Revelation 13
GOD’S WORD Translation
The Beast from the Sea
13 I saw a beast coming out of the sea. It had ten horns, seven heads, and ten crowns on its horns. There were insulting names on its heads. 2 The beast that I saw was like a leopard. Its feet were like bear’s feet. Its mouth was like a lion’s mouth. The serpent gave its power, kingdom, and far-reaching authority to the beast. 3 One of the beast’s heads looked like it had a fatal wound, but its fatal wound was healed.
All the people of the world were amazed and followed the beast. 4 They worshiped the serpent because it had given authority to the beast. They also worshiped the beast and said, “Who is like the beast? Who can fight a war with it?” 5 The beast was allowed to speak arrogant and insulting things. It was given authority to act for 42 months. 6 It opened its mouth to insult God, to insult his name and his tent—those who are living in heaven. 7 It was allowed to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. It was also given authority over every tribe, people, language, and nation. 8 Everyone living on earth will worship it, everyone whose name is not written in the Book of Life. That book belongs to the lamb who was slaughtered before the creation of the world.
9 If anyone has ears, let him listen:
10 If anyone is taken prisoner, he must go to prison.
If anyone is killed with a sword, with a sword he must be killed.
In this situation God’s holy people need endurance and confidence.
The Beast from the Earth
11 I saw another beast come from the earth, and it had two horns like a lamb. It talked like a serpent. 12 The second beast uses all the authority of the first beast in its presence. The second beast makes the earth and those living on it worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed. 13 The second beast performs spectacular signs. It even makes fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people. 14 It deceives those living on earth with the signs that it is allowed to do in front of the ⌞first⌟ beast. It tells those living on earth to make a statue for the beast who was wounded by a sword and yet lived.
15 The second beast was allowed to put breath into the statue of the ⌞first⌟ beast. Then the statue of the ⌞first⌟ beast could talk and put to death whoever would not worship it. 16 The second beast forces all people—important and unimportant people, rich and poor people, free people and slaves—to be branded on their right hands or on their foreheads. 17 It does this so that no one may buy or sell unless he has the brand, which is the beast’s name or the number of its name.
18 In this situation wisdom is needed. Let the person who has insight figure out the number of the beast, because it is a human number.[a] The beast’s number is 666.
Footnotes
- 13:18 Or “it is the number of a human.”
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
Good News Translation
The Two Beasts
13 (A)Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads; on each of its horns there was a crown, and on each of its heads there was a name that was insulting to God. 2 (B)The beast looked like a leopard, with feet like a bear's feet and a mouth like a lion's mouth. The dragon gave the beast his own power, his throne, and his vast authority. 3 One of the heads of the beast seemed to have been fatally wounded, but the wound had healed. The whole earth was amazed and followed the beast. 4 Everyone worshiped the dragon because he had given his authority to the beast. They worshiped the beast also, saying, “Who is like the beast? Who can fight against it?”
5 (C)The beast was allowed to make proud claims which were insulting to God, and it was permitted to have authority for forty-two months. 6 It began to curse God, his name, the place where he lives, and all those who live in heaven. 7 (D)It was allowed to fight against God's people and to defeat them, and it was given authority over every tribe, nation, language, and race. 8 (E)All people living on earth will worship it, except those whose names were written before the creation of the world in the book of the living which belongs to the Lamb that was killed.
9 “Listen, then, if you have ears! 10 (F)Whoever is meant to be captured will surely be captured; whoever is meant to be killed by the sword will surely be killed by the sword. This calls for endurance and faith on the part of God's people.”
11 Then I saw another beast, which came up out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb's horns, and it spoke like a dragon. 12 It used the vast authority of the first beast in its presence. It forced the earth and all who live on it to worship the first beast, whose wound had healed. 13 This second beast performed great miracles; it made fire come down out of heaven to earth in the sight of everyone. 14 And it deceived all the people living on earth by means of the miracles which it was allowed to perform in the presence of the first beast. The beast told them to build an image in honor of the beast that had been wounded by the sword and yet lived. 15 The second beast was allowed to breathe life into the image of the first beast, so that the image could talk and put to death all those who would not worship it. 16 The beast forced all the people, small and great, rich and poor, slave and free, to have a mark placed on their right hands or on their foreheads. 17 No one could buy or sell without this mark, that is, the beast's name or the number that stands for the name.
18 This calls for wisdom. Whoever is intelligent can figure out the meaning of the number of the beast, because the number stands for the name of someone. Its number is 666.
Revelation 13
New International Version
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) 2 The beast I saw resembled a leopard,(D) but had feet like those of a bear(E) and a mouth like that of a lion.(F) The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority.(G) 3 One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed.(H) The whole world was filled with wonder(I) and followed the beast. 4 People worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, “Who is like(J) the beast? Who can wage war against it?”
5 The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies(K) and to exercise its authority for forty-two months.(L) 6 It opened its mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven.(M) 7 It was given power to wage war(N) against God’s holy people and to conquer them. And it was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation.(O) 8 All inhabitants of the earth(P) will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life,(Q) the Lamb(R) who was slain from the creation of the world.[b](S)
9 Whoever has ears, let them hear.(T)
10 “If anyone is to go into captivity,
into captivity they will go.
If anyone is to be killed[c] with the sword,
with the sword they will be killed.”[d](U)
This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness(V) on the part of God’s people.(W)
The Beast out of the Earth
11 Then I saw a second beast, coming out of the earth.(X) It had two horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon.(Y) 12 It exercised all the authority(Z) of the first beast on its behalf,(AA) and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast,(AB) whose fatal wound had been healed.(AC) 13 And it performed great signs,(AD) even causing fire to come down from heaven(AE) to the earth in full view of the people. 14 Because of the signs(AF) it was given power to perform on behalf of the first beast, it deceived(AG) the inhabitants of the earth.(AH) It ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived.(AI) 15 The second beast was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship(AJ) the image to be killed.(AK) 16 It also forced all people, great and small,(AL) rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads,(AM) 17 so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark,(AN) which is the name of the beast or the number of its name.(AO)
18 This calls for wisdom.(AP) Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man.[e](AQ) That number is 666.
Footnotes
- Revelation 13:1 Some manuscripts And I
- Revelation 13:8 Or written from the creation of the world in the book of life belonging to the Lamb who was slain
- Revelation 13:10 Some manuscripts anyone kills
- Revelation 13:10 Jer. 15:2
- Revelation 13:18 Or is humanity’s number
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