The Number of the Beast (, ''Arithmon tou Thēriou'') is a concept from the Book of Revelation of the New Testament of the Christian Bible, relating to the figure of "The Beast". The number is in most manuscripts of the New Testament and in English translations of the Bible while critical editions of the Greek text (such as the Novum Testamentum Graece) also note as a variant.

Bible

666

The Number of the Beast is described in the Book of Revelation 13:17–18. In the Textus Receptus (derived from Byzantine text-type manuscripts), it is written:

¹⁷καὶ ἵνα μή τις δύνηται ἀγοράσαι ἢ πωλῆσαι εἰ μὴ ὁ ἔχων τὸ χάραγμα ἢ τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ θηρίου ἢ τὸν ἀριθμὸν τοῦ ὀνόματος αὐτοῦ ¹⁸Ὧδε ἡ σοφία ἐστίν ὁ ἔχων τὸν νοῦν ψηφισάτω τὸν ἀριθμὸν τοῦ θηρίου ἀριθμὸς γὰρ ἀνθρώπου ἐστίν καὶ ὁ ἀριθμὸς αὐτοῦ χξς

In the Novum Testamentum Graece (derived from various sources), the text reads:

¹⁷καὶ ἵνα μή τις δύνηται ἀγοράσαι ἢ πωλῆσαι εἰ μὴ ὁ ἔχων τὸ χάραγμα, τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ θηρίου ἢ τὸν ἀριθμὸν τοῦ ὀνόματος αὐτοῦ. ¹⁸ὧδε ἡ σοφία ἐστίν· ὁ ἔχων νοῦν ψηφισάτω τὸν ἀριθμὸν τοῦ θηρίου, ἀριθμὸς γὰρ ἀνθρώπου ἐστίν· καὶ ὁ ἀριθμὸς αὐτοῦ ἑξακόσιοι ἑξήκοντα ἕξ.

The number is the final 3 letters or words (transliterated: ''χξς’'' or ἑξακόσιοι ἑξήκοντα ἕξ), it is "six hundred sixty-six."

The King James Version of the Bible translates:

And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

In the Old Testament, both 1 Kings 10:14 and 2 Chronicles 9:13 state that Solomon collected "six hundred threescore and six" talents of gold each year. John's reference to "wisdom" and "understanding" might also point toward Proverbs 1 and 2, where understanding, discernment, wisdom and insight are explained and advised by King Solomon. In the Greek manuscripts, the number is rendered in Greek numerical form as χξϛʹ, or sometimes literally as , ''hexakósioi hexēkonta héx'', "six hundred and sixty-six".

There are several interpretations-translations for the meaning of the phrase ''"Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast"'' where the peculiar Greek word ψηφισάτω (''psefisato'') is used. Possible translations include not only "to count", "to reckon" but also "to vote" or "to decide".

Although Irenaeus (2nd century AD) affirmed the number to be 666 and reported several scribal errors of the number, there is still doubt by a minority of theologians about the original reading.

616

In May 2005, it was reported that scholars at Oxford University using advanced imaging techniques had been able to read previously illegible portions of a manuscript which stated 616 instead of the majority of texts which state 666. The existence of manuscripts attesting to had also been noted before this finding. Another early witness Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (C) (a palimpsest) has it written in full: , ''hexakosioi deka hex'' (lit. "six hundred and sixteen"). This, along with the translation of P¹¹⁵, has led some scholars to conclude that 616 is the original number of the beast.

The NRSV translation for includes this translation note: "Other ancient authorities read six hundred and sixteen".

Interpretations

In Greek isopsephy and Hebrew gematria, every letter has a corresponding number. Summing these numbers gives a numeric value to a word or name.

The use of isopsephy to calculate "the number of the beast" is used in many of the below interpretations.

Nero

Some scholars contend that the number 666 is a code for the Roman Emperor Nero. Charagma is well attested to have been an imperial seal of the Roman Empire used on official documents during the 1st and 2nd centuries. In the reign of Emperor Decius (249–251 AD), those who did not possess the certificate of sacrifice (libellus) to Caesar could not pursue trades, a prohibition that conceivably goes back to Nero, reminding one of Revelation 13:17.

However, others believe the Book of Revelation was written after Nero committed suicide in AD 68. The Catholic Encyclopedia has noted that Revelation was "written during the latter part of the reign of the Roman Emperor Domitian, probably in A.D. 95 or 96". Additional Protestant scholars are in agreement. Because some believe Revelation 13 speaks of a future prophetic event, "All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." (Revelation 13:8 NKJV), some have argued that the interpretation of Nero meeting the fulfillment is an impossibility if Revelation was written around 30 years ''after'' the death of Nero. However, rumors circulated that Nero had not really died and would return to power. It has also been suggested that the numerical reference to Nero was a code to imply but not directly point out emperor Domitian, whose style of rulership resembled that of Nero and who put the people of Asia (Lydia), whom the Book of Revelation was primarily addressed to at the time, under heavy taxation.

The Greek spelling, "Nerōn Kaisar", transliterates into Aramaic as "נרון קסר", ''nrwn qsr''. The Aramaic spelling is attested in a scroll from Murabba'at dated to "the second year of emperor Nero." Adding the corresponding values yields 666, as shown:

Samekh (ס) 60

Resh (ר)	|	Qoph (ק)	Nun (letter)>Nun (נ)	Vav (letter)>Vav (ו)	Resh (ר)	Nun (נ)	Sum
200	|	100	50	6	200	50	666

Papacy

Some Protestant Bible commentators and some Protestant Reformers have equated the "beast" of Revelation chapter 13 with the Papacy. To this end, the letters of a title of the Pope, ''Vicarius Filii Dei'' (Vicar of The Son of God), are summed to total 666 in Roman numerals. The earliest extant record of a Protestant writer on this subject is Andreas Helwig in 1612 in his work ''Antichristus Romanus''. The title was contained in the ''Donation of Constantine'', by which large privileges and rich possessions were conferred on the pope and the Roman Church.

The number 666 is calculated by using gematria.

I 1

V	|	C	A	R	I	V	S	F	I	L	I	I	D	E	I	TOTAL
5	|	100	0	0	1	5	0	0	1	50	1	1	500	0	1	666

Today, Seventh Day Adventists still adhere to this interpretation. In 1866, Uriah Smith was the first to propose the interpretation to the Seventh-day Adventist Church. See ''Review and Herald'' 28:196, November 20, 1866. In ''The United States in the Light of Prophecy'' he wrote :''The pope wears upon his pontifical crown in jeweled letters, this title: "''Vicarius Filii Dei''," "Viceregent of the Son of God;" the numerical value of which title is just six hundred and sixty-six The most plausible supposition we have ever seen on this point is that here we find the number in question. It is the number of the beast, the papacy; it is the number of his name, for he adopts it as his distinctive title; it is the number of a man, for he who bears it is the "man of sin."''

Prominent Adventist scholar J. N. Andrews also adopted this view. Uriah Smith maintained his interpretation in the various editions of ''Thoughts on Daniel and the Revelation'', which was influential in the church.

Various documents from the Vatican contain wording such as "''Adorandi Dei Filii Vicarius et Procurator quibus numen æternum summam Ecclesiæ sanctæ dedit''" Which as translated is "''As the Vicar and Caretaker of the worshipful Son of God, to whom the eternal divine will has given the highest rank of the Holy Church''".

Samuele Bacchiocchi, a Bible scholar, and only Adventist to be awarded a gold medal by Pope Paul VI for the distinction of ''summa cum laude'' (Latin for "with highest praise") has documented the pope using such a title.

But he also says, ... "it has been wise for our Adventist church to abandon the traditional numeric interpretation of VICARIUS FILII DEI which lacks both exegetical and historical support."

Muhammad

Some researchers have reportedly found the number of the Beast in the Greek word ''Maometis''. In ''Quia Maior'', the encyclical calling for the Fifth Crusade, Pope Innocent III identifies Muhammad with the beast of Revelation (however later popes do not). A leading exponent of the Maometis interpretation was Charles Walmesley, the Roman Catholic bishop of Rama. He observed that the name Muhammad was spelled Maometis or Moametis by Euthymius Zygabenus and the Greek historians Zonaras and Cedrenus. Other proponents include Charles Montagu, Gilbert Genebrard, Francois Feuardent, and Rene Massuet. Maometis in Greek gematria totals 666: A 1

M	|	O	M	E	T	I	S	TOTAL
40	|	70	40	5	300	10	200	666

Other suggested names

Arethas of Caesarea in his Commentary on Revelation gives seven names: Lampetis (''the lustrous one''), o Niketes (victor), Teitan, Palai baskanos (''ancient sorcerer''), Kakos Odegos (''bad guide''), Alethes Blaberos (''really harmful''), and Amnos Adikos (''unjust lamb'') each of which gives a total of 666. Most of these names are repeated by Arethas of Caesarea, who in his Commentary adds Teitan from Irenaeus and O Niketes (''the winner''). Victorinus of Pettau gives the names Teitan, Antemos (''opponent''), Diclux (''double-dealer'') and Genserikos; the last he calls Gothic. As it is plainly Genseric, the Vandal king, who captured Rome in 455 AD, the passage as whole can not go back to Victorinus, who belonged to the 3rd century. It is not, however surprising that the commentary should be brought up to date, after Genseric became notorious through the sack of Carthage or of Rome. Of the other names in Victorinus only Diclux needs mention. It is said to be the Latin counterpart of Teitan and by reckoning each letter at its value in Roman numerals, the total of 666 is again given. Beatus, a Spanish monk, gives eight names among which are Damnatus (''Damned''), Antichristus (''Antichrist''), and Acxyme (''for aichime or achine=666''). The numerical interpretation of Antichristus is based on the order of letters in the Latin alphabet, a = 1 to x = 300, but the accusative must be taken and spelled Antechristum.

Mark of the Beast

Mark of commerce

Those who hold to Futurist Christian eschatology believe that the rise of a supranational currency could be a hallmark of the End Times and that the mark of the beast will be a sign on the forehead and/or upper side of the hand.

Religious difficulties with a supranational currency currently exist (see World currency – Political difficulties). According to the Futurist view, to overcome the extant difficulties the Antichrist will use forced religious syncretism (i.e. in the name of counterterrorism and world economic stability) to enable the creation of the supranational currency. Some interpret the mark as a requirement for all commerce to mean that the mark might actually be an object with the function of a credit card (e.g. implanted RFID tags).

Other views

Seventh-day Adventists believe that the "mark of the beast" (but not the number 666) refers to a future, universal, legally enforced Sunday-worship. "Those who reject God's memorial of creatorship — the Bible Sabbath — choosing to worship and honor Sunday in the full knowledge that it is not God's appointed day of worship, will receive the 'mark of the beast. "The Sunday Sabbath is purely a child of the Papacy. It is the mark of the beast."

Some who take a preterist view of the Book of Revelation identify the Mark of the Beast with the stamped image of the emperor's head on every coin of the Roman Empire: the stamp on the hand or in the mind of all, without which no one could buy or sell. New Testament scholar Craig C. Hill says, "It is far more probable that the mark symbolizes the all-embracing economic power of Rome, whose very coinage bore the emperor's image and conveyed his claims to divinity (e.g., by including the sun's rays in the ruler's portrait). It had become increasingly difficult for Christians to function in a world in which public life, including the economic life of the trade guilds, required participation in idolatry." A similar view is offered by Craig R. Koester. "As sales were made, people used coins that bore the images of Rome's gods and emperors. Thus each transaction that used such coins was a reminder that people were advancing themselves economically by relying on political powers that did not recognize the true God."

The verse is also seen as an antithetical parallelism to the Jewish institution of ''tefillin'' – bible texts worn bound to the arm and the forehead during daily prayer. Instead of binding their allegiance to God to their arm and head, the place is instead taken with people's allegiance to The Beast.

Kabbalah

In Kabbalistic Judaism the number 666 represents the creation and perfection of the world. The world was created in 6 days, and there are 6 cardinal directions (North, South, East, West, Up, Down). 6 is also the numerical value of one of the letters of God's name.

Other interpretations

Jehovah's Witnesses believe that The Beast for which 666 stands symbolizes many unified governments, harmonizing with the symbolic depiction of past governments (denoted as "kings") in the Book of Daniel as wild beasts. The Beast is said to have "a human number" in that the governments that the beast symbolizes are all of a human origin, they aren't made up of spirit or demon entities. Furthermore, the number 666 "itself all point to one unmistakable conclusion—gross shortcoming and failure in the eyes of Jehovah," thus imperfection (7 is used by God in many ways to indicate perfection such as days in the week, hence 6 is the number of imperfection, falling short of 7).

Aleister Crowley (1875–1947) claimed that he was The Beast prophesied in the Book of Revelation and took the name "Το μεγα θηριον" (''To Mega Therion''), Greek for "The Great Beast", which adds up to 666 by isopsephy, the Greek form of gematria.

In the writings of the Bahá'í Faith, `Abdu'l-Bahá states that the numerical value given to the beast referred to the year when the Umayyad ruler Muawiyah I, who opposed the Imamate, according to the beliefs of the Shi'ites, took office as Caliph in 661 AD – see also the scholarly accepted year of birth of Jesus about 666 years before as well as the concept of Mawali who were non-Arab Muslims but not treated as other Muslims – who continued to pay the tax required of nonbelievers and were excluded from government and the military, and thus bore a social "mark".

See also

The Beast (Revelation)

Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia

Leviathan number

666 (Thelema)

External links

words that equal 666 (''novusordoseclorum'')

Notes

Category:Christian eschatology Category:Apocalypticism Category:New Testament words and phrases Category:Book of Revelation Category:Christian terms Category:Biblical phrases Category:Demons in Christianity Category:Christianity-related controversies Category:Numerology Category:Six in the Book of Revelation

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The Beast may refer to:

Fictional character

''The Beast'' is the imagined monster in William Golding's ''Lord of the Flies''

The Beast (Buffyverse), a fictional demon in the TV series ''Angel''

Beast (comics), a fictional character in the Marvel Comics universe

The main antagonist of ''Kung Fu Hustle''

The Beast character of the 1991 Disney film ''Beauty and the Beast''

An antagonistic being featured in the inFAMOUS video game series.

Film

''The Beast'' (1975 film), French/Italian drama

''La bête'' (''The Beast''), a 1975 film by Walerian Borowczyk

''The Beast'' (1988 film)

''The Beast'' (1996 film)

Music

The Beast (band), a hip hop and jazz band

''The Beast'' (Vader album), an album by Polish death metal band Vader

''The Beast'' (Angus and Julia Stone album), an EP by Angus and Julia Stone

A song by Milt Buckner

A song by the Fugees from ''The Score'' (album)

A song by the band Concrete Blonde from their 1990 album ''Bloodletting'' (album)

Religion

The Beast (Bible), often identified with Satan and the Antichrist

Television series

''The Beast'' (2001 TV series), a short-lived 2001 TV series

''The Beast'' (2009 TV series)

"The Beast" (''Neon Genesis Evangelion'' episode), an episode of the Japanese animated TV Series

People nicknamed The Beast

Brian Jensen (footballer born 1975), a Danish football player

Tendai Mtawarira, a Zimbabwean born South Africa rugby player

Júlio Baptista, a Brazilian football player

Jon Parkin, an English football player

Jerel Ifil, an English football player currently playing at Aberdeen

Aleister Crowley, an acclaimed occultist

Jimmie Foxx, a United States baseball player

Brandon Marshall, a United States American football player

Max Mirnyi, a professional tennis player from Belarus

Salvatore Riina, a Sicilian mafioso

Dan Severn, a mixed martial arts fighter

Bob Sapp, a mixed martial arts fighter

Jerome Beasley an American basketball player currently playing for Eiffeltowers

John Mugabi, Ugandan born Middleweight boxer

Luis Garavito, Colombian serial killer, nicknamed "The Beast" or "La Bestia"

Daigo Umehara, a renowned Japanese arcade fighting video game player.

Lane Elenburg, Big Brother 12 (U.S.) houseguest

Other uses

The Beast of Gévaudan, a man-eating predator

''The Beast'' (game), an alternate reality game promoting ''A.I.: Artificial Intelligence''

''The Beast'' (newspaper), a Buffalo, New York newspaper

''The Beast'' (roller coaster), a wooden roller coaster located at Kings Island near Cincinnati, Ohio

The Beast (wrestler), the stage name of Yvon Cormier, a retired Canadian professional wrestler

The Johns Hopkins Beast, a robot built in the 1960s

Milwaukee's Best, an economy beer brand by Miller Brewing Company nicknamed "The Beast"

Presidential state car (United States)

See also

Beast (disambiguation)

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