Bible Strands
Revelation 13:1
Then I saw a beast with ten horns and seven heads rising out of the sea. There were ten royal crowns on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — John, in a vision, sees the beast rising out of the sea. This follows the dragon's appearance in Revelation 12 and immediately precedes the beast's leopard-bear-lion description in 13:2.
The words — θηρίον (thērion) is the diminutive of θηρίον (thēr), "wild animal," literally "a beastling." The diminutive form is the standard term John uses for this creature throughout Revelation.
The thread — The seven heads and ten horns mirror the fourth beast of Daniel 7 (Dan 7:23), whose ten horns the interpreter identifies as ten kings. Revelation 12:3 gives the dragon the same seven-heads, ten-horns configuration, binding the beast to the dragon.
Why it lands — The creature is a composite drawn from multiple empires (leopard, bear, lion per 13:2) and is empowered by the dragon, presenting a pattern of concentrated, blasphemous authority. It asks the reader to recognize that such configurations recur and to name them.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
Cross-references
- Revelation 12:3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: a huge red dragon with seven heads, ten horns, and seven royal crowns on his heads.
- Revelation 17:3 And the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, where I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns.
- Daniel 7:23 This is what he said: ‘The fourth beast is a fourth kingdom that will appear on the earth, different from all the other kingdoms, and it will devour the whole earth, trample it down, and crush it.
- Revelation 11:7 When the two witnesses have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will wage war with them, and will overpower and kill them.
- Daniel 7:2 Daniel declared: “In my vision in the night I looked, and suddenly the four winds of heaven were churning up the great sea.
- Daniel 7:7 After this, as I watched in my vision in the night, suddenly a fourth beast appeared, and it was terrifying—dreadful and extremely strong—with large iron teeth. It devoured and crushed; then it trampled underfoot whatever was left. It was different from all the beasts before it, and it had ten horns.
- Daniel 11:36 Then the king will do as he pleases and will exalt and magnify himself above every god, and he will speak monstrous things against the God of gods. He will be successful until the time of wrath is completed, for what has been decreed must be accomplished.
- Revelation 17:16 And the ten horns and the beast that you saw will hate the prostitute. They will leave her desolate and naked, and they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire.
- Daniel 7:19 Then I wanted to know the true meaning of the fourth beast, which was different from all the others—extremely terrifying—devouring and crushing with iron teeth and bronze claws, then trampling underfoot whatever was left.
- 2 Thessalonians 2:3 Let no one deceive you in any way, for it will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness—the son of destruction—is revealed.