Revelation 13

1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and I saw out of the sea a beast coming up, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon its horns ten diadems, and upon its heads a name of evil speaking,

Then the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore. Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads. On its horns were ten crowns, and on each of its heads was a blasphemous name.

2 and the beast that I saw was like to a leopard, and its feet as of a bear, and its mouth as the mouth of a lion, and the dragon did give to it his power, and his throne, and great authority.

This beast I saw was like a leopard. Its feet were like a bear's feet, and its mouth was like a lion's mouth. The dragon gave his power to it, and his throne, and his great authority to rule.

3 And I saw one of its heads as slain to death, and its deadly stroke was healed, and all the earth did wonder after the beast,

One of the beast's heads appeared to have been killed, but its fatal wound was healed. The whole earth marveled as they followed the beast.

4 and they did bow before the dragon who did give authority to the beast, and they did bow before the beast, saying, 'Who [is] like to the beast? who is able to war with it?'

They also worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast. They worshiped the beast, too, and kept saying, “Who is like the beast?” and “Who can fight against it?”

5 And there was given to it a mouth speaking great things, and evil-speakings, and there was given to it authority to make war forty-two months,

The beast was given a mouth that could speak proud words and blasphemies. It was permitted to exercise authority for forty-two months.

6 and it did open its mouth for evil-speaking toward God, to speak evil of His name, and of His tabernacle, and of those who in the heaven tabernacle,

So the beast opened its mouth to speak blasphemies against God—blaspheming his name, the place where he lives, and those who live in heaven.

7 and there was given to it to make war with the saints, and to overcome them, and there was given to it authority over every tribe, and tongue, and nation.

The beast was permitted to wage war with the saints and to conquer them. Also, authority was given to it over every tribe, people, language, and nation.

8 And bow before it shall all who are dwelling upon the land, whose names have not been written in the scroll of the life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world;

All who live on the earth will worship it, everyone whose name was not written, since the creation of the world, in the Book of Life, which belongs to the Lamb, who had been slaughtered.

9 if any one hath an ear — let him hear:

If anyone has an ear, let him listen.

10 if any one a captivity doth gather, into captivity he doth go away; if any one by sword doth kill, it behoveth him by sword to be killed; here is the endurance and the faith of the saints.

If anyone is to be taken into captivity, into captivity he will go. If anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword he will be killed. Here is a call for the patient endurance and faith of the saints.

11 And I saw another beast coming up out of the land, and it had two horns, like a lamb, and it was speaking as a dragon,

Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb, and it spoke like a dragon.

12 and all the authority of the first beast doth it do before it, and it maketh the land and those dwelling in it that they shall bow before the first beast, whose deadly stroke was healed,

It exercised all the authority of the first beast in its presence, and it made the earth and those who live on it worship the first beast—the one whose lethal wound had been healed.

13 and it doth great signs, that fire also it may make to come down from the heaven to the earth before men,

It performed mighty miracles. It even made fire come down on the earth from heaven in front of people.

14 and it leadeth astray those dwelling on the land, because of the signs that were given it to do before the beast, saying to those dwelling upon the land to make an image to the beast that hath the stroke of the sword and did live,

By the signs it was permitted to do, it deceived those who lived on the earth. It told them to make an image in honor of the beast that had the sword wound but lived.

15 and there was given to it to give a spirit to the image of the beast, that also the image of the beast may speak, and [that] it may cause as many as shall not bow before the image of the beast, that they may be killed.

It was permitted to give breath to the beast's image so that the image would even speak and cause all who refused to worship the beast to be killed.

16 And it maketh all, the small, and the great, and the rich, and the poor, and the freemen, and the servants, that it may give to them a mark upon their right hand or upon their foreheads,

It also forced everyone, unimportant and mighty, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on the right hand or on the forehead.

17 and that no one may be able to buy, or to sell, except he who is having the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

It was impossible for anyone to buy or sell unless he had the mark of the beast, that is, the number representing its name.

18 Here is the wisdom! He who is having the understanding, let him count the number of the beast, for the number of a man it is, and its number [is] six hundred and sixty six.

This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast. For it is the number of a human being. Its number is 666.