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Revelation 13:18

in Revelation 13

Here is a call for wisdom: Let the one who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and that number is 666.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

Here is wisdom. He that hath understanding, let him count the number of the beast; for it is the number of a man: and his number is Six hundred and sixty and six.

KJV

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.

This verse in Revelation 13

Commentary

16 notes on this verse

A commentator

Irenaeus

AGAINST HERESIES 5.29.2 · Written before 202.

And there is therefore in this beast, when he comes, a recapitulation made of all sorts of iniquity and of every deceit, in order that all apostate power, flowing into and being shut up in him, may be sent into the furnace of fire. Fittingly, therefore, shall his name possess the number six hundred and sixty-six, since he sums up in his own person all the commixture of wickedness which took place previous to the deluge, due to the apostasy of the angels.

This site's exposition

his number is Six hundred threescore and six

Here is wisdom invites the reader to count, and the number is given as six hundred threescore and six, called the number of a man, using gematria, the ancient practice of assigning numeric value to letters, a method attested in both Hebrew and Greek writing well beyond Scripture. The number of a man is read two ways among careful interpreters, one taking it as a specific individual whose name will sum to 666 when the time comes, the other taking six as the number of man falling short of seven, the number of completeness, tripled for emphasis, a name that only ever nearly reaches divinity and always fails. The preterist line's most common candidate is Nero Caesar, whose name in Hebrew letters sums to 666 by one common transliteration, a reading with real historical interest but held here as reception history rather than the site's own conclusion. No living person or current figure is ever named against this verse, in keeping with the book's own caution and the site's standing refusal to set dates or map modern identities onto its numbers.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers5 voices

A commentator

Hippolytus of Rome

Dubious Hippolytus Fragments · Written before 235.

proposed

Then that abominable one will send his commands throughout every government by the hand at once of demons and of visible men, who shall say, "A mighty king has arisen upon the earth; come ye all to worship him; come ye all to see the strength of his kingdom: for, behold, he will give you corn; and he will bestow upon you wine, and great riches, and lofty honours. For the whole earth and sea obeys his command. Come ye all to him." And by reason of the scarcity of food, all will go to him and worship him; and he will put his mark on their right hand and on their forehead, that no one may put the sign of the honourable cross upon his forehead with his right hand; but his hand is bound. And from that time he shall not have power to seal any one of his members, but he shall be attached to the deceiver, and shall serve him; and in him there is no repentance. But such an one is lost at once to God and to men, and the deceiver will give them scanty food by reason of his abominable seal. And his seal upon the forehead and upon the right hand is the number, "Six hundred threescore and six." And I have an opinion as to this number, though I do not know the matter for certain; for many names have been found in this number when it is expressed in writing. Still we say that perhaps the scription of this same seal will give us the word I deny. For even in recent days, by means of his ministers-that is to say, the idolaters-that bitter adversary took up the word deny, when the lawless pressed upon the witnesses of Christ, with the adjuration, "Deny thy God, the crucified One." Of such kind, in the time of that hater of all good, will be the seal, the tenor of which will be this: I deny the Maker of heaven and earth, I deny the baptism, I deny my (former) service, and attach myself to thee, and I believe in thee. […]
"His number is the name of a man, and his number is Six hundred threescore and six." As they have it reckoned from the Greek characters, they thus find it among many to be teitan, for teitanhas this number, which the Gentiles call Sol and Phoebus; and it is reckoned in Greek thus: t three hundred, e five, i ten, t three hundred, a one, n fifty,-which taken together become six hundred and sixty-six. For as far as belongs to the Greek letters, they fill up this number and name; which name if you wish to turn into Latin, it is understood by the antiphrase Diclux, which letters are reckoned in this manner: since D figures five hundred, I one, C a hundred, L fifty, V five, X ten,-which by the reckoning up of the letters makes similarly six hundred and sixty-six, that is, what in Greek gives teitan, to wit, what in Latin is called Diclux; by which name, expressed by anti-phrases, we understand Antichrist, who, although he be cut off from the supernal light, and deprived thereof, yet transforms himself into an angel of light, daring to call himself light. Moreover, we find in a certain Greek codex antemoj, which letters being reckoned up, you will find to give the number as above: a one, n fifty, t three hundred, e five, m forty, o seventy, j two hundred,-which together makes six hundred and sixty-six, according to the Greeks. Moreover, there is another name in Gothic of him, which will be evident of itself, that is, genshrikoj, which in the same way you will reckon in Greek letters: g three, e five, n fifty, j two hundred, h eight, r a hundred, i ten, k twenty, o seventy, j also two hundred, which, as has been said above, make six hundred and sixty-six.

A commentator

Irenaeus

Against Heresies (Book V, Chapter 30) · Written before 202.

proposed

Such, then, being the state of the case, and this number being found in all the most approved and ancient copies [of the Apocalypse], and those men who saw John face to face bearing their testimony [to it]; while reason also leads us to conclude that the number of the name of the beast, [if reckoned] according to the Greek mode of calculation by the [value of] the letters contained in it, will amount to six hundred and sixty and six; that is, the number of tens shall be equal to that of the hundreds, and the number of hundreds equal to that of the units (for that number which [expresses] the digit six being adhered to throughout, indicates the recapitulations of that apostasy, taken in its full extent, which occurred at the beginning, during the intermediate periods, and which shall take place at the end) — I do not know how it is that some have erred following the ordinary mode of speech, and have vitiated the middle number in the name, deducting the amount of fifty from it, so that instead of six decads they will have it that there is but one. [I am inclined to think that this occurred through the fault of the copyists, as is wont to happen, since numbers also are expressed by letters; so that the Greek letter which expresses the number sixty was easily expanded into the letter Iota of the Greeks.] Others then received this reading without examination; some in their simplicity, and upon their own responsibility, making use of this number expressing one decad; while some, in their inexperience, have ventured to seek out a name which should contain the erroneous and spurious number. Now, as regards those who have done this in simplicity, and without evil intent, we are at liberty to assume that pardon will be granted them by God. […]

A commentator

Oecumenius

Commentary on Revelation · Written before 550.

proposed

Here it says is wisdom: let him calculate the number of the beast and through the calculation let him find it. For I will not say, it says, a foreign and unusual calculation, nor one named with concealment and doubling, but a calculation well-worn and …

A commentator

Primasius of Hadrumetum

COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 13:18 · Written before 560.

proposed

This calls for wisdom. Whoever has understanding, let him reckon the number of the beast, for the number of the beast, it says, is that of a man. Let us reckon the number that is to be received, so that in the number we might …
9 more voices on this verse

The Medieval Church3 voices

A commentator

Bede

Commentary on Revelation · Written before 735.

proposed

Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding, etc. This number is said to be found among the Greeks in the name Titan, that is, giant, as follows: Τ equals 300, Ε equals 5, Ι equals 10, Τ equals 300, Α equals 1, Ν equals …

A commentator

Andreas of Caesarea

COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 13:18 · Written before 614.

proposed

For the sober-minded, time and experience will reveal the actual significance of the number and the truth of whatever has been written about it. For, were it necessary, as some of the teachers say, that such a name be clearly known, the seer would have …

A commentator

Bonaventure

Collationes de Septem Donis, Collation 8 · Written in the 13th century.

proposed

Three errors are to be guarded against in the sciences, which destroy sacred Scripture and the Christian faith and all wisdom: one against the cause of being, another against the reason of understanding, and the third against the order of living. These errors are signified …

The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)

Let him that hath understanding - Which is a gift of God, subservient to that wisdom. Count the number of the wild beast - Surely none can be blamed for attempting to obey this command. For it is the number of a man - A number of such years as are common among men.

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)

proposed

And as many as will not worship - When it is required of them; as it will be of all that buy or sell. Shall be killed - By this the Pope manifests that he is antichrist, directly contrary to Christ. It is Christ who shed his own blood; it is antichrist who sheds the blood of others.
Here is wisdom,....

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

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 this verse we have the very name of the beast given under the symbol of the number 666. Before the invention of figures by the Arabs, in the tenth century, letters of the alphabet were used for numbers.
Here is wisdom - That is, in what is stated respecting the name and the number of the name of the beast. The idea is, either that there would be need of special sagacity in determining what the “number” of the “beast” or of his “name” was, or that special “wisdom” was shown by the fact that the number could be thus expressed. The language used in the verse would lead the reader to suppose that the attempt to make out the “number” was not absolutely hopeless, but that the number was so far enigmatical as to require much skill in determining its meaning. It may also be implied that, for some reason, there was true “wisdom” in designating the name by this number, either because a more direct and explicit statement might expose him who made it to persecution, and it showed practical wisdom thus to guard against this danger; or because there was “wisdom” or skill shown in the fact that a number could be found which would thus correspond with the name. On either of these suppositions, special wisdom would be required in deciphering its meaning. Let him that hath understanding - Implying: (a) That it was practicable to “count the number of the name”; and, (b) That it would require uncommon skill to do it. It could not be successfully attempted by all; but still there were those who might do it. This is such language as would be used respecting some difficult matter, but where there was hope that, by diligent application of the mind, and by the exercise of a sound understanding, there would be a prospect of success. Count the number of the beast - In Rev 13:16 it is “the number of his name.” The word rendered here “count” - ψηφισάτω psēphisatō - means, properly, to count or reckon with pebbles, or counters; then to reckon, to estimate. The word here means “compute”; that is, ascertain the exact import of the number, so as to identify the beast. […]

Modern Voices1 voice

A commentator

GK Chesterton

Alarms and Discursions, Five Hundred and Fifty-five (1910) (1910)

proposed

The politician for whom the voter had voted got in by five hundred and fifty-five votes. The voter read this next morning at breakfast, being in a more cheery and expansive mood, and found something very fascinating not merely in the fact of the majority, …

The words behind it

23 Greek words

Every Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Revelation 1:3

    Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear and obey what is written in it, because the time is near.

    it leads to

    • Luke 11:28

      But He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”

    • Revelation 22:10

      Then he told me, “Do not seal up the words of prophecy in this book, because the time is near.

    • Romans 13:11

      And do this, understanding the occasion. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.

    • 1 Peter 4:7

      The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear-minded and sober, so that you can pray.

    • Proverbs 8:34

      Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my doors, waiting at the posts of my doorway.

  • Through

    Daniel 12:10

    Many will be purified, made spotless, and refined, but the wicked will continue to act wickedly. None of the wicked will understand, but the wise will understand.

    it leads to

    • Hosea 14:9

      Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; whoever is discerning, let him know them. For the ways of the LORD are right, and the righteous walk in them but the rebellious stumble in…

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Revelation 22:11

      Let the unrighteous continue to be unrighteous, and the vile continue to be vile; let the righteous continue to practice righteousness, and the holy continue to be holy.”

  • Through

    Revelation 15:2

    And I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire, beside which stood those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name. They were holding harps…

    it leads to

    • Revelation 4:6

      And before the throne was something like a sea of glass, as clear as crystal. In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, covered with eyes in front and back.

Where this verse is studied

What the record shows

4 entries
The beast and the eighth kingcontested

The Nero reading of 666 and the eighth-king riddle — "the beast that was, and is not, and is to come… an eighth" (Revelation 17:11) — point at the same figure by way of the first-century expectation that Nero would return. The redivivus legend is well attested; the linkage between the two passages is interpretive.

The case against it

The Nero redivivus expectation is well attested in the first century, but the linkage between Revelation 13:18 and the eighth-king riddle of 17:11 is interpretive rather than stated by the text, and the identification of the eighth king is disputed across the commentary tradition (Aune, Revelation 17-22, WBC 52C, 1998, surveys the range). Present as a coherent reading within the Nero frame, explicitly dependent on that frame - if the Nero identification of 666 is set aside, this reading goes with it.

The whole register →

666 and 616 — the invited calculationcontested

666 = Nero Caesar: the Greek Neron Kaisar written in Hebrew consonants (nrwn qsr); the 616 variant, known to Irenaeus and attested in P115, answers to the Latin spelling (nrw qsr). One solution explains both readings, and it is the majority academic view. This is authorial, invited gematria — the text itself says "let him that hath understanding count the number" — and it stands here as the contrast that lets a reader feel how different the contested letter-sequence claims are.

The case against it

Majority, honestly, and not unanimous. Some interpreters - especially futurist evangelicals - object that the Hebrew spelling נרון קסר is slightly irregular and that "the lock turns for many keys" (Peter J. Goeman, "Does 666 Refer to Nero in Revelation 13:18?", 2021, is the strongest evangelical dissent). The wider caution belongs beside it: the number-to-modern-name method has "identified" dozens of Antichrists across the centuries - the papacy, Luther, Napoleon, Kaiser Wilhelm, Hitler, Kissinger, Reagan, Gorbachev - and a method that fits forty different answers is the problem, not the evidence. What makes this entry Tier A is narrower and firmer than any identification: Revelation 13:18 is the one place the text itself invites the calculation, and the 616 manuscript variant (P115, Oxyrhynchus; known to Irenaeus, Against Heresies 5.30.1, c. AD 180) is a fact of the manuscript record whatever one concludes from it.

The whole register →

666 = Nero Caesar, and the 616 variantcontested

666 = Nero Caesar: the Greek Neron Kaisar transliterated into Hebrew consonants, nrwn qsr (50+200+6+50+100+60+200) = 666. The well-attested 616 variant (P115, Oxyrhynchus, 3rd c.; known to Irenaeus, Against Heresies 5.30.1, c. AD 180) answers to the Latin spelling nrw qsr = 616, and one solution explains both readings. This is the majority critical view (Fritzsche, Benary, Hitzig and Reuss in the 1830s, through Bauckham to Aune) — majority, honestly, and not unanimous.

The case against it

Majority, and honestly not unanimous. The strongest evangelical dissent is Peter J. Goeman, "Does 666 Refer to Nero in Revelation 13:18?" (2021): the Hebrew spelling נרון קסר is slightly irregular, and with enough freedom in transliteration "the lock turns for many keys." The corrective the site attaches everywhere: the number-to-name method has produced dozens of Antichrist identifications across the centuries, so a successful fit is weak evidence on its own. What carries this entry is narrower - the 616 variant is a fact of the manuscript record (P115, Oxyrhynchus; known to Irenaeus, Against Heresies 5.30.1, c. AD 180), and one solution accounting for both readings is a genuine explanatory achievement rather than a lucky fit.

The whole register →

The parade of 666 identificationscontested

The "number to modern name = 666" method has identified dozens of Antichrists across the centuries: Vicarius Filii Dei (the papacy), Luther, Napoleon, Kaiser Wilhelm, Hitler, Kissinger, Reagan, Gorbachev, and more. A method that fits forty different answers is the problem, not the evidence. It is the counter-example that separates historical gematria — what ancient readers did with numbers already in the text — from modern numerology, where a number is turned into new revelation.

The case against it

This row IS a critique - the inoculating counter-example the registry keeps on file. Its own caution is that it must not be used to dismiss the Tier-A historical entries by association: that a method has been abused for centuries does not show that Revelation 13:18, which explicitly invites calculation, is being abused when it is calculated. The line the parade actually draws is between historical gematria (what ancient readers did with numbers already in the text) and modern numerology (number to new revelation or prediction). Encyclopaedia Judaica, "Gematria"; standard Revelation commentaries surveying the identification history

The whole register →

About Revelation

The Transfiguration, Gustave Doré. Public domain.
The Transfiguration, Gustave Doré. Public domain.
This page draws on 15 works. Open the list of works

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Andreas of Caesarea, COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 13:18; Bede, Commentary on Revelation; Bonaventure, Collationes de Septem Donis, Collation 8; GK Chesterton, Alarms and Discursions, Five Hundred and Fifty-five (1910); Hippolytus of Rome, Dubious Hippolytus Fragments; Irenaeus, AGAINST HERESIES 5.29.2; Irenaeus, Against Heresies (Book V, Chapter 30); John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament; Oecumenius, Commentary on Revelation; Primasius of Hadrumetum, COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 13:18 and Victorinus of Pettau, Commentary on the Apocalypse of the Blessed John.