Revelation 13 — Clausal Layout (English)

independentparticipialrelativepurposecausecontentconditionalphrase modifierdashed = verbless / suspended

Flush-left = a main (independent) clause. Each dependent line begins directly beneath the word it attaches to in the line above — the anchor word is dotted-underlined, and lights up when you hover its dependent clause; each tag also names the attachment. A dashed border marks verbless, elliptical, or suspended lines. Where a long sentence's staircase runs wider than the page, the diagram scrolls sideways. (In print, or without JavaScript, lines fall back to stepped indent columns.)

The beast from the sea 13:1–10

vv. 1–4 — the rising beast: the composite monster, the healed wound, the worship

And I saw a beast rising out of the sea,independent — Dan 7:3 — the beasts come up from the sea; the dragon's summons from 12:18 answered

having ten horns and seven heads,participial — the dragon's own anatomy (12:3) with horns and heads reversed — the parent's stamp on the child

and on its horns ten diadems,phrase modifier — the tableau column — the diadems have moved from the dragon's heads (12:3) to the beast's horns

and on its heads blasphemous names.phrase modifier — ἐπί shifts to accusative — the imperial titulature (Sebastos, divi filius) worn as blasphemy

And the beast that I saw was like a leopard,independent — Dan 7 CONFLATED — Daniel's four beasts fused into one, named in reverse order: leopard, bear, lion

and its feet like a bear's,independent — verbless comparison column — Dan 7:5's bear supplies the feet

and its mouth like a lion's mouth.independent — Dan 7:4's lion — the mouth that will do the talking of vv. 5–6

And the dragon gave it his power and his throne and great authority.independent — the investiture — a diabolical enthronement parodying the Father's gift to the Son (2:27–28; 3:21)

And one of its heads as if slain to death,independent — ANACOLUTHON kept — accusative μίαν with no verb (εἶδον of v. 1 felt at a distance); ὡς ἐσφαγμένην parodies the Lamb ὡς ἐσφαγμένον (5:6)

and its death-wound was healed.independent — the mock resurrection — πληγή, blow and plague at once; Nero redivivus stands behind the healed head

And the whole earth marveled after the beast,independent — pregnant construction — ἐθαυμάσθη + ὀπίσω: wondered its way into the beast's train (cf. 1 Kgs 11:10 LXX idiom of going after)

and they worshiped the dragonindependent — the cult ascends the chain of command — the giver behind the beast

because he had given the authority to the beast,cause — the ground — worship follows the gift of v. 2

and they worshiped the beast,independent — the second προσεκύνησαν — dative here; the accusative αὐτόν comes in v. 8

saying:participial — the speech participle — the acclamation hangs from this word

'Who is like the beast,content — Exod 15:11 PARODIED — Τίς ὅμοιός σοι ἐν θεοῖς; the Song of the Sea sung to the sea-monster (cf. Mic 7:18); verbless question

and who can wage war against it?'content — πολεμῆσαι μετά — the Semitic war-idiom of 12:7; the acclamation despairs of Michael's victory

vv. 5–8 — the ἐδόθη chain: mouth, months, war, and the world's worship

And there was given to it a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies,independent — first ἐδόθη — divine passive: even the boast is on loan; Dan 7:8, 20 — στόμα λαλοῦν μεγάλα, the little horn's mouth

and it was given authority to act for forty-two months.independent — second ἐδόθη — ποιῆσαι absolute, 'to act'; the 42 months = the 1,260 days of 11:2–3; 12:6: a leased term, not a reign

And it opened its mouth in blasphemies against God,independent — the given mouth put to use — the lion's mouth of v. 2 speaking

to blaspheme his name and his dwelling,purpose — epexegetic-purpose infinitive — the blasphemy itemized: the Name and the tent

those who tabernacle in heaven.phrase modifier — asyndetic apposition — God's σκηνή identified with its tent-dwellers (12:12; 7:15): to curse them is to curse it

And it was given to it to make war on the saints and to conquer them,independent — third ἐδόθη — Dan 7:21 nearly verbatim; νικῆσαι, the conqueror-verb of the letters, permitted to the enemy for a term

and authority was given to it over every tribe and people and tongue and nation.independent — fourth ἐδόθη — the fourfold formula of 5:9; 7:9 usurped: the Lamb's ransomed constituency claimed whole

And all who dwell on the earth will worship it,independent — SOLECISM kept — masculine αὐτόν for the neuter beast: the grammar confesses a person; οἱ κατοικοῦντες ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, the book's fixed phrase for the unsealed

everyone whose name has not been written, from the foundation of the world, in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.relative — CRUX — singular οὗ … αὐτοῦ (pleonastic pronoun, Hebrew אֲשֶׁר…שְׁמוֹ) distributing over the plural; ἀπὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου read with γέγραπται (with 17:8), not with ἐσφαγμένου: the enrollment, not the slaying, is pre-temporal

vv. 9–10 — the call to hear, and the quatrain of destinies

If anyone has an ear,conditional — the letter-refrain (chs. 2–3) recast as a condition — its only occurrence outside the seven letters

let him hear.independent — the apodosis in one imperative — the oracle that follows is for the churches

If anyone is for captivity,conditional — verbless protasis — Jer 15:2; 43:11: the quatrain of appointed destinies

into captivity he goes;independent — the apodosis echoes the protasis word for word — destiny stated, not threatened

if anyone is to be killed by the sword,conditional — second protasis — the bare infinitive of destiny, ἀποκτανθῆναι

by the sword he is to be killed.independent — the hardest reading kept — infinitival apodosis with resumptive αὐτόν (many MSS smooth to a future): a call to endure, not to take the sword (cf. Matt 26:52)

Here is the endurance and the faith of the saints.independent — the seal — Ὧδε points at the quatrain: accepting the appointed lot is the saints' warfare (14:12 answers)

The beast from the earth 13:11–18

vv. 11–12 — the lamb-horned, dragon-voiced deputy

And I saw another beast rising out of the earth,independent — the second beast — land to the first's sea: the Behemoth-Leviathan pair (Job 40–41; 1 En. 60:7–8)

and it had two horns like a lamb,independent — the PARODY — ἀρνίον, the book's own title for Christ (5:6): a lamb's silhouette, without diadems or wound

and it spoke like a dragon.independent — the voice betrays the parentage — lamb's look, serpent's speech; the false prophet of 16:13; 19:20

And all the authority of the first beast it exercises in its presence.independent — the ποιεῖ chain opens — vivid presents from here to v. 16; ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ, a vicar ministering before his lord

and it makes the earth and those who dwell in itindependent — causative ποιεῖ with accusative — compulsion, not persuasion, is its ministry

worship the first beast,content — ἵνα + future indicative προσκυνήσουσιν — the Revelation idiom (9:4–5, 20); προσκυνέω with accusative again

whose death-wound had been healed.relative — pleonastic οὗ … αὐτοῦ again — the healed wound of v. 3 is the credential the deputy preaches

vv. 13–15 — the signs, the image, and the breath with its death-sanction

And it works great signs,independent — σημεῖα — the credential-word (cf. 2 Thess 2:9; Mark 13:22): a counterfeit prophet's portfolio

even making fire come down from heaven to the earth in the sight of men.content — epexegetic-consecutive ἵνα — the signs specified; Elijah's fire (1 Kgs 18:38; 2 Kgs 1:10) and the witnesses' fire (11:5) counterfeited

And it deceives those who dwell on the earth by the signsindependent — πλανᾷ — the dragon's own trade (12:9) franchised to the deputy

that it was given to perform in the presence of the beast,relative — ἐδόθη even here — the deceiver's wonders also run on the divine loan

telling those who dwell on the earthparticipial — masculine λέγων for the neuter beast — ad sensum again: the deceit is spoken by a someone

to make an image to the beastcontent — the indirect command — εἰκών, the cult-image: Dan 3's golden statue redivivus

who has the wound of the sword and lived.relative — SOLECISM kept — masculine ὃς for neuter τῷ θηρίῳ; ἔζησεν, the resurrection-verb spoken of Christ at 2:8, claimed for the beast

And it was given to it to give breath to the image of the beast,independent — ἐδόθη … δοῦναι — the borrower lends; πνεῦμα here breath, not Spirit: an animation-parody of Gen 2:7; Ezek 37:10

so that the image of the beast might even speakpurpose — the speaking statue — the age's ventriloquized cult-images made an eschatological terror

and might causepurpose — coordinate with λαλήσῃ — ποιήσῃ governs the nested sanction below

that whoever would not worship the image of the beastconditional — indefinite ὅσοι ἐάν nested inside the second ἵνα — carried protasis-fashion above its bare verb

should be killed.content — the death-sanction in one passive word — Dan 3:6's furnace decree for the statue's refusers

vv. 16–17 — the mark decree: no one buys or sells without it

And it makes all,independent — the last ποιεῖ — the decree made universal before it is itemized

the small and the great,phrase modifier — the merism column — the book's census formula (11:18; 19:5, 18; 20:12)

and the rich and the poor,phrase modifier — second pair — the economy's classes named before the market-sanction of v. 17

and the free and the slave,phrase modifier — third pair — no legal status exempts

that they be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead,content — indefinite plural δῶσιν — 'that they give them', a passive in plural dress; χάραγμα, the brand or imperial stamp: the parody of God's seal on the forehead (7:3)

and that no one might be able to buy or sellcontent — the second ἵνα, still on ποιεῖ — the mark's teeth: excommunication from the marketplace

except the one having the mark,phrase modifier — εἰ μή — the exception; nominative ὁ ἔχων where the syntax led elsewhere

the name of the beast, or the number of its name.phrase modifier — apposition — the mark decoded: name or its number, the bridge into v. 18's riddle

v. 18 — here is wisdom: the number of the beast

Here is wisdom.independent — the riddle-seal — paired with v. 10's Ὧδε: there endurance, here calculation

Let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast,independent — ψηφισάτω — count it out pebble by pebble: an invitation to gematria (cf. Sib. Or. 1.324–29)

for it is a number of a man;cause — γάρ — computable because a human name underlies it (a man's number, not an angel's; some: 'a human sort of number')

and its number is six hundred sixty-six.independent — 666 — Nero Caesar in Hebrew letters (נרון קסר) = 666, and the spelling without final nun = 616, the ancient variant of P115 and C: the oldest commentary on the riddle; a triple six ever falling short of seven

Analysis. The chapter is a diptych of monsters, and the page keeps Revelation's two textures in view: flush-left καί-chains of narrative verbs, and dashed verbless columns wherever a beast sits for its portrait — the sea-beast's horns, diadems, and blasphemy-names hang under θηρίον (v. 1), and Daniel's leopard, bear, and lion stack as verbless comparisons (v. 2, the four beasts of Dan 7 conflated into one, in reverse order). The theological spine of the first panel is the fourfold divine passive ἐδόθη (vv. 5–7): mouth, months, war, and worldwide authority all indented as loans, never possessions — even the blasphemy runs on a lease of forty-two months. The crowd's acclamation (Τίς ὅμοιος τῷ θηρίῳ; — Exod 15:11 parodied, the Song of the Sea sung to the sea-monster) hangs as a quoted column under λέγοντες, and the layout keeps John's grammar unsmoothed throughout: the anacoluthic accusative μίαν of v. 3, the masculine αὐτόν for the neuter beast (v. 8), masculine λέγων and the notorious ὅς for τῷ θηρίῳ (v. 14), and the bare infinitive apodosis αὐτὸν ἐν μαχαίρῃ ἀποκτανθῆναι of the Jer 15:2 quatrain (v. 10), whose two protases lean forward per the house convention. The one attachment crux the layout resolves: in v. 8 ἀπὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου is read with γέγραπται (with 17:8) — it is the writing in the book, not the slaying of the Lamb, that is pre-temporal — flagged, not hidden. In the second panel the lamb-horned, dragon-voiced deputy runs on a chain of vivid presents (ποιεῖ … ποιεῖ … ποιεῖ … πλανᾷ … ποιεῖ), with ἵνα + future indicative προσκυνήσουσιν (v. 12) kept as the book's idiom, the ἵνα of v. 13 read as epexegetic of the σημεῖα, the image's nested death-sanction laid protasis-fashion above its one-word passive ἀποκτανθῶσιν (v. 15), the second ἵνα of v. 17 still hanging from the ποιεῖ of v. 16, and the whole closed by the riddle-seal: Ὧδε ἡ σοφία answering v. 10's Ὧδε, with 666 printed as the text and the ancient rival 616 (P115, C) noted as the oldest commentary on it.