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1 The dragon on the sea-shore stood.
The Beast out of the Sea:
Out of the sea, there came a beast,
With seven heads and with ten horns,
With crowns ten, upon his horns ten,
A blasphemous name, on each head.
The beast I saw was leopard-like,
But feet bear-like; mouth lion-like.
The dragon gave the beast his pow’r,
His throne and great authority.
3 The beast’s one head had wound quite deep;
The fatal wound had healed well.
Astonished, whole world followed beast.
4 The dragon was worshiped by men
Because he gave authority
To beast, who they also worshiped,
And asked, 'Who is like the beast at all?
Who can make war against the beast? '
5 Beast said proud words and blasphemies
And had pow’r for months forty-two.
6 He used his mouth to blaspheme God,
To slander His name and Abode,
And those who all in heaven live.
7 The beast had pow’r to war against
The saints and even conquer them.
And authority was given,
Ov’r tribes, peoples, languages, nations.
8 Earth’s inhabitants worshiped beast—
Whose names were not written in Book
Of Life, belonging to the Lamb
That slain was, from world’s creation.
9 He who has ears, let him then hear.
10 If one ought to become captive,
Into captivity, he’ll go.
If one must be killed by the sword,
By sword he will be surely killed.
This calls for patient endurance
And faithfulness on part of saints.
The Beast out of the Earth:
11 I saw another beast come out
Of the earth, two-horned, like a lamb,
But he spoke much like a dragon.
12He exercised the first beast’s pow’r,
On his behalf, and made the earth’s
Inhabitants worship the first,
Whose fatal wound had been quite healed.
13 He performed miraculous signs,
And caused fire to come down from heav’n
To earth in full view of all men.
14Because of signs he did by pow’r
On behalf of the first beast, he
Deceived the earth’s inhabitants.
He ordered an image be made
In honor of the first beast who
Though wounded by the sword, yet lived.
15He had the pow’r to give the breath
To image of the first beast made,
So that it spoke and caused all who
Refused to worship it be killed.
16He also forced both great and small,
All rich and poor, both free and slave,
To get a mark on his right hand
Or receive it on his forehead,
17 So that, no one could buy or sell
Unless he had the above mark,
Which is the name of the first beast
Or else the number of his name.
18 This calls for wisdom and insight;
To calculate the beast’s number,
Which is man's number - 666.
Copyright by Dr John Celes 7-21-2007
Dr John Celes
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