The KJV opens the verse "I stood upon the sand of the sea" (KJV), following the Received Text’s ἐστάθην. The critical text reads ἐστάθη — "he stood" — carried by 𝔭47, Sinaiticus, Alexandrinus, and Ephraemi, and attaches the standing to the dragon; the ESV prints the clause at the end of 12:17: "And he stood on the sand of the sea" (ESV). Based on the unbroken message about the three beasts, it seems very unlikely that it is John who stands on the sea.

Compare Revelation 13:1 with Revelation 17. In chapter 17, the ten kings act together, yet remain ten distinct individuals. They are identified with the ten horns, not themselves being a beast as a whole.

In Revelation 13, however, the sea beast is presented as a single authority bearing ten crowns. This points not to ten rulers in unity, but to one ruler holding their authority.

At most, this suggests the sea beast has taken the crowns of the ten kings and now rules over the kings of the earth—including those ten—consistent with Daniel 7, where the little horn rises and subdues three. Thus, the beast possesses the combined authority of those before him.

This does not mean the ten kings cease to function; they may still operate under his authority. However, the emphasis in Revelation 13 is on a single individual exercising dominion and speaking with authority.

The critical text brackets the plural ending here — ὀνόμα[τα] — because the manuscripts divide. 𝔓115 and Codex Alexandrinus read the plural ὀνόματα, “names”; 𝔓47, Sinaiticus and Ephraemi read the singular ὄνομα, “a name.” What hangs on it is whether one name of blasphemy is written across the seven heads or a name stands on each. The plural is followed here, and the bracketed s marks that it is not settled.

Greek θρόνον, "throne"; the KJV renders it "seat".

The Greek ἔδωκεν (edōken, “gave”) indicates that the beast’s power and authority come from the dragon, but does not by itself specify whether the dragon is thereby divested of them. In context, the giving may be understood as a conferral or delegation of the dragon’s power, which the beast subsequently possesses and exercises (Rev. 13:2, 4).

He does not die; it was only deadly, but did not kill. In the ESV, "seemed to have a mortal wound".

The phrase "one of his heads" refers to the sea beast, not the dragon.

The KJV/TR adds "I saw"; the critical text reads καὶ μίαν ἐκ τῶν κεφαλῶν αὐτοῦ — "and one of his heads as slain" — carried by the seeing of 13:1-2.

The phrase "there was given unto him power to act" in this text differs from the KJV, which renders "power was given unto him to continue". The word "continue" in the KJV does not need to be understood as continuing from a prior period, because the Greek verb ποιησαι (to do, make, practice, produce, a generic term of action or performance) does not carry that meaning intrinsically. While the text does not grammatically assert an extension from an earlier point in time, neither does it contradict such a reading when considered within the broader narrative context. The verb itself simply expresses permitted activity across a defined duration; any sense of continuation from an earlier phase must come from contextual synthesis, not from this clause directly. We find possible grounds for this in Revelation 11:2. So it is not impossible to think of this as the gentile power continuing for another 42 months to complete 84 months of rule, which is 7 years and matches the prophetic 70th week in Daniel 9:24-27, found in verse 27.

The bracket [and] follows the NA28’s own [καὶ]: among the collated witnesses only Codex Alexandrinus carries the word — 𝔭47, Codex Sinaiticus, and Codex Ephraemi lack it, as do the Received Text and the Byzantine text (τεσσαράκοντα δύο); the KJV’s "forty and two" is English number idiom.

The καί before “those who tabernacle in heaven” is a Textus Receptus reading; none of the manuscripts collated for this verse carry it, and neither do the critical editions nor the Byzantine text. Without it, it is not clear whether “those who dwell in heaven” are to be identified as distinct from the tabernacle. The NASB renders this in English as "to blaspheme His name and His tabernacle, that is, those who dwell in heaven." Such an identification is doubtful, since Revelation describes the church as a lampstand, while Hebrews 9:2 places the lampstand within the tabernacle (“For there was a tabernacle prepared… in which were the lampstand…” NASB 1995), indicating distinction rather than identity. Likewise, Revelation 21:3 (“the tabernacle of God is with the men”) maintains a distinction between the dwelling and its inhabitants, not a metaphorical equivalence. So while the Greek does not carry the καί, the sense is likely the one the Textus Receptus reading makes explicit — the tabernacle and those who tabernacle as two things, not one.

The dragon makes war through the sea beast.

𝔭47, Codex Alexandrinus, and Codex Ephraemi do not contain the bracketed words in this verse; 𝔭115 and Codex Sinaiticus carry them, and the critical text prints the clause without brackets.

"any man has an ear, let him hear" this is a phrase pointed at the church as it appears primarily in chapters one through three.

After the "a time, and times, and half a time" comes to its end, the saints will no longer be worn out (Daniel 7:25). Their patience will come to completion.

Here, the "first beast" is the one "as if slain". This is a helpful identification because Revelation 11 has already introduced a beast figure who ascends out of the bottomless pit.

I do not know if the short-sword of 6:4 is meant to connect to the beast and is short-sword plague/wound in 13:14. This feels like a leap but is worth noting.

The NASB reads, “the beast who had the wound of the sword and has come to life,” which may suggest a full resurrection. However, the KJV’s rendering, “did live,” more closely reflects the ambiguity of the Greek. While the same verb (ἔζησεν, ezēsen, “he lived”) is used of both Christ (Rev 2:8) and the beast (Rev 13:14), the surrounding language distinguishes the two events. Christ is explicitly said to have “become dead” (ἐγένετο νεκρός), whereas the beast is described as having a “wound of the sword” and, notably, as “as it were slain” (ὡς ἐσφαγμένην, Rev 13:3). The phrase ὡς (“as, as if”) introduces the idea of appearance rather than confirmed reality. Thus, the text appears to present an imitation of death and life, evoking resurrection imagery without explicitly affirming that the beast truly died and rose again.

ESV "breath" not "life". In Greek πνεῦμα "spirit, wind, breath".

The bracket [that] follows the NA28’s own [ἵνα]: Codex Alexandrinus carries the word, while 𝔭115, 𝔭47, and Codex Sinaiticus lack it. The Received Text reads its ἵνα later in the clause (before ἀποκτανθῶσι), where English absorbs it into "should be killed."

Based on Revelation 14:11, "if any man receives the mark of his name," the mark is not distinct from the name. The mark is the number of the name.

The Received Text adds ἤ before "the name": "the mark, or the name of the beast" (KJV). The critical text has no ἤ there — the name of the beast stands in apposition to the mark — and "the number of his name" is joined by ἤ in both. The ἤ is not a Received-Text-only reading: 𝔭47 and Codex Sinaiticus both carry it, Sinaiticus also naming the beast at the earlier phrase; Codex Alexandrinus, Codex Ephraemi, the Byzantine text, and the critical editions lack it.

Greek for calculate is ψηφισατω: "compute, reckon, count, calculate, estimate". It might be that calculate is not a riddle per se but a mock. Many speculate about this number; this note only points out where a calculation already exists within the text itself. The one place this study can find is the 1/3 stars in 12:4; the remainder of 1/3 is 66.666%. Note also that 1/3 is a pattern that appears in many places in Revelation, especially the trumpet judgments, so this is not a one-to-one link — it is a number the book uses often. With that said, this might be telling us that the number of the beast is Satan's numbered failure for claiming all of heaven's angels and also trying to set himself up as God. Thus, the number 666 would be a mockery of him, "Your number is your failure: 66.6%. You are not a god, you are a man."

The beast’s number is 666 or 616; this study favors 666, with 𝔭47, Sinaiticus, Alexandrinus, and the Received Text. The oldest witness, 𝔭115, reads 616 (χιϛ), and Codex Ephraemi spells the number out as six hundred ten six.