Revelation 13
The full text of Revelation 13 in the Trinity Bible Version — clear modern English, translated from the original Greek. Free to read.
1 And the dragon stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming up out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on its horns, and on each head a blasphemous name.
2 The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like a bear's and a mouth like a lion's. The dragon gave the beast his power, his throne and great authority.
3 One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was filled with wonder and followed the beast.
4 People worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, "Who is like the beast? Who can wage war against it?"
5 The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise its authority for forty-two months.
6 It opened its mouth to blaspheme God, slandering his name and his dwelling place—that is, those who dwell in heaven.
7 It was also given power to wage war against God's holy people and to conquer them. And it was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation.
8 All the inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb's book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world.
9 Whoever has ears, let them hear:
10 "If anyone is to go into captivity,
into captivity they will go.
If anyone is to be killed with the sword,
with the sword they will be killed."
This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of God's holy people.
11 Then I saw another beast, coming up out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon.
12 It exercised all the authority of the first beast on its behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed.
13 And it performed great signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to the earth in full view of the people.
14 Because of the signs it was given power to perform on behalf of the first beast, it deceived the inhabitants of the earth. It ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived.
15 The second beast was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed.
16 It also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their forehead,
17 so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name.
18 This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. That number is 666.
Translation notes (4)
- Revelation 13:1a Some early manuscripts read 'And I stood on the shore of the sea.' However, the earliest witnesses read 'he stood' (estathe), which makes the dragon the subject of the sentence; some traditions number this line as 12:18.
- Revelation 13:8a This can also be translated as 'all whose names have not been written, from the creation of the world, in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.' The Greek phrase 'from the creation of the world' (apo kataboles kosmou) can attach either to 'slain' (meaning the Lamb was slain from creation) or to 'written' (meaning names were written from creation), as seen in the parallel at 17:8. Both readings are ancient, and the ambiguity is preserved here.
- Revelation 13:10a The opening lines of this verse (echoing Jeremiah 15:2 and 43:11) are difficult, and the manuscripts vary; the overall sense is a call to accept what comes rather than to resist by force.
- Revelation 13:18a Some manuscripts read 616. Both readings are ancient; 666 is the reading found in the great majority of witnesses, while 616 appears in some early ones (including an early papyrus). The phrase 'the number of a man' (arithmos anthropou) may also mean 'a human number'—a number that can be worked out by human reckoning, often understood through the numerical values of letters (a practice called gematria).
About this translation
The Trinity Bible Version (TBV) is a new translation of the Bible prepared by Trinity Bible AI — rendered from the original Greek and faithful to the earliest and most reliable manuscripts. Finished in 2026, it is the most modern English Bible translation you can read today, and it is available only through Trinity Bible. All 66 books, including Revelation, are free to read on this site.
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