1 And I saw a beast rise out of the sea, hauing seuen heads, and ten hornes, and vpon his hornes were ten crownes, and vpon his heads the name of blasphemie. 2 And the beast which I sawe, was like a Leopard, and his feete like a beares, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gaue him his power and his throne, and great authoritie. 3 And I sawe one of his heads as it were wounded to death, but his deadly wound was healed, and all the world wondred and folowed the beast. 4 And they worshipped the dragon which gaue power vnto the beast, and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like vnto the beast! who is able to warre with him! 5 And there was giuen vnto him a mouth, that spake great things and blasphemies, and power was giuen vnto him, to doe two and fourtie moneths. 6 And he opened his mouth vnto blasphemie against God, to blaspheme his Name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heauen. 7 And it was giuen vnto him to make warre with the Saints, and to ouercome them, and power was giuen him ouer euery kinred, and tongue, and nation. 8 Therefore all that dwell vpon the earth, shall worship him, whose names are not written in the booke of life of that Lambe, which was slaine from the beginning of the world. 9 If any man haue an eare, let him heare. 10 If any leade into captiuitie, hee shall go into captiuitie: if any kill 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 comming vp out of the earth, which had two hornes like the Lambe, but he spake like the dragon. 12 And he did all that the first beast could doe before him, and he caused the earth, and them which dwell therein, to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. 13 And he did great wonders, so that hee made fire to come downe from heauen on the earth, in the sight of men, 14 And deceiued them that dwell on the earth by the signes, which were permitted to him to doe in the sight of the beast, saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make the image of the beast, which had the wound of a sword, and did liue. 15 And it was permitted to him to giue a spirit vnto the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast should speake, and should cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast, should be killed. 16 And he made all, both small and great, rich and poore, free and bond, to receiue a marke in their right hand or in their foreheads, 17 And that no man might buy or sell, saue hee that had the marke, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. 18 Here is wisdome. Let him that hath wit, count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man, and his number is sixe hundreth threescore and sixe.
The Two Beasts
1 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 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 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 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 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 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.