And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven
heads, with ten diadems on its horns and blasphemous names on its
heads. And the beast that I saw was like a leopard; its feet were
like a bear's, and its mouth was like a lion's mouth. And to it the
dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority. One of
its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was
healed, and the whole earth marveled as they followed the beast.
And they worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to
the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the
beast, and who can fight against it?”
And the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous
words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two
months. It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God,
blaspheming his name and his dwelling, that is, those who dwell in
heaven. Also it was allowed to make war on the saints and to
conquer them. And authority was given it over every tribe and
people and language and nation, and all who dwell on earth will
worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the
foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was
slain. If anyone has an ear, let him hear:
If anyone is to be taken captive,
to captivity he goes;
if anyone is to be slain with the sword,
with the sword must he be slain.
Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.
Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two
horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon. It exercises all the
authority of the first beast in its presence, and makes the earth
and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose mortal wound was
healed. It performs great signs, even making fire come down from
heaven to earth in front of people, and by the signs that it is
allowed to work in the presence of the beast it deceives those who
dwell on earth, telling them to make an image for the beast that
was wounded by the sword and yet lived. 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 worship the
image of the beast to be slain. Also it causes all, both small and
great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the
right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless
he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of
its name. This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding
calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man,
and his number is 666.
