Number of the beast

{{Short description|Number associated with the Beast of Revelation}}

File:The number of the beast is 666 Philadelphia, Rosenbach Museum and Library.jpg]]

The number of the beast ({{langx|grc-x-koine|Ἀριθμὸς τοῦ θηρίου}}, {{transliteration|grc|Arithmós toû thēríou}}) is associated with the Beast of Revelation in chapter 13, verse 18 of the Book of Revelation. In most manuscripts of the New Testament and in English translations of the Bible, the number of the beast is six hundred sixty-six or {{overline|χξϛ}} (in Greek numerals, {{overline|χ}} represents 600, {{overline|ξ}} represents 60 and {{overline|ϛ}} represents 6).Revelation 13:18 Papyrus 115 (which is the oldest preserved manuscript of the Revelation {{as of|2017|lc=on}}), as well as other ancient sources like Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus, give the number of the beast as χιϛ or χιϲ, transliterable in Arabic numerals as 616 ({{lang|grc|{{overline|χιϛ}}}}), not 666; critical editions of the Greek text, such as the Novum Testamentum Graece, note χιϛ/616 as a variant.Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle and Aland, 1991, footnote to verse 13:18 of Revelation, page 659: "{{lang|grc|-σιοι δέκα ἕξ}}" as found in C [C=Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus]; for English see Metzger's Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, note on verse 13:18 of Revelation, page 750: "the numeral 616 was also read ..." There is a broad consensus in contemporary scholarship that the number of the beast refers to the Roman Emperor Nero.”Nero as the Antichrist.” Encyclopaedia Romana. University of Chicago. https://penelope.uchicago.edu/encyclopaedia_romana/gladiators/nero.html. “666 (or rather DCLXVI) signifies the Antichrist because that number signifies Nero.”Ehrman, Bart (2016). ‘666, The Number of the Beast.’ Bart Ehrman Blog. https://ehrmanblog.org/666-the-number-of-the-beast/..”Martin, Dale B. (2012). New Testament History and Literature. The Open Yale Courses Series, Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-18085-5. “Modern scholars, though, think the most compelling theory identifies the number with Nero. The letters of the alphabet functioned also as numerals. If one adds up the letters of the name Neron Caesar (spelled in Hebrew, which used the “n” for the ending of the name), the sum is 666. This also makes sense of a textual variant here found in certain ancient manuscripts. Some scribes, thinking of the name as it would appear in Greek rather than Hebrew (and thus without that one “n”), changed the number to 616, which would be the correct addition of the letters of the name spelled in Greek. Thus we know that at least those ancient scribes also took the number to be a reference to Nero.”

In the Bible

=χξϛ=

The number of the beast is described in Revelation 13:15–18. Several translations have been interpreted for the meaning of the phrase "Here is Wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast..." where the peculiar Greek word {{lang|grc|ψηφισάτω}} (psephisato) is used. Possible translations include "to count", "to reckon" and also "to vote" or "to decide".[https://archive.org/stream/revelationofstjo00full#page/226/mode/2up Samuel Fuller, The Revelation of St. John the Divine self-interpreted, page 226]

In the Textus Receptus, derived from Byzantine text-type manuscripts, the number six hundred sixty-six is represented by the Greek numerals {{overline|χξϛ}},{{cite book |last1=Aland |first1=Kurt |title=The Greek New Testament |date=1983 |publisher=United Bible Societies |location=Stuttgart |isbn=3-438-05111-7 |page=892 |edition=Third}}{{cite web |title=Revelation 13:18 |url=http://biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2013:18;&version=69; |publisher=Bible Gateway |website=Stephanus New Testament |access-date=22 June 2006 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070301102558/http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2013:18;&version=69; |archive-date=1 March 2007}} with the Greek ligature stigma ({{overline|ϛ}}) representing the number 6:

¹⁷{{lang|grc|καὶ ἵνα μή τις δύνηται ἀγοράσαι ἢ πωλῆσαι εἰ μὴ ὁ ἔχων τὸ χάραγμα, τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ θηρίου ἢ τὸν ἀριθμὸν τοῦ ὀνόματος αὐτοῦ.}} ¹⁸{{lang|grc|Ὧδε ἡ σοφία ἐστίν· ὁ ἔχων τὸν νοῦν ψηφισάτω τὸν ἀριθμὸν τοῦ θηρίου· ἀριθμὸς γὰρ ἀνθρώπου ἐστί· καὶ ὁ ἀριθμὸς αὐτοῦ χξϛʹ.}}Textus Receptus Greek NT (edition Stephanus, 1550): Revelation 13:[http://biblos.com/revelation/13-17.htm 17] {{webarchive|url=http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/20110915062455/http://biblos.com/revelation/13-17.htm |date=15 September 2011 }} and [http://biblos.com/revelation/13-18.htm 18] {{webarchive|url=http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/20110915062456/http://biblos.com/revelation/13-18.htm |date=15 September 2011 }}

{{small|{{sc|English}}}}
"¹⁷And 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. ¹⁸Here 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 666."

In several editions of the Greek Bible, the number is represented by the final three words, {{lang|grc|ἑξακόσιοι ἑξήκοντα ἕξ}}, hexakósioi hexēkonta héx, meaning "six hundred [and] sixty-six":{{cite web |title=Revelation 13:18 |publisher=Bible Gateway |website=Westcott-Hort New Testament |url=http://biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2013:18;&version=68; |access-date=22 June 2006 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071203184504/http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2013:18;&version=68; |archive-date=3 December 2007}}{{cite web |title=Revelation 13:18 |website=Codex Alexandrinus |publisher=Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts |format=JPEG |url=http://csntm.org/Manuscripts/GA%2002/GA02_132b.jpg |access-date=22 June 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060323002944/http://www.csntm.org/Manuscripts/GA%2002/GA02_132b.jpg |archive-date=23 March 2006}}

¹⁷{{lang|grc|καὶ ἵνα μή τις δύνηται ἀγοράσαι ἢ πωλῆσαι εἰ μὴ ὁ ἔχων τὸ χάραγμα, τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ θηρίου ἢ τὸν ἀριθμὸν τοῦ ὀνόματος αὐτοῦ.}} ¹⁸{{lang|grc|Ὧδε ἡ σοφία ἐστίν· ὁ ἔχων νοῦν ψηφισάτω τὸν ἀριθμὸν τοῦ θηρίου, ἀριθμὸς γὰρ ἀνθρώπου ἐστίν· καὶ ὁ ἀριθμὸς αὐτοῦ ἑξακόσιοι ἑξήκοντα ἕξ.}}{{cite web |title=Revelation in the 26th/27th edition of the Novum Testamentum Graece |publisher=Sacred-texts.com |url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/gnt/rev013.htm#017 |access-date=30 April 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140823090613/http://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/gnt/rev013.htm#017 |archive-date=23 August 2014 }}

{{small|{{sc|English}}}}
"¹⁷And 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. ¹⁸Here 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 and sixty-six."

Revelation 13:18 states that if one is wise and has an understanding to count the number of the beast, which is also the number of a man, the number comes to 666.

=χιϛ=

File:P. Oxy. LXVI 4499.jpg of Revelation in the 66th vol. of the Oxyrhynchus series (P. Oxy. 4499).{{cite book |last=Parker |first=David C. |author-link=David C. Parker |title=Manuscripts, Texts, Theology: Collected papers 1977–2007 |year=2009 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |place=Berlin, DE |isbn=978-3-11-021193-1 |edition=[Online-Ausg.] |page=73}} Has the number of the beast as χιϛ, 616.]]

Although Irenaeus (2nd century AD) affirmed the number to be 666 and reported several scribal errors of the number, theologians have doubts about the traditional reading{{Cite news |first= Tom |last= Anderson |date= 1 May 2005 |title= Revelation! 666 is not the number of the beast (it's a devilish 616) |url= https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/revelation-666-is-not-the-number-of-the-beast-its-a-devilish-616-5349692.html |newspaper= The Independent |access-date= 1 March 2009 |location= London |quote= [...] 616 refers to the Emperor Caligula. |url-status= live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160130214939/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/revelation-666-is-not-the-number-of-the-beast-its-a-devilish-616-5349692.html |archive-date= 30 January 2016 }} because of the appearance of the figure 616 in the Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (C; Paris—one of the four great uncial codices), as well as in the Latin version of Tyconius (DCXVI, ed. Souter in the Journal of Theology, SE, April 1913), and in an ancient Armenian version (ed. Conybeare, 1907). Irenaeus knew about the 616 reading, but did not adopt it (Haer. V, 30) noting instead that those who spoke with the Apostle John (traditionally considered the author of the Book of Revelation) "face to face" said that the number was 666.{{Cite book |last=Lyon.) |first=Saint Irenaeus (Bishop of |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tOBBAQAAMAAJ&q=%22facie+ad+facie%22 |title=Opvs ervditissimvm Divi Irenaei episcopi Lvgdvnensis, in qvinqve libros digestvm: in qvibvs mire retegit et confvtat vetervm haereseōn impias ac portentosas opiniones, ex uetustissimorum codicum collatione quantum licuit |date=1560 |publisher=Froben |page=335 |language=la}} In the 380s, correcting the existing Latin-language version of the New Testament (commonly referred to as the Vetus Latina), Jerome retained "666".De Monogramm., ed. Dom G. Morin in Revue Bénédictine, 1903See {{cite web |url=http://www.documentacatholicaomnia.eu/04z/z_0347-0420__Hieronymus__Divina_Bibliotheca_58_Beati_Joannis_Apocalypsis__MLT.pdf.html |title=Hieronymus – Divina Bibliotheca 58 Beati Joannis Apocalypsis [0347-0420] Full Text at Documenta Catholica Omnia |access-date=12 September 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304075141/http://www.documentacatholicaomnia.eu/04z/z_0347-0420__Hieronymus__Divina_Bibliotheca_58_Beati_Joannis_Apocalypsis__MLT.pdf.html |archive-date=4 March 2016 }} – "{{lang|la|Qui habet intellectum c(om)putet numerum bestiae. Numerus enim hominis est, et numerus ejus sexcenti sexaginta sex.|italic=no}}" Compare the Vulgate version: "{{lang|la|qui habet intellectum conputet numerum bestiae numerus enim hominis est et numerus eius est sescenti sexaginta sex|italic=no}}" at {{cite web |url=http://www.latinvulgate.com/lv/verse.aspx?t=1&b=27&c=13 |title=Latin Vulgate Bible with Douay-Rheims and King James Version Side-by-Side+Complete Sayings of Jesus Christ |access-date=12 September 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150928064924/http://www.latinvulgate.com/lv/verse.aspx?t=1&b=27&c=13 |archive-date=28 September 2015 }}

Around 2005, a fragment from Papyrus 115, taken from the Oxyrhynchus site, was discovered at the University of Oxford's Ashmolean Museum. It gave the beast's number as {{num|616}} ({{overline|χις}}). This fragment is the oldest manuscript (about 1,700 years old) of Revelation 13 found {{as of|2017|lc=on}}.{{cite book |first1=Robert B. |last1=Stewart |first2=Bart D. |last2=Ehrman |first3=Daniel B. |last3=Wallace |year=2011 |title=The reliability of the New Testament |publisher=Fortress Press |location=Minneapolis, MN |isbn=978-0-8006-9773-0 |pages=40–41}}{{cite news |title=Papyrus reveals new clues to ancient world |date=April 2005 |publisher=National Geographic Society |website=News.nationalgeographic.com |url-status= dead |access-date=31 March 2014 |url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/04/0425_050425_papyrus_2.html |archive-date=10 January 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080110172555/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/04/0425_050425_papyrus_2.html}} Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus, known before the Papyrus 115 finding but dating to after it, has 616 written in full: {{lang|grc|ἑξακόσιοι δέκα ἕξ}}, hexakosioi deka hex ({{abbr|lit.|literally}} "six hundred and sixteen").{{cite book |last=Hoskier |first= Herman C. |author-link=Herman C. Hoskier |year=1929 |title=Concerning the Text of the Apocalypse: A complete conspectus of all authorities |volume=2 |url=https://archive.org/details/concerningthetextoftheapocalypsep.1toend |page=[https://archive.org/details/concerningthetextoftheapocalypsep.1toend/page/n435 364]}}

Papyrus 115 and Ephraemi Rescriptus have led some scholars to regard 616 as the original number of the beast.Philip W Comfort and David P Barrett, The Text of the Earliest New Testament Greek Manuscripts, (Wheaton, Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers Incorporated, 2001) According to Paul Louis Couchoud, "The number 666 has been substituted for 616 either by analogy with 888, the [Greek] number of Jesus (Gustav Adolf Deissmann), or because it is a triangular number, the sum of the first 36 numbers (1+2+3+4+5+6+...+36 = 666)".{{cite book |first=Paul Louis |last=Couchoud |year=1932 |title=A Key to Christian Origins |publisher=Watts & Co. |place=London, UK |page=140}}

Interpretations

The beast's identity and the beast's number are usually interpreted by applying one of three methods:{{cite book |last=Beale |first=G.K. |author-link=Gregory Beale |title=Revelation: A commentary on the Greek text |year=1999 |publisher=W.B. Eerdmans|location=Grand Rapids, MI|isbn=978-0-8028-2174-4|edition=3. Dr.}}{{rp|page=718}}

Using gematria to find the numbers that equate to the names of world leaders, to check for a match with the scriptural number.
Treating the number of the beast as a duration of time.
Linking the scriptural imagery and symbolism of the Antichrist with characteristics of world leaders who oppose Christianity.

=Identification by gematria=

In Greek isopsephy and Hebrew gematria, every letter has a corresponding numeric value. 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==

File:Nero 1.JPG, Rome]]

There is a broad consensus in contemporary scholarship that the number of the beast refers to the Roman Emperor Nero.”Nero as the Antichrist.” Encyclopaedia Romana. University of Chicago. https://penelope.uchicago.edu/encyclopaedia_romana/gladiators/nero.html. “666 (or rather DCLXVI) signifies the Antichrist because that number signifies Nero.”Ehrman, Bart (2016). ‘666, The Number of the Beast.’ Bart Ehrman Blog. https://ehrmanblog.org/666-the-number-of-the-beast/..”Martin, Dale B. (2012). New Testament History and Literature. The Open Yale Courses Series, Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-18085-5. “Modern scholars, though, think the most compelling theory identifies the number with Nero. The letters of the alphabet functioned also as numerals. If one adds up the letters of the name Neron Caesar (spelled in Hebrew, which used the “n” for the ending of the name), the sum is 666. This also makes sense of a textual variant here found in certain ancient manuscripts. Some scribes, thinking of the name as it would appear in Greek rather than Hebrew (and thus without that one “n”), changed the number to 616, which would be the correct addition of the letters of the name spelled in Greek. Thus we know that at least those ancient scribes also took the number to be a reference to Nero.”

Since the 1830s, theologians like Christian Friedrich Fritzsche, Franz Ferdinand Benary, Ferdinand Hitzig and Eduard Reuss pointed the number 666 to Nero, who was the first emperor to have persecuted Christians.Vgl. Wilhelm Bousset, Die Offenbarung Johannis, Göttingen 1906, S. 105f. Dort auch die Werke der oben angeführten Exegeten. Preterist theologians typically support the interpretation that 666 is the numerical equivalent of the name and title Nero Caesar (Roman Emperor 54–68 AD).{{cite book |last=Cory |first=Catherine A. |year=2006 |title=The Book of Revelation |publisher=Liturgical Press |place=Collegeville, MN |isbn=978-0-8146-2885-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IzzAFl2ONfAC&pg=PA61 |page=61}}{{cite book |last1=Garrow |first1=A.J.P. |year=1997 |title=Revelation |publisher=Routledge |location=London|isbn=978-0-415-14641-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SkOg-tEYbR4C&pg=PA86 |page=86}}{{cite book |year=2005 |title=The Catholic Youth Bible: New American Bible including the revised Psalms and the revised New Testament |edition=rev. |publisher=Saint Mary's Press |place=Winona, MN |isbn=978-0-88489-798-9 |quote=Translated from the original languages with critical use of all the ancient sources. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SnORJqkR7qsC&pg=RA7-PT1423 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/20171024043339/https://books.google.com/books?id=SnORJqkR7qsC&pg=RA7-PT1423 |archive-date=24 October 2017}}{{cite web |first=Felix |last=Just |url=http://catholic-resources.org/Bible/666.htm#Academic |title=666: The Number of the Beast |date=2 February 2002 |access-date=6 June 2006 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060613102057/http://catholic-resources.org/Bible/666.htm#Academic |archive-date=13 June 2006 }}{{cite journal |last=Hillers |first=D.R. |title=Revelation 13:18 and a Scroll from Murabba'at |journal=Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research |volume=170 |year=1963 |page=65 |doi=10.2307/1355990 |jstor=1355990 |issue=170 |s2cid=163790686| issn = 0003-097X}}{{cite book |title=The New Jerome Biblical Commentary |editor1=Brown, Raymond E. |editor2=Fitzmyer, Joseph A. |editor3=Murphy, Roland E. |place=Englewood Cliffs, NJ |publisher=Prentice-Hall |year=1990 |page=1009}}{{cite journal |first=Peter M. |last=Head |year=2000 |title=Some recently published NT papyri from Oxyrhynchus: An overview and preliminary assessment |journal=Tyndale Bulletin |volume=51 |pages=1–16 |doi=10.53751/001c.30281 |s2cid=69099150 |url=http://www.tyndale.cam.ac.uk/Tyndale/staff/Head/NTOxyPap.htm#_ftn39 |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130117032704/http://www.tyndale.cam.ac.uk/Tyndale/staff/Head/NTOxyPap.htm |archive-date=17 January 2013|doi-access=free }} {{cite web |title=Some recently published NT papyri from Oxyrhynchus |series=online copy |url=http://98.131.162.170//tynbul/library/TynBull_2000_51_1_01_Head_OxyrhynchusPapyri.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706055831/http://98.131.162.170//tynbul/library/TynBull_2000_51_1_01_Head_OxyrhynchusPapyri.pdf |archive-date=6 July 2011}} Written in Aramaic, this can be valued at 666 using the Hebrew numerology of gematria, and was used to secretly speak against the emperor.{{citation needed |reason=Are there indeed other sources which refer to Nero as 666? That seems to be implied here. |date=August 2020}} Additionally, "Nero Caesar" in the Hebrew alphabet is {{lang|hbo|נרון קסר}} NRON QSR, which in standard gematria (mispar hechrechi) is given the numbers 50 200 6 50 100 60 200, which add up to 666.

The Greek term {{lang|grc|χάραγμα}} (charagma, "mark" in Revelation 13:16) was most commonly used for imprints on documents or coins. Charagma is well attested to have been an imperial seal of the Roman Empire used on official documents during the 1st and 2nd centuries.{{cite book |editor-last=Elwell |editor-first=Walter A. |year=1996 |title=Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology |publisher=Baker Books [u.a.] |place=Grand Rapids, MI |isbn=0-8010-2049-2 |page=462 |url=http://www.biblestudytools.com/Dictionaries/BakersEvangelicalDictionary/bed.cgi?number=T462}} In the reign of Emperor Decius (249–251 AD), those who did not possess the certificate of sacrifice ({{lang|la|libellus}}) to Caesar could not pursue trades, a prohibition that conceivably goes back to Nero, reminding one of Revelation 13:17.{{cite book |last1=Pate |first1=C. Marvin |last2=Haines |first2=Calvin B. |title=Doomsday delusions: what's wrong with predictions about the end of the world|year=1995|publisher=InterVarsity Press |place=Downers Grove, IL |isbn=978-0-8308-1621-7 |pages=41–42}}

Preterists argue that Revelation was written before the destruction of the Temple, with Nero exiling John to Patmos.{{cite book |author=Robinson, J. |year=1976 |title=Before Jerusalem Fell}} Most scholars, however, argue it was written after Nero committed suicide in AD 68. Our Sunday Visitor's 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".{{cite book |title=Our Sunday Visitor's Catholic Encyclopedia |author1=Stravinskas, Peter M.J. |author2=Shaw, Russell B. |editor=Stravinskas, Peter M.J. |publisher=Our Sunday Visitor Publishing |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-87973-669-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vJ78Vd4O9d4C&q=%22Written+during+the+latter+part%22&pg=PA861 |page=861 }}{{Dead link|date=February 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Additional Protestant scholars are in agreement.{{efn|Berthold-Bond (1989){{cite book |first=Daniel |last=Berthold-Bond |year=1989 |title=Hegel's Grand Synthesis: A study of being, thought, and history |place=Albany, NY |publisher=SUNY Press |isbn=0-88706-955-X |page=118 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gZq2HjvC0_wC&q=book+of+Revelation+written+after&pg=PA118}} notes in consensus that Revelation was written around 95 AD.}}

Because some people believe Revelation 13 speaks of a future prophetic event, "All who dwell on the earth {{em|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 {{em|after}} the death of Nero.{{efn| Lewis (n.d.),{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n-9MvDyKjcQC&q=book+of+Revelation+written+after&pg=PR9 |title=Understanding the Book of Revelation |first=Terri, Dr. |last=Lewis |year= 2010 |publisher=Xulon Press |isbn=978-1-60957-618-9 }} along with other scholars, notes that Revelation was written about 95 AD.}}{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AaiHXJwClakC&q=book+of+Revelation+written+after&pg=PT404 |series=Your Study of the New Testament Made Easier |title=Part 2: Acts Through Revelation |first=David J. |last=Ridges |page=409 |isbn=978-1-59955-657-4 |quote=The Book of Revelation was written by the Apostle John about AD 95.}}{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-BIGv9vIoqcC&q=book+of+Revelation+written+after&pg=PA733 |title=The New York Times Guide to Essential Knowledge |publisher=The New York Times Company |year=2007 |page=73 |isbn=978-0-312-37659-8 }} However, rumors circulated that Nero had not really died and would return to power.{{cite book |title=Harpers Bible Commentary |editor-link=James L. Mays |editor-first=J.L. |editor-last=Mays |publisher=Harper Collins |place=San Francisco, CA |year=1988 |page=1300}}

It has also been suggested that the numerical reference to Nero was a code to imply but not directly identify emperor Domitian,{{cite book |title=An Introduction to the New Testament and the Origins of Christianity |first=Delbert Royce |last=Burkett |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-521-00720-7 |page=510 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EcsQknxV-xQC&q=number+beast+domitian&pg=PA510 |access-date=30 April 2014}}{{cite book |last=Ashe |first=Geoffrey |year=2001 |title=Encyclopedia of prophecy |page=204 |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |isbn=978-1-57607-079-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EKltgn0JVUUC&q=number+beast+domitian&pg=PA204 |access-date=30 April 2014}} whose style of rulership resembled that of Nero, who heavily taxed the people of Asia (Lydia), to whom the Book of Revelation was primarily addressed.{{cite book |last=Rhoads |first=David M. |title=From Every People and Nation: The Book of Revelation in intercultural perspective |page=193 |publisher=Fortress Press |isbn=978-1-4514-0618-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4rGPq4fKncIC&q=revelation+beast+domitian+taxation&pg=PA193 |access-date=30 April 2014}} The popular Nero Redivivus legend stating that Nero would return to life can also be noted; "After Nero's suicide in AD 68, there was a widespread belief, especially in the eastern provinces, that he was not dead and somehow would return.{{cite book |author=Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus |title=[no title cited] |at=LVII}}{{full citation needed|date=July 2021}}
{{cite book |author=Publius Cornelius Tacitus |title=Historiae |at=II.8}}
{{cite book |author=Lucius Cassius Dio |title=Historia Romana |at=LXVI.19.3}} Suetonius (XL) relates how court astrologers had predicted Nero's fall but that he would have power in the east. And, indeed, at least three false claimants did present themselves as Nero redivivus (resurrected).{{cite web |title=Nero as the Antichrist |series=Encyclopaedia Romana |website=Penelope.uchicago.edu |publisher=University of Chicago |url=http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/gladiators/nero.html |access-date=30 April 2014}}

An Aramaic scroll from Wadi Murabba'at, dated to "the second year of Emperor Nero", refers to him by his name and title.{{cite book |last=Hillers |first=D.R. |title=Revelation 13:18 and a Scroll from Murabba'at |year=1963 |publisher=BASOR |volume=170 |page=65}} In Hebrew it is Nron Qsr (pronounced "Nerōn Kaisar"). In Latin it is Nro Qsr (pronounced "Nerō Kaisar").

;Nron Qsr

File:Athanasius Kircher 666.jpg, calculating various "names of the beast" (Lageinos, Teitan, Lampetis, Antemos) that sum to 666, and summing Jesus' name to 888]]

The Greek version of the name and title transliterates into Hebrew as {{lang|hbo|נרון קסר}}, and yields a numerical value of 666, as shown:

class="wikitable" \| style="text-align: center; float: center;"
Resh ({{lang\|hbo\|ר}})	Samekh ({{lang\|hbo\|ס}})	Qoph ({{lang\|hbo\|ק}})	Nun ({{lang\|hbo\|נ}})	Vav ({{lang\|hbo\|ו}})	Resh ({{lang\|hbo\|ר}})	Nun ({{lang\|hbo\|נ}})	Sum
200	60	100	50	6	200	50	666

;Nro Qsr

The Latin version of the name drops the second Nun ({{lang|hbo|נ}}), so that it appears as Nro and transliterates into Hebrew as {{lang|hbo|נרו קסר}}, yielding 616:

class="wikitable" \| style="text-align: center; float: center;"
Resh ({{lang\|hbo\|ר}})	Samekh ({{lang\|hbo\|ס}})	Qoph ({{lang\|hbo\|ק}})	Vav ({{lang\|hbo\|ו}})	Resh ({{lang\|hbo\|ר}})	Nun ({{lang\|hbo\|נ}})	Sum
200	60	100	6	200	50	616

==Muhammad==

Gematria has also been used with the word Maometis ({{langx|grc|Μαομέτις}}); which scholars have described as a dubiously obscure Latinisation of a Greek transliteration of the Arabic name محمد (Muhammad).

A leading proponent of the Maometis interpretation was Walmesley, the Roman Catholic bishop of Rama.{{cite magazine |title=Review: The History of Esau considered |type=book review |magazine=The Gentleman's Magazine |date=October 1838 |volume=10 |page=407 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2VVIAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA407 |access-date=31 March 2014}} Other proponents include 16–17th-century Catholic theologians Gilbert Genebrard, François Feuardent, and René Massuet.{{Cite book |last=Brady |first=David |year=1983 |title=The contribution of British writers ... |isbn=978-3-16-144497-5 |via=Google Books |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UUmpvt3hM7cC&pg=PA89 |access-date=17 July 2010}} Maometis in Greek numerals totals 666:

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
{{mvar\|{{lang\|grc\|Μ}} }}	{{mvar\|{{lang\|grc\|α}} }}	{{mvar\|{{lang\|grc\|ο}} }}	{{mvar\|{{lang\|grc\|μ}} }}	{{mvar\|{{lang\|grc\|ε}} }}	{{mvar\|{{lang\|grc\|τ}} }}	{{mvar\|{{lang\|grc\|ι}} }}	{{mvar\|{{lang\|grc\|ς}} }}	Sum
40	1	70	40	5	300	10	200	666

Thom (1923) rejects "Maometis" as a valid translation, observing that

: "of the seven different ways in which Muhammad's name is written in Euthymius and [by] the Byzantine historians, not one is the orthography in question".

None of the spellings actually used add up to 666 under Greek gematria.{{cite book |first=David |last=Thom |year=1848 |title=The Number and Names of the Apocalyptic Beasts |quote=With an explanation and application in two parts: Part 1. The Number, and Part 2. Names. |publisher=H.K. Lewis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mh0_AAAAYAAJ&q=maometis&pg=PA197 |page=197}}

Setton (1992) is critical of the idea: Muhammad was frequently defamed and made a subject of legends, taught by preachers as fact.{{cite book |first=Kenneth |last=Meyer Setton |year=1992 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hk4LAAAAIAAJ |title=Western Hostility to Islam and Prophecies of Turkish Doom |publisher=Diane Publishing |isbn=0-87169-201-5}}{{rp|pages=1–5}} For example, in order to show that Muhammad was the anti-Christ, it was asserted that Muhammad died not in the year 632 but in the year 666. In another variation on the theme the number "666" was also used to represent the period of time Muslims would hold sway of the land.{{rp|pages=4–15}} In Quia maior, the encyclical calling for the Fifth Crusade, Euthymius Zygabenus and Zonaras wrote the name as "Maometh" and Cedrenus wrote the name "Mouchoumet" none of which is the "Maometis" in question.

==King of Israel==

Fr. Sloet of Holland proposed the title of Antichrist as king of Israel.Fr. Sloet in letter to Pere Gallois dated May 18, 1893. He wrote that, "The Jews have ever looked forward to the Messiah as a great leader to restore the kingdom of Israel. They rejected Jesus because He did not fulfill this expectation... He will be king of a restored Israel, not only king, but the king par excellence. In Hebrew this idea could be expressed by the words (hammelek l'Yisrael), which have the requisite numerical value of 666; but in order to obtain this number kaph medial (כ) must be used in melek (king) instead of kaph final (ך‎)."{{cite book|chapter=Part 2.2: The Reign and Condemnation of Antichrist|title=The Apocalypse of St. John|year=1921|publisher=The Catholic Church Supply House|first=Rev. Elwood|last=Berry}}

== To Méga Thēríon ==

Aleister Crowley (1875–1947), the English ceremonial magician who founded the religion Thelema, self-identified as the Beast prophesied in Revelation and used the name {{mvar|Τὸ Μέγα Θηρίον}} (To Méga Thēríon), Greek for "The Great Beast", which adds up to 666 by isopsephy, the Greek form of gematria.{{cite book |author=Carroll, Robert Todd |year=2003 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6FPqDFx40vYC&q=wickedest |title=The Skeptic's Dictionary |section-url=http://skepdic.com/crowley.html |section=Aleister Crowley |publisher=Wiley |isbn=0-471-27242-6}}{{cite book |author=Crowley, Aleister |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iw4BG8TVzQUC&q=to+mega+therion&pg=PP1 |title=The Magical Diaries of Aleister Crowley |publisher=Tunisia |year=1923 |editor1=Skinner, Stephan |others=Samuel Weiser |isbn=0-87728-856-9}}

= Solomon’s Splendor =

In both 1 Kings 10:14 and 2 Chronicles 9:13 it reads: "The weight of the gold that Solomon received yearly was 666 talents".{{Cite web |title=1 Kings 10:14-29 |url=https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Kings%2010%3A14-29&version=NIV |access-date=2023-12-24 |website=biblegateway.com}}{{Cite web |title=2 Chronicles 9:13 |url=https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Chronicles+9%3A13&version=NIV |access-date=2023-12-24 |website=biblegateway.com}} In a 2020 paper by Bodner & Strawn, they seem to indicate that the number 666 is associated with Solomon in his downfall, as it's "an important notice of this king's wayward and unjust practices [..] and eschewing of God's law". But they also conclude that "the origin of this number is not yet clear". And: "If Irenaeus was unclear about 666 already in the second century, the twenty-first century can be no more certain."{{Cite journal |last1=Bodner |first1=Keith |last2=Strawn |first2=Brent A. |date=2020-04-01 |title=Solomon and 666 (revelation 13.18) |url=https://dukespace.lib.duke.edu/items/e8febe87-db7c-4566-b657-0c8f5f1624e9 |journal=New Testament Studies |publisher=Cambridge University Press |volume=66 |issue=2 |pages=299–312|doi=10.1017/S0028688519000523 |s2cid=213360560 |url-access=subscription }}

Mark of the beast

{{Redirect|Mark of the beast|other uses|Mark of the Beast (disambiguation){{!}}Mark of the Beast}}

File:Ms. 931 New Testament. Revelation (Elizabeth Day McCormick Apocalypse). Greg. 2402 p 228 χξς.png

Revelation also references a {{transliteration|grc|charagma}} ({{lang|grc|χάραγμα}}), translated as mark of the beast:

{{blockquote

|author=Revelation chapter 13:16–17

|text=And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
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.

}}

The Book of Revelation is commonly dated to about AD 95, as suggested by clues in the visions pointing to the reign of the emperor Domitian.{{Cite book |last=Perkins |first=Pheme |title=Reading the New Testament: An Introduction. |publisher=Paulist Press. |year=2012 |isbn=978-0-8091-4786-1}} Irenaeus (c. 130 – c. 202 AD), a former student of Polycarp, who in turn had been a disciple of John the Apostle, knew that John had written the Revelation not that long ago, since he mentions it was written: "almost in our own generation, in the last years of Domitian's reign".Against Heresies (Irenaeus) 5.30.3

Irenaeus also wrote that it is "more certain, and less hazardous, to await the fulfilment of the prophecy, than to be making surmises" regarding the meaning of the number. In fact, he mentioned multiple other solutions of the number, like Evanthas (ΕΥΑΝΘΑΣ), Teitan (ΤΕΙΤΑΝ) and Lateinos (ΛΑΤΕΙΝΟΣ). On the latter, Irenaeus wrote further: "it is a very probable [solution], this being the name of the last kingdom [of the four seen by Daniel]".

Various secular authors and scholars on Christian eschatology have commented the meaning of the mark of the beast.

= Preterist view =

A common preterist view of the mark of the beast (focusing on the past) is 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.{{cite book |first=Paul |last=Spilsbury |year=2002 |title=The Throne, the Lamb & the Dragon: A reader's guide to the Book of Revelation |publisher=InterVarsity Press |page=99}} New Testament scholar C.C. Hill notes, "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."{{cite book |first=Craig C. |last=Hill |year=2002 |title=In God's Time: The Bible and the future |publisher=Eerdmans |page=124}}

Adela Yarbro Collins further denotes that the refusal to use Roman coins resulted in the condition where "no man might buy or sell".{{bibleverse|Revelation|13:17}}"Collins, 1984, p. 126: Adela Yarbro Collins: "The juxtaposition of buying and selling with the mark of the beast refers to the fact that Roman coins normally bore the image and name of the current emperor. "The inability to buy or sell would then be the result of the refusal to use Roman coins." 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."Craig R. Koester (2001), Revelation and the End of All Things, Eerdmans; p. 132

In 66 AD, when Nero was emperor—about the time some scholars say Revelation was written—the Jews revolted against Rome and coined their own money.

The passage is also seen as an antithetical parallelism to the Jewish institution of tefillin—Hebrew 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.

= Idealist view =

Idealism, also known as the allegorical or symbolic approach, is an interpretation of the book of Revelation that sees the imagery of the book as non-literal symbols.{{cite book |author1=Campbell, Stan |author2=Bell, James S. |year=2001 |title=The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Book of Revelation |pages=212–213 |publisher=Alpha Books |isbn=978-0-02-864238-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a7ThymxwsJsC&q=symbols+212&pg=PA212}}

The idealist perspective on the number of the beast rejects gematria, envisioning the number not as a code to be broken, but a symbol to be understood. Idealists would contend that because there are so many names that can come to 666 and that most systems require converting names to other languages or adding titles when convenient, it has been impossible to come to a consensus.

Given that numbers are used figuratively throughout the Book of Revelation, idealists interpret this number figuratively as well. The common suggestion is that because seven is a number of "completeness" and is associated with the divine, six is "incomplete", and the three sixes are "inherently incomplete".{{rp|page=722}} The number is therefore suggestive that the Dragon and his beasts are profoundly deficient.

= Historicist view =

Historicists believe Revelation articulates a full range of the history of the Christian church, from John's day to the Second Coming of Christ. The author alludes to Daniel 2:28 and 2:45; Daniel's vision (Daniel 2) uses symbols giving a sequence of future events in history, from the Babylonian empire, through Medo-Persian period, Greece and Rome, continuing until the end of the current civilization.

The Augsburg confession given to Charles V in its 28th article stated "They likewise cite that the Sabbath has been changed to Sunday contrary to the Ten Commandments, as they see it, and no example is hyped and cited so much as the changing of the Sabbath, and they thereby wish to preserve the great authority of the church, since it has dispensed with the Ten Commandments and altered something in them."{{Cite book |last=Luther |first=Martin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pzVjAAAAcAAJ&dq=aber+die+unsern+leren+1580&pg=PA18 |title=CONCORDIA ... Christliche, Widerholete, einmütige Bekentnüs nachbenanter Churfürsten, Fürsten vnd Stende Augspurgischer Confession, vnd derselben zu ende des Buchs vnderschriebener Theologen Lere vnd glaubens. Mit angeheffter, in Gottes wort, als der einigen Richtschnur, wolgegründter erklerung etlicher Artickel bey welchen nach D. Martin Luthers seligen absterben, disputation und streit vorgefallen. Aus einhelliger vergleichung und beuehl obgedachter Churfürsten, Fürsten vnd Stende derselben Landen, Kirchen, Schulen vnd Nachkommen, zum vnderricht vnd warnung in Druck vorfertiget |date=1580 |publisher=Gedruckt durch Matthes Stöckel |page=18 |language=de}} Rome was identified as the little horn power that changed times and laws (Daniel 7:25). Some Protestants such as the London minister Thomas Tillam and court physician Peter Chamberlen during the reformation began to identify Sunday worship as the Mark of the Beast.{{Cite book |url=http://archive.org/details/doctrine-sabbath-thomas-tillam-the-seventh-day-sabbath-sought-out-1657 |title=Doctrine - Sabbath - Thomas Tillam - The Seventh Day Sabbath Sought Out -1657 |language=English}}{{Cite book |last=Aveling |first=James Hobson |author-link=James H. Aveling |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PmsAmnOLnu8C&dq=%22What+Times+&pg=PA116 |title=The Chamberlens and the Midwifery Forceps: Memorials of the Family and an Essay on the Invention of the Instrument |date=1882 |publisher=J. & A. Churchill |page=116 |language=en}}

This apocalyptic volume builds on Daniel's approach focusing on major points of Christian history: the cross of Christ (Rev. 5:6,9,12); the Second Coming (Rev. 14:14–16; 19:11–16); the 1,000 years in heaven (Rev. 20:4–6); the third advent of Christ to earth along with his loyal followers and the destruction of Satan and those who refused Christ (Rev. 20:7–15); and the creation of a new heavens and a new earth where death, sorrow, and sin cease and God dwells with His people (Rev. 21:1–8, 21:22–27; 22:1–5). The Book of Daniel is divided into two parts: The historical narrative of the captivity of Judah, and the prophecies pointing to both promised Messiah and the events of the end of the world. Attention to the text of Revelation aids the student of Bible prophecy by showing how the Apostle John and Jesus intended us to interpret Bible apocalyptic literature as found in Daniel.{{cite book |last=Dybdahl |first=Jon |year=2010 |title=Andrews Study Bible |publisher=Sutherland House |place=Berrien Springs |lccn=2010924514 |page=1659}}

Seventh-day Adventists taking this view believe that the 'mark of the beast' (but not the number 666) refers to a future, universal, legally enforced Sunday-sacredness. "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'."{{cite book |title=Seventh-day Adventists Believe |edition=2nd |year=2005 |department=Ministerial Association |publisher=General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists |page=196}} "The Sunday Sabbath is purely a child of the Papacy. It is the mark of the beast."{{cite web |title=Advent Review, Vol. I, No. 2, August 1850 |date=May 2015 |website=ChristianSermonsandMusicVideos.com |url=http://www.christiansermonsandmusicvideos.com/2015/05/advent-review-vol-i-no-2-august-1850.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304060659/http://www.christiansermonsandmusicvideos.com/2015/05/advent-review-vol-i-no-2-august-1850.html |archive-date=4 March 2016}} In the encyclical Dies Domini, Pope John Paul II stated that "The Sunday assembly is the privileged place of unity: it is the setting for the celebration of the sacramentum unitatis which profoundly marks the Church" and this was also repeated in other catechisms and documents.{{Cite web |title=Dies Domini (May 31, 1998) {{!}} John Paul II |url=https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_letters/1998/documents/hf_jp-ii_apl_05071998_dies-domini.html |access-date=2023-01-21 |website=www.vatican.va}}{{Cite book |last=Lang |first=Jovian |url=http://archive.org/details/dictionaryoflitu0000lang |title=Dictionary of the liturgy |date=1989 |publisher=New York : Catholic Book Pub. Co. |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-89942-273-2}}{{Cite book |last=gaume |first=monsignor |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vdMHAAAAQAAJ&q=mark+union |title=the catechism of perseverance |date=1882 |language=en}} Adventists note the old testament definition of a hand and forehead mark in texts like Exodus 13:9, Exodus 31:13-17, Ezekiel 20:12 provide important understanding of terms in Revelation's figurative language.

class="wikitable"

|+Seventh Day Adventist Comparisons of Revelation's warnings with the Decalogue

|Do not worship the beast

|Commandment 1

Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

Do not worship the image of the beast

|Commandment 2

Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

Do not receive the name of the beast

|Commandment 3

Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

Do not honor Sunday with worship.

|Commandment 4

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

= Futurist view =

Some fundamentalist Christian groups, as well as various Christian writers in other traditions, interpret the mark as a requirement for all commerce to mean that the mark might actually be an object in the right hand or forehead with the function of a credit card, such as RFID microchip implants.{{cite magazine |first=Julia |last=Scheeres |magazine=Wired |title=When Cash Is Only Skin Deep |url=https://www.wired.com/2003/11/when-cash-is-only-skin-deep/ |access-date=25 November 2003 |date=25 November 2003 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040404015327/http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,61357,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_2 |archive-date=4 April 2004 }} Some of these groups believe the implantation of chips may be the imprinting of the mark of the beast, prophesied to be a requirement for all trade and a precursor to God's wrath.{{cite book | first1=Katherine | last1=Albrecht|author-link=Katherine Albrecht |first2=Liz | last2=McIntyre|author-link2=Liz McIntyre (writer)| title=The Spychips Threat: Why Christians Should Resist RFID and Electronic Surveillance | publisher=Nelson Current | isbn=978-1-4185-5175-9 |year=2006 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Im24cfqCRI8C&q=The+Spychips+Threat:+Why+Christians+Should+Resist+RFID+and+Electronic+Surveillance |access-date=31 March 2014}}{{cite news | url=https://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2006/06/70308 | publisher=Wired.com | title=RFID: Sign of the (End) Times? | first=Mark | last=Baard | date=6 June 2006 | access-date=13 October 2009 | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091028084805/http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2006/06/70308 | archive-date=28 October 2009 }} Similar objections were raised about barcodes upon their introduction.{{cite magazine |url=https://www.wired.com/2012/12/upc-mark-of-the-beast/ |title=Why the Bar Code Will Always Be the Mark of the Beast |date=December 28, 2012 |first=Cade |last=Metz |access-date=January 19, 2021 |magazine=Wired }}

During the COVID-19 pandemic, some groups associated COVID-19 vaccines and mask wearing with the mark of the beast, or that it was a microchip in the vaccine.{{cite news| url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/02/16/covid-vaccine-misinformation-evangelical-mark-beast/| title = Some evangelical Christians say covid vaccine is the mark of the beast - The Washington Post| newspaper = The Washington Post}} Some religious leaders spoke out against this as a misinterpretation of Revelation 13:16-18.{{Cite web|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/09/26/covid-vaccine-mark-beast-what-book-revelation-says/8255268002/|title = Some say COVID-19 vaccine is the 'mark of the beast.' is there a connection to the Bible?|website = USA Today}} Medical institutions such as Hennepin County Medical Center noted this in their fact sheets about the vaccine.{{Cite web|url=https://theconversation.com/no-the-covid-19-vaccine-is-not-linked-to-the-mark-of-the-beast-but-a-first-century-roman-tyrant-probably-is-158288|title = No, the COVID-19 vaccine is not linked to the mark of the beast – but a first-century Roman tyrant probably is| date=7 April 2021 }} A similar version was spread by Marjorie Taylor Greene, who referred to vaccine passports as being the mark of the beast.{{Cite web|url=https://thehill.com/homenews/house/545649-marjorie-taylor-greene-blasts-covid-19-vaccine-passports-as-bidens-mark-of-the/|title=Marjorie Taylor Greene blasts COVID-19 vaccine passports: 'Biden's mark of the beast'|date=30 March 2021}}

Numerical significance

= Baháʼí Faith =

In the writings of the Baháʼí Faith, 'Abdu'l-Bahá states that the numerical value given to the beast referred to the year{{cite web |title=Interpretation of Biblical Verses |author=Research Department of the Universal House of Justice |publisher=Baháʼí Library |date=7 January 1986 |access-date=16 May 2007 |url=http://bahai-library.com/uhj_interpretation_biblical_verses }} when the Umayyad ruler Muawiyah I took office as Caliph in 661 AD. He opposed the Imamate, according to the beliefs of Shia Islam, who continued to pay the tax required of nonbelievers and were excluded from government and the military, and thus bore a social "mark".{{cite web |url=http://occawlonline.pearsoned.com/bookbind/pubbooks/stearns_awl/chapter12/objectives/deluxe-content.html |title=Student Resources, Chapter 12: The First Global Civilization: The Rise and Spread of Islam, The Arab Empire of the Umayyads – Converts and "People of the Book" |publisher=Occawlonline.pearsoned.com |access-date=11 August 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110715060819/http://occawlonline.pearsoned.com/bookbind/pubbooks/stearns_awl/chapter12/objectives/deluxe-content.html |archive-date=15 July 2011 }} (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.)

= Jehovah's Witnesses =

Jehovah's Witnesses believe that the beast identified by the number 666 represents the world's unified governments in opposition to God. The beast is said to have "a human number" in that the represented governments are of a human origin rather than spirit entities. The number 666 is said to identify "gross shortcoming and failure in the eyes of Jehovah", in contrast to the number 7, which is seen as symbolizing perfection.{{Cite journal |title=Identifying the Wild Beast and Its Mark |journal=The Watchtower |date=1 April 2004 |url=http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2004241 |access-date=3 November 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141103023837/http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2004241 |archive-date=3 November 2014 }}

Fear and superstition

The fear of 666 (six hundred sixty-six) as the number of the beast is called hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia {{audio|EN-hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia.ogg|}}.{{cite web|url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/friday-13th-fears-paraskevidekatriaphobia-unpronounceable-phobias/story?id=28943509|title=Friday the 13th Fears (Paraskevidekatriaphobia) and Other Unpronounceable Phobias|first=Calvin|last=Lawrence Jr.|website=ABC News|date=February 13, 2015|access-date=January 5, 2023}}{{cite web|url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/130913-friday-luck-lucky-superstition-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210228230051/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/130913-friday-luck-lucky-superstition-13|url-status=dead|archive-date=28 February 2021|title=Superstitious Numbers Around the World|first=Jaclyn |last=Skurie|website=National Geographic|date=September 14, 2013|access-date=January 5, 2023}} Variant phobias are called hexakosioihekkaidekaphobia, which is the fear of 616 (six hundred sixteen), and hexaphobia, which is the fear of 6 (six). Known cases of these fears include:

In 1989, Nancy and Ronald Reagan, when moving to their home in the Bel-Air section of Los Angeles after the latter left presidency of the United States that same year, had its address—666 St. Cloud Road—changed to 668 St. Cloud Road.{{cite news |series=The Reagans |title=First family easing into private life |newspaper=The Los Angeles Times | date=19 November 1988}}{{cite news |first=Ching-Ching |last=Ni |date=21 May 2011 |title=In Arcadia real estate, 4 is a negative number |newspaper=The Los Angeles Times |url=http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-arcadia-numbers-20110521,0,6077634.story |access-date=21 May 2011 |url-status=live |quote=Supporters say changing building numbers isn't such an unusual thing. After all, they say, when President Reagan left office, he and Nancy took up residence at 666 St. Cloud Road in Bel-Air but had the address changed to 668 to avoid the 'number of the beast'. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110523045507/http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-arcadia-numbers-20110521,0,6077634.story | archive-date= 23 May 2011 }}
In 2003, U.S. Route 666 in New Mexico was changed to U.S. Route 491. A New Mexico spokesperson stated, "The devil's out of here, and we say goodbye and good riddance."{{cite news |last= Linthicum |first=Leslie |date=31 July 2003 |title=It's now US 491, not US 666 |newspaper=The Albuquerque Journal |url= http://www.abqjournal.com/quirky/67534news07-31-03.htm |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20081205030518/http://www.abqjournal.com/quirky/67534news07-31-03.htm |archive-date=5 December 2008 }}
Some women expressed concern about giving birth on June 6, 2006 (6/6/06).{{cite news|last=Allen-Mills|first=Tony|date=30 April 2006|title=Mothers expect Damien on 6/6/06|newspaper=The Sunday Times|location=London, UK|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2158015,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080112220535/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2158015,00.html|archive-date=12 January 2008}}
In November 2013, Codie Thacker—a cross-country runner at Whitley County High School in Williamsburg, Kentucky—refused to run in her Kentucky High School Athletic Association regional meet, forfeiting a chance at qualifying for the state championships, when her coach drew bib number 666.{{cite news |title=Whitley County cross country runner refuses to run after being assigned "666" number |date=4 November 2013 |publisher=WLEX-TV |place=Lexington, Kentucky |url=http://www.lex18.com/news/whitley-county-cross-country-refuses-to-run-after-being-assigned-666-number/#!prettyPhoto/0/ |access-date=6 November 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131107023342/http://www.lex18.com/news/whitley-county-cross-country-refuses-to-run-after-being-assigned-666-number/#!prettyPhoto/0/ |archive-date=7 November 2013 }}
In 2015, US Representative Joe Barton had the number of a legislative bill he had introduced changed from 666 to 702 because "the original bill number carried many different negative connotations", according to a spokesperson.{{cite news |last=Barron-Lopez |first=Laura |date=2 February 2015 |title=Republican avoids apocalyptic 666 |newspaper=The Hill |url=https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/231787-republican-avoids-apocalyptic-666/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150310044801/http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/231787-republican-avoids-apocalyptic-666 |archive-date=10 March 2015 }}
In 2017, church leaders in Papua New Guinea were concerned by newspaper reports that the Governor-General had been requested to sign 666 writs for an upcoming election. They were reassured by the Electoral Commissioner that the number merely reflected 6 copies of each writ for 111 electorates.{{cite news |title=PNG's electoral commissioner reassures church leaders on 666 writs |first=Eric |last=Tlozek |date=3 April 2017 |publisher=ABC News |place=Australia |url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-04-03/pngs-electoral-commissioner-reassures-church-leaders-666-writs/8412188 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170410204822/http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-04-03/pngs-electoral-commissioner-reassures-church-leaders-666-writs/8412188 |archive-date=10 April 2017}}
In October 2017, flight AY666 from Copenhagen to Helsinki (HEL) departed for the last time before being renamed to AY954. Since 2006, the flight had been scheduled on a Friday the 13th on 21 occasions. A Finnair spokesperson said that the number had not been renamed due to superstitious passengers.{{cite news |first=Julia |last=Buckley |date=13 October 2017 |title=Finnair's flight 666 to HEL makes its last Friday the 13th run today |newspaper=The Independent |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/finnair-flight-666-hel-copenhagen-helsinki-friday-13th-retiring-final-departure-a7998271.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180123160841/http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/finnair-flight-666-hel-copenhagen-helsinki-friday-13th-retiring-final-departure-a7998271.html |archive-date=23 January 2018}}
In 2021, Brookfield Properties decided to renumber 666 Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, which it had just acquired and planned to spend $400 million renovating, to 660 Fifth Avenue.{{cite news|last=Cuozzo|first=Steve|title=660 Fifth Ave. sheds Satanic address, to reopen next year|url=https://nypost.com/2021/01/31/660-fifth-ave-sheds-satanic-address-to-reopen-in-2022/|newspaper=New York Post|date=January 31, 2021|access-date=July 25, 2021}}
In 2023, PKS Gdynia, a Polish bus operator, decided to renumber line 666, which runs to Hel, Poland, a town on the Hel Peninsula, to 669.{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/14/bus-666-to-hel-poland-devils-number-transport-route-protest|title = No 666 to Hel: Polish bus route drops 'devil's number' after Christian protests| website=TheGuardian.com | date=14 June 2023 | last1=O'Carroll | first1=Lisa | last2=Oryński | first2=Tomasz }}