²³ “He gave me this explanation: ‘The fourth beast is a fourth kingdom that will appear on earth. It will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth, trampling it down and crushing it.^{(A) 24} The ten horns^(B) are ten kings who will come from this kingdom. After them another king will arise, different from the earlier ones; he will subdue three kings. ²⁵ He will speak against the Most High^(C) and oppress his holy people^(D) and try to change the set times^(E) and the laws. The holy people will be delivered into his hands for a time, times and half a time.^[a](F)

²⁶ “‘But the court will sit, and his power will be taken away and completely destroyed^(G) forever.

¹¹ It set itself up to be as great as the commander^(A) of the army of the Lord;^(B) it took away the daily sacrifice^(C) from the Lord, and his sanctuary was thrown down.^{(D) 12} Because of rebellion, the Lord’s people^[a] and the daily sacrifice were given over to it. It prospered in everything it did, and truth was thrown to the ground.^(E)

The King Who Exalts Himself

³⁶ “The king will do as he pleases. He will exalt and magnify himself^(A) above every god and will say unheard-of things^(B) against the God of gods.^(C) He will be successful until the time of wrath^(D) is completed, for what has been determined must take place.^(E)

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— ¹⁶ then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.

²¹ For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again.^(A)

³ Don’t let anyone deceive you^(A) in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion^(B) occurs and the man of lawlessness^[a] is revealed,^(C) the man doomed to destruction. ⁴ He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God^(D) or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.^(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) 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)

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.