A beast rose from the ocean. It received power and authority from the dragon. Everyone worshipped it; that is, all people whose names were not recorded in the book of life worshipped the beast for 42 months.

1I saw a beast that was coming up out of the ocean. It had ten horns and seven heads. On each of its horns there was a royal crown. On each of its heads there was a name that insulted God.

2The beast that I saw was like a leopard. But its feet were like the feet of a bear, and its mouth was like the mouth of a lion. The dragon gave the beast power. From his own throne he also gave it authority to rule people [DOU].

3One of the heads of the beast had been wounded {The Lord had wounded one of the heads of the beast}, causing the beast to almost die. But its wound was healed. As a result, nearly all the people of the earth [HYP, MTY] marveled at the beast and became his disciples.

4They worshipped the dragon, because he had given to the beast authority to rule people. They also worshipped the beast, saying, “No one is as powerful as the beast!/ [RHQ] ◄No one would dare to fight against it!/Who would dare to fight against it?►” [RHQ]

5The beast was allowed {God allowed the beast} to speak [MTY] in a boastful way and to insult God. It was also allowed {God also allowed it} to rule over people for 42 months.

6It [MTY] insulted God, insulted the place where he lives, and insulted everyone who lives with him in heaven.

7It was allowed {God allowed it} to fight against God’s people and to conquer them. It was allowed {God allowed it} to have authority to rule over every tribe, over every people-group, over speakers of every language [MTY], and over every nation.

8Most of [HYP] the people living on earth worshipped it. They were people whose names were not written in a book by the one who is like a lamb, the one who had been killed. Since the beginning of the world he wrote in it the names of the people who will have eternal life.

9Everyone who wants to understand [MTY] must listen carefully to this message from God:

10If God has determined that some people will be captured by their enemies, they will be captured. If God has determined that some people will be killed with a sword, they will be killed with a sword. So God’s people must be steadfast, and remain faithful to him.

Another beast appeared, having the same authority to rule people that the first beast had, and it caused people on earth to worship the first beast. People made an image of the first beast, and the beast had everyone killed who refused to worship the image. It caused all people to be marked with the name of the first beast. The number of the beast’s name is 666.

11I saw another beast, which was coming up from the earth. It had two small horns on its head like a sheep has. But it spoke things to deceive people, like the dragon does.

12While the first beast watched, it used all the same authority to rule people that the first beast had. It forced the people who live on the earth [MTY, DOU] to worship the first beast, that is, the one who was healed of the wound that had caused it to almost die.

13The second beast performed awesome miracles, even causing fire from the sky to fall to earth while people watched.

14He performed miracles ◄on behalf of/with the authority of► the first beast. By doing that he deceived the unbelieving people on the earth so that they believed that they should worship the first beast. But this happened only because God allowed it to happen. The second beast told the people living on earth to make an image of the first beast, the one that people had almost killed with a sword and that then came back to life again.

15The image of the first beast was allowed to breathe, in order that it might speak and in order that it might command that whoever refused to worship its image should be killed {that people should kill whoever refused to worship its image}.

16The second beast required also that the first beast’s name be marked {its agents mark the first beast’s name} on the right hand or on the forehead of everyone, those of little social importance and of great social importance, the rich and the poor, free people and slaves. Everyone!

17They did this in order that people could not buy anything or sell anything if they did not have the mark, which represents the name of the beast or the number of its name, on their foreheads.

18You must think wisely to understand the meaning of the mark. Anyone who thinks wisely should calculate from the number of the beast what the man’s name is. That number is 666.