Revelation 13

1I stood watching on the sandy seashore. A terrifying beast rose up out of the sea! It had ten horns and seven heads. Ten royal crowns sat upon its horns. Blasphemous names insulting God were carved on each head!

2The monster resembled a spotted leopard. It had massive paws like a bear and a mouth like a roaring lion. The dragon gave this beast his power, throne, and vast authority!

3One of its heads suffered a fatal death wound. Yet the deadly wound healed completely! The whole world was stunned and followed the beast in awe.

4People worshiped the dragon because he had given his authority to the beast. They also worshiped the beast and said: Who is like the beast? Who can fight against it?

5The beast opened its mouth to utter arrogant boasts and blasphemies! God permitted it to exert authority for forty-two months.

6It spewed vicious insults against God and His holy name! It insulted His heavenly sanctuary and all who dwell in heaven.

7God allowed the beast to wage war against His holy people. The beast conquered them and ruled over every nation, tribe, and tongue!

8All who live on the earth will worship the beast. Their names have not been written in the Lamb's book of life since the creation of the world. The Lamb is the one who was killed.

9Anyone who has ears should listen.

10Whoever is destined for prison will go into prison! Whoever is destined to die by the sword will be killed. This demands patient endurance and unwavering faith from God's holy people!

11Then I saw a second beast rising up out of the earth! It had two horns like a gentle lamb, but it spoke like a dragon.

12It wielded all the authority of the first beast on its behalf. It forced the whole earth to worship the first healed beast.

13This second beast performed astonishing supernatural miracles! It even called blazing fire down from heaven before crowds of people.

14It deceived earth's inhabitants through these supernatural signs. It ordered people to build a giant statue honoring the beast!

15The false prophet received power to breathe life into the statue! The statue began to speak with a booming voice. It commanded the execution of anyone refusing to worship it!

16The beast forced every single person to take a mark. It stamped the small, great, rich, poor, free, and slave! They had to receive this brand on their right hand or forehead.

17No one could buy groceries or sell goods without that official mark! The mark is the name of the beast or its code number.

18This requires sharp spiritual wisdom! Let anyone with understanding calculate the beast's number. It is the number of a human being. His number is 666!