13. This second beast performed great miracles; it made fire come down out of heaven to earth in the sight of everyone.
14. And it deceived all the people living on earth by means of the miracles which it was allowed to perform in the presence of the first beast. The beast told them to build an image in honour of the beast that had been wounded by the sword and yet lived.
15. The second beast was allowed to breathe life into the image of the first beast, so that the image could talk and put to death all those who would not worship it.
16. The beast forced all the people, small and great, rich and poor, slave and free, to have a mark placed on their right-hands or on their foreheads.
17. No one could buy or sell without having this mark, that is, the beast's name or the number that stands for the name.
18. This calls for wisdom. Whoever is intelligent can work out the meaning of the number of the beast, because the number stands for a human name. Its number is 666.