⁴ People worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, “Who is like^(A) the beast? Who can wage war against it?”

⁸ All inhabitants of the earth^(A) will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life,^(B) the Lamb^(C) who was slain from the creation of the world.^[a](D)

¹² It exercised all the authority^(A) of the first beast on its behalf,^(B) and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast,^(C) whose fatal wound had been healed.^(D)

¹⁵ The second beast was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship^(A) the image to be killed.^(B)

⁹ A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast^(A) and its image^(B) and receives its mark on their forehead^(C) or on their hand,