13
The First Beast
1 Then I stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast coming up out of the sea that had ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems on his horns and blasphemous names on his heads.
2 The beast I saw was like a leopard; his feet were like those of a bear, and his mouth was like the mouth of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power, his throne, and great authority.
3 One of the beast's heads appeared to be mortally wounded. But its mortal wound had been healed, and the whole world was amazed and followed the beast.
4 They worshiped the dragon that had given his authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who can wage war against him?”
5 The beast was given a mouth to utter great boasts and blasphemy, and he was given authority to wage war for forty-two months.
6 And he opened his mouth to utter blasphemy against God and to slander his name and his tabernacle, that is, those who dwell in heaven.
7 He was permitted to wage war against the saints and conquer them, and he was given authority over every tribe, people, tongue, and nation.
8 All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.
9 If anyone has an ear, let him hear:
10 “If anyone has captivity as his lot,
away he goes;
if anyone kills with the sword,
with the sword he must be killed.”
This calls for the endurance and the faith of the saints.
The Second Beast
11 Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth. He had two horns like a lamb, but he spoke like a dragon.
12 He exercised all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and made the earth and those who dwell in it worship the first beast, whose mortal wound had been healed.
13 He performed great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in the presence of the people.
14 By the signs he was permitted to do in the presence of the first beast, he deceived my own people who dwell on the earth, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image of the first beast, who had the wound from the sword but still lived.
15 The second beast was permitted to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak and cause whoever refused to worship the image to be killed.
16 The second beast required everyone, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their forehead,
17 so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of his name.
18 This calls for wisdom: Let anyone who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man; his number is six hundred sixty-six.