Rev 13 | ESV | STEP | And I saw a beast rising out of the sea , with ten horns and seven heads , with ten diadems on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads .

‏ Revelation of John 13

The First Beast

1 And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, ^awith ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems on its horns and ^bblasphemous names on its heads. 2 And the beast that I saw was ^clike a leopard; its feet were like ^da bear’s, and its mouth was like ^ea lion’s mouth. And to it ^fthe dragon gave his power and ^ghis throne and great authority. 3 One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed, and ^hthe whole earth marveled as they followed the beast. 4 And they worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, ⁱ“Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?”

5 And the beast was given ^ja mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for ^kforty-two months. 6 It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling, ^{▼▼Or tabernacle} that is, those who dwell in heaven. 7 Also it was allowed ^mto make war on the saints and to conquer them. ^{▼▼Some manuscripts omit this sentence} And authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation, 8 and all ^owho dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in ^pthe book of life of ^qthe Lamb ^rwho was slain. 9 ^sIf anyone has an ear, let him hear:

10 ^tIf anyone is to be taken captive,
to captivity he goes;
^uif anyone is to be slain with the sword,
with the sword must he be slain.

^vHere is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.

The Second Beast

11 Then ^wI saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon. 12 It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence, ^{▼▼Or on its behalf} and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, ^ywhose mortal wound was healed. 13 ^zIt performs great signs, even ^aamaking fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people, 14 and by the signs that it is allowed to work in the presence of ^{▼▼Or on behalf of} the beast ^acit deceives those who dwell on earth, telling them to make an image for the beast ^adthat was wounded by the sword and yet lived. 15 And it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast might even speak and might cause those who would not ^aeworship the image of the beast ^afto be slain. 16 Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, ^{▼▼Greek bondservant} ^ahto be marked on the right hand or the forehead, 17 so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, ^aithe name of the beast or ^ajthe number of its name. 18 ^akThis calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number ^alof a man, and his number is 666. ^{▼▼Some manuscripts 616}