Revelation 13: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

John sees a beast come up out of the sea with seven heads and ten horns, and the dragon gives it his power, his throne, and great authority. The beast is allowed to speak against God and to make war on God's people for forty-two months, and everyone whose name is not written in the Lamb's book of life worships it. Then a second beast comes up out of the earth, does great signs, and makes people set up an image of the first beast and take its mark in order to buy or sell. The chapter closes by naming the beast's number as 666, the number of a man.

Claim by Claim

1. 13:1
   • The speaker stood upon the sand of the sea.
   • The speaker saw a beast coming up out of the sea.
   • The beast had ten horns.
   • The beast had seven heads.
   • There were ten royal crowns on the beast's horns.
   • There was a blasphemous name on the beast's heads.
2. 13:2
   • The beast the speaker saw was like a leopard.
   • The beast's feet were like a bear's feet.
   • The beast's mouth was like a lion's mouth.
   • The dragon gave the beast his power.
   • The dragon gave the beast his throne.
   • The dragon gave the beast great authority.
3. 13:3
   • One of the beast's heads appeared to have been slaughtered to death.
   • The death-wound of that head was healed.
   • The whole earth marveled and followed after the beast.
4. 13:4
   • They worshipped the dragon.
   • The dragon had given his authority to the beast.
   • They worshipped the beast.
   • They said no one is like the beast.
   • They said no one is able to make war with the beast.
5. 13:5
   • The beast was given a mouth speaking great things.
   • The beast was given a mouth speaking blasphemies.
   • The beast was given authority to act for forty-two months.
6. 13:6
   • The beast opened its mouth in blasphemies against God.
   • The beast blasphemed God's name.
   • The beast blasphemed God's tabernacle.
   • The beast blasphemed those who dwell in heaven.
7. 13:7
   • The beast was given permission to make war with the saints.
   • The beast was given permission to conquer the saints.
   • The beast was given authority over every tribe.
   • The beast was given authority over every tongue.
   • The beast was given authority over every nation.
8. 13:8
   • All who dwell on the earth will worship the beast.
   • Those who will worship the beast are the ones whose names are not written in the book of life.
   • The book of life belongs to the Lamb that was slain.
   • The phrase 'from the foundation of the world' may attach either to the Lamb being slain or to the names being written.
9. 13:9
   • Anyone who has an ear should hear.
10. 13:10
    • Whoever leads others into captivity will himself go into captivity.
    • Whoever kills with the sword must himself be killed with the sword.
    • This is where the endurance of the saints lies.
    • This is where the faith of the saints lies.
11. 13:11
    • The speaker saw another beast coming up out of the earth.
    • The second beast had two horns like a lamb's.
    • The second beast spoke like a dragon.
12. 13:12
    • The second beast exercises all the authority of the first beast in the first beast's presence.
    • The second beast makes the earth and those who dwell in it worship the first beast.
    • The first beast's death-wound had been healed.
13. 13:13
    • The second beast performs great signs.
    • The second beast makes fire come down from heaven to the earth in the sight of people.
14. 13:14
    • The second beast deceives those who dwell on the earth.
    • It deceives them by means of the signs it was given power to perform in the presence of the first beast.
    • The second beast tells those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the first beast.
    • The first beast had the wound of a sword.
    • The first beast lived.
15. 13:15
    • The second beast was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast.
    • The purpose was that the image of the beast should speak.
    • The purpose was that the image should cause everyone who would not worship it to be killed.
16. 13:16
    • The second beast makes all people receive a mark.
    • This applies to both small and great.
    • This applies to both rich and poor.
    • This applies to both free and slave.
    • The mark is placed on the right hand or on the forehead.
17. 13:17
    • No one is able to buy or sell unless he has the mark.
    • The mark is the name of the beast or the number of its name.
18. 13:18
    • Here is wisdom.
    • The one who has understanding should calculate the number of the beast.
    • The number is a man's number.
    • The beast's number is six hundred sixty-six.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

13:1

The seven heads, ten horns and beast rising from the sea draw on Daniel 7, where four beasts come up out of the sea and the fourth has ten horns. In this imagery the sea is the place of chaos and hostile power, and a horn is a standard figure for a king or a kingdom. The "crowns" here translate a Greek word meaning a royal headband worn by a monarch, not the wreath given to a winning athlete. "Blasphemy" in Greek means insulting or slanderous speech, and it was used especially of claiming honors that belong to God; the names on the heads are titles of that kind.

13:2

"Seat" in 1611 English means a throne, the seat of office, not a chair. The leopard, bear and lion are the first three beasts of Daniel 7, so this single beast combines all of them.

13:3

"Wondered after" combines two ideas that have since separated: "wonder" here means to be astonished, not to be curious, and "after" carries the sense of following along behind. The whole world both marveled at the beast and went after it.

13:4

"Who is like unto the beast?" copies the shape of a question used in the Hebrew scriptures as praise of God, as in "Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods?" (Exodus 15:11). The form of the acclamation is the point.

13:5

Forty-two months is three and a half years. The same span appears in this book as 1,260 days and as "a time, and times, and half a time," and it comes from Daniel, where it marks a fixed and limited period of persecution. "Great things" here means boastful things, not good ones.

13:6

A "tabernacle" is a tent, specifically the portable sanctuary Israel carried in the wilderness; the word came to stand for the place where God dwells. The Greek allows the last phrase to be read two ways: as slandering God's dwelling and, separately, those who live in heaven, or as identifying the dwelling with those who live in heaven. Both readings are live, and translations divide.

13:7

"Saints" translates a word meaning holy ones, that is, people set apart as God's own. It is a term for the whole body of believers, not for a special class of exceptionally good individuals. "Kindreds" means tribes, and "tongues" means languages.

13:8

The "book of life" borrows the image of a city register listing its citizens; to be written in it is to be enrolled among the living. The Greek word order in this verse is genuinely ambiguous: "from the foundation of the world" can attach either to the writing of the names, as most modern translations take it, or to the Lamb being slain, as the King James takes it. The chapter offers no way to settle it.

13:9

A fixed formula in this book, repeated at the end of each of the seven letters in chapters 2 and 3. It marks what precedes or follows as something demanding close attention.

13:10

This verse echoes Jeremiah 15:2, where captivity and the sword are listed as fates already assigned. The Greek manuscripts differ here, and the first line can be read two ways: as a statement about the destined, "if anyone is for captivity, to captivity he goes," or as a reversal aimed at the persecutor, "he that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity," which is the reading the King James follows. "Patience" in 1611 English means steadfast endurance under pressure, not calm waiting.

13:11

Horns stand for power, so two horns is a modest showing next to the first beast's ten. The contrast being drawn is between how this beast looks, like a lamb, and how it sounds, like the dragon.

13:12

"Before him" renders a Greek phrase that means both "in his presence" and "acting on his authority," the way a deputy acts in the name of the ruler he stands in front of.

13:13

"Wonders" translates the word usually rendered "signs," meaning displays meant to prove a claim rather than curiosities. Calling fire down from heaven is what Elijah did on Mount Carmel in 1 Kings 18, which is the act being imitated here.

13:14

An "image" here is a cult statue, an object set up to be honored rather than a picture. In the Roman provinces of the first century, statues of the emperor stood in temples and public places, and offering incense before one was a recognized test of loyalty.

13:15

The Greek word behind "life" is the ordinary word for breath or spirit; the statue is given breath so that it can speak. Ancient writers describe temple statues made to appear to move or speak by hidden mechanisms, and the language here would have called such things to mind.

13:16

"Bond" is the old term for enslaved, the opposite of free; the pairs in this verse are a way of saying everyone without exception. The "mark" translates a word used for an official stamp on a document or coin, and also for a brand burned into the skin of a slave or a soldier. The right hand and the forehead are the two places where Israelites were told to bind the words of the law (Deuteronomy 6:8), so the mark is a deliberate counterpart.

13:17

Buying and selling cover the whole of ordinary economic life, including markets attached to temples and trade guilds with their own patron gods. The point is exclusion from the means of living, not a single transaction.

13:18

"Threescore" means sixty, so the number is six hundred sixty-six. Both Greek and Hebrew used their letters as numerals, so every name carried a numeric value, and working out the total of a name was a known practice with a name of its own, gematria. "Count the number" invites exactly that calculation. Ancient graffiti show the game being played casually, as in "I love her whose number is 545." Some early manuscripts read 616 rather than 666.