Revelation 13

¹ Then I saw a beast emerge from the sea: it had seven heads and ten horns, with a coronet on each ofits ten horns, and its heads were marked with blasphemous titles.

² I saw that the beast was like a leopard, with paws like a bear and a mouth like a lion; the dragon hadhanded over to it his own power and his throne and his immense authority.

³ I saw that one of its heads seemed to have had a fatal wound but that this deadly injury had healedand the whole world had marvel ed and fol owed the beast.

⁴ They prostrated themselves in front of the dragon because he had given the beast his authority; andthey prostrated themselves in front of the beast, saying, 'Who can compare with the beast? Who can fightagainst it?'

⁵ The beast was allowed to mouth its boasts and blasphemies and to be active for forty-two months;

⁶ and it mouthed its blasphemies against God, against his name, his heavenly Tent and al those whoare sheltered there.

⁷ It was allowed to make war against the saints and conquer them, and given power over every race,people, language and nation;

⁸ and al people of the world wil worship it, that is, everybody whose name has not been written downsince the foundation of the world in the sacrificial Lamb's book of life.

⁹ Let anyone who can hear, listen:

¹⁰ Those for captivity to captivity; those for death by the sword to death by the sword. This is why thesaints must have perseverance and faith.

¹¹ Then I saw a second beast, emerging from the ground; it had two horns like a lamb, but made anoise like a dragon.

¹² This second beast exercised al the power of the first beast, on its behalf making the world and al itspeople worship the first beast, whose deadly injury had healed.

¹³ And it worked great miracles, even to calling down fire from heaven onto the earth while peoplewatched.

¹⁴ Through the miracles which it was al owed to do on behalf of the first beast, it was able to lead astraythe people of the world and persuade them to put up a statue in honour of the beast that had been wounded bythe sword and stil lived.

¹⁵ It was al owed to breathe life into this statue, so that the statue of the beast was able to speak, and tohave anyone who refused to worship the statue of the beast put to death.

¹⁶ It compel ed everyone -- smal and great alike, rich and poor, slave and citizen -- to be branded onthe right hand or on the forehead,

¹⁷ and made it il egal for anyone to buy or sell anything unless he had been branded with the name ofthe beast or with the number of its name.

¹⁸ There is need for shrewdness here: anyone clever may interpret the number of the beast: it is thenumber of a human being, the number 666.