7. It was allowed to fight against God's people and defeat them. It was also given authority over the people of every tribe, nation, language, and race.
8. The beast was worshipped by everyone whose name wasn't written before the time of creation in the book of the Lamb who was killed.
9. If you have ears,then listen!
10. If you are doomedto be captured,you will be captured.If you are doomedto be killed by a sword,you will be killedby a sword.This means that God's people must learn to endure and be faithful!
11. I now saw another beast. This one came out of the ground. It had two horns like a lamb, but spoke like a dragon.
12. It worked for the beast whose fatal wound had been healed. And it used all its authority to force the earth and its people to worship that beast.
13. It performed mighty miracles, and while people watched, it even made fire come down from the sky.
14. This second beast fooled people on earth by performing miracles for the first one. Then it talked them into making an idol in the form of the beast that did not die after being wounded by a sword.
15. It was allowed to put breath into the idol, so that it could speak. Everyone who refused to worship the idol of the beast was put to death.
16. All people were forced to put a mark on their right hand or forehead. Whether they were powerful or weak, rich or poor, free people or slaves,
17. they all had to have this mark, or else they could not buy or sell anything. This mark stood for the name of the beast and for the number of its name.
18. You need wisdom to understand the number of the beast! But if you are clever enough, you can work this out. Its number is six hundred and sixty-six, and it stands for a person.