permitted to him to give a spirit to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast should speak and should cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed.
16 And he made all - both small and great, rich and poor, free and enslaved - receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads;
17 so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark or the name of the beast or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom: Let him who has understanding count the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. And his number is 666.
Revelation 13
The Message
The Beast from the Sea
13 1-2 And the Dragon stood on the shore of the sea. I saw a Beast rising from the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads—on each horn a crown, and each head inscribed with a blasphemous name. The Beast I saw looked like a leopard with bear paws and a lion’s mouth. The Dragon turned over its power to it, its throne and great authority.
3-4 One of the Beast’s heads looked as if it had been struck a deathblow, and then healed. The whole earth was agog, gaping at the Beast. They worshiped the Dragon who gave the Beast authority, and they worshiped the Beast, exclaiming, “There’s never been anything like the Beast! No one would dare go to war with the Beast!”
5-8 The Beast had a loud mouth, boastful and blasphemous. It could do anything it wanted for forty-two months. It yelled blasphemies against God, blasphemed his Name, blasphemed his Church, especially those already dwelling with God in Heaven. It was permitted to make war on God’s holy people and conquer them. It held absolute sway over all tribes and peoples, tongues and races. Everyone on earth whose name was not written from the world’s foundation in the slaughtered Lamb’s Book of Life will worship the Beast.
9-10 Are you listening to this? They’ve made their bed; now they must lie in it. Anyone marked for prison goes straight to prison; anyone pulling a sword goes down by the sword. Meanwhile, God’s holy people passionately and faithfully stand their ground.
The Beast from Under the Ground
11-12 I saw another Beast rising out of the ground. It had two horns like a lamb but sounded like a dragon when it spoke. It was a puppet of the first Beast, made earth and everyone in it worship the first Beast, which had been healed of its deathblow.
13-17 This second Beast worked magical signs, dazzling people by making fire come down from Heaven. It used the magic it got from the Beast to dupe earth dwellers, getting them to make an image of the Beast that received the deathblow and lived. It was able to animate the image of the Beast so that it talked, and then arrange that anyone not worshiping the Beast would be killed. It forced all people, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to have a mark on the right hand or forehead. Without the mark of the name of the Beast or the number of its name, it was impossible to buy or sell anything.
18 Solve a riddle: Put your heads together and figure out the meaning of the number of the Beast. It’s a human number: 666.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025.
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Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson