¹⁶ But the earth helped the woman. The earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the river that the dragon had spewed from his mouth. ¹⁷ So the dragon was furious with the woman and left to wage war^(A) against the rest of her offspring^[a]—those who keep God’s commands and have the testimony about Jesus.^{(B) 18} He^[b] stood on the sand of the sea.^[c]

The Beast from the Sea

13 And I saw a beast coming up out of the sea.^(C) He^[d] had 10 horns and seven heads. On his horns were 10 diadems,^(D) and on his heads were blasphemous names.^{[e](E) 2} The beast I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like a bear’s, and his mouth was like a lion’s mouth.^(F) The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority. ³ One of his heads appeared to be fatally wounded,^[f] but his fatal wound was healed. The whole earth was amazed and followed the beast.^{[g](G) 4} They worshiped the dragon^(H) because he gave authority to the beast. And they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast?^(I) Who is able to wage war against him?”

A Warning about the World

¹⁵ Do not love the world^(A) or the things that belong to^[a] the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him. ¹⁶ For everything that belongs to^[b] the world—the lust of the flesh,^(B) the lust of the eyes,^(C) and the pride^(D) in one’s lifestyle—is not from the Father, but is from the world. ¹⁷ And the world with its lust is passing away,^(E) but the one who does God’s will^(F) remains forever.^(G)

The Last Hour

¹⁸ Children, it is the last hour.^(H) And as you have heard, “Antichrist^(I) is coming,” even now many antichrists have come. We know from this that it is the last hour.