RevelationChapter 13

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¹Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads. There were ten royal crowns on its horns. On its heads were names that insulted God. ²The beast I saw looked like a leopard. It had feet like a bear's and a mouth like a lion's. The dragon gave the beast his power, his throne, and great authority. ³One of the beast's heads seemed to have a deadly wound. But the deadly wound was healed. The whole world was amazed and followed the beast. ⁴People worshiped the dragon, because he had given authority to the beast. They also worshiped the beast. They said, "Who is like the beast? Who can fight against it?" ⁵The beast was given a mouth to say proud words that insulted God. It was allowed to use its authority for 42 months. ⁶The beast opened its mouth to insult God. It spoke evil against God's name and his tabernacle. That means those who live in heaven. ⁷The beast was allowed to make war against God's people and to beat them. It was given authority over every tribe, people, language, and nation. ⁸Everyone who lives on the earth will worship the beast. These are all the people whose names have not been written in the Book of Life. That book belongs to the Lamb who was killed. Their names were not written there from the creation of the world. ⁹Whoever has ears should listen: ¹⁰"If anyone is meant to be taken captive,
he will be taken captive.
If anyone is to be killed with the sword,
he will be killed with the sword."
This calls for God's people to be patient and faithful. ¹¹Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb. But it spoke like a dragon. ¹²This beast used all the authority of the first beast. It made the earth and the people who live on it worship the first beast. That was the beast whose deadly wound had been healed. ¹³The second beast did great signs. It even made fire come down from heaven to earth while people watched. ¹⁴It was allowed to do signs for the first beast. Because of these signs, it fooled the people who live on the earth. It told them to make an image of the first beast. That beast had been wounded by the sword, but it had lived. ¹⁵The second beast was allowed to give breath to the image of the first beast. Then the image could speak. It could have everyone killed who would not worship it. ¹⁶The second beast made everyone get a mark on their right hand or on their forehead. This was for all people, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave. ¹⁷No one could buy or sell without the mark. The mark was the name of the beast or the number of its name. ¹⁸This calls for wisdom. Let the one who has understanding figure out the number of the beast. It is the number of a man. That number is 666.a