Wes Huff unpacks mark of the beast, claims number might not be 666

Michie said:

For centuries, the number 666 has stirred imaginations and inspired fear as the so-called “number of the beast” from the book of Revelation. But according to Wesley Huff, a Canadian biblical scholar and apologist, the story is a bit more complex.

In a recent post on X, Huff clarified that while most modern Bibles render Revelation 13:18 as “his number is 666,” some of the earliest known manuscripts actually read “616.”

“This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666,” the verse states in most translations. But, Huff wrote, “our oldest fragmentary copy of Revelation that includes this text reads differently.”

Continued below.

Wes Huff unpacks mark of the beast, claims number might not be 666

For centuries, the number 666 has stirred imaginations and inspired fear as the so-called number of the beast from the Book of Revelation But according to Wesley Huff, a Canadian biblical scholar and

www.christianpost.com

Click to expand...

I've heard that before. That there are textual variations of Revelation is somewhat amusing in context of the warning at the end of the book.

Michie said:

For centuries, the number 666 has stirred imaginations and inspired fear as the so-called “number of the beast” from the book of Revelation. But according to Wesley Huff, a Canadian biblical scholar and apologist, the story is a bit more complex.

In a recent post on X, Huff clarified that while most modern Bibles render Revelation 13:18 as “his number is 666,” some of the earliest known manuscripts actually read “616.”

“This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666,” the verse states in most translations. But, Huff wrote, “our oldest fragmentary copy of Revelation that includes this text reads differently.”

Continued below.

Wes Huff unpacks mark of the beast, claims number might not be 666

For centuries, the number 666 has stirred imaginations and inspired fear as the so-called number of the beast from the Book of Revelation But according to Wesley Huff, a Canadian biblical scholar and

www.christianpost.com

Click to expand...

I suppose I'll be cancelling my appointment for my 616 tattoo now.

This response is from an AI answer just to let you know. But my old pastor stated that "666" wasn't much more than a declaration that the anti-Christ would just be a man when it was all said and done, with all the imperfections of humanity.

It may have had some numerological significance to victims of Nero's persecution, but I doubt very much that the writer of Revelation was giving us a hint as to the possible identity of a potential 21st Century tyrant. Any seeming invincibility of such a political figure would be due to an advanced military, formidable spying technology, and world wide communications, plus some satanic assistance.

But he'd still be a man, or if you like, a "666".

I personally think the anti-Christ could be around today, but I won't be looking up any numerology texts to identify him. If he's around, it will become unmistakeably clear in due course.

In ancient Jewish tradition, the number six (6) often symbolized humanity, imperfection, and incompleteness, in contrast to the number seven, which represents completion and perfection. It also relates to the six days of creation, culminating in the Sabbath, and the six orders of the Mishnah.

Click to expand...

The variant reading of 616 vs 666 is incredibly ancient, St. Irenaeus actually talks about this in his writings only ~100 years after the Revelation was written. Irenaeus argues that the 616 variant is wrong.

I think that the fact that both are ancient (I'm not about to claim dogmatically which variant is what St. John himself wrote, though I am inclined toward the traditional reading) is actually a strong argument for the case that St. John intended 666/616 as a reference to Nero.

The difference between 616 and 666 if using Hebrew Gematria (and Gematria was huge in the ancient world, both Hebrew and Greek forms) is a single letter--Nun. It's the difference between Nero Kaiser and Neron Kaiser (Hebrew transliteration: NRW QSR and NRWN QSR), depending on whether one uses the Latin form (Nero) or the Greek form (Neron).

-CryptoLutheran

ViaCrucis said:

The variant reading of 616 vs 666 is incredibly ancient, St. Irenaeus actually talks about this in his writings only ~100 years after the Revelation was written. Irenaeus argues that the 616 variant is wrong.

I think that the fact that both are ancient (I'm not about to claim dogmatically which variant is what St. John himself wrote, though I am inclined toward the traditional reading) is actually a strong argument for the case that St. John intended 666/616 as a reference to Nero.

The difference between 616 and 666 if using Hebrew Gematria (and Gematria was huge in the ancient world, both Hebrew and Greek forms) is a single letter--Nun. It's the difference between Nero Kaiser and Neron Kaiser (Hebrew transliteration: NRW QSR and NRWN QSR), depending on whether one uses the Latin form (Nero) or the Greek form (Neron).

-CryptoLutheran

Click to expand...

That's interesting, and I wonder if the variation speaks to an earlier Hebrew version of the text, especially given how many Hebraisms are present in the extant texts and how stilted the Greek can be.

Fervent said:

That's interesting, and I wonder if the variation speaks to an earlier Hebrew version of the text, especially given how many Hebraisms are present in the extant texts and how stilted the Greek can be.

Click to expand...

I don't think there's an earlier Hebrew version; but I do think that the readers of the Revelation would have had the puzzle pieces and cultural and linguistic context to make sense of what John is writing.

This makes 616/666 a kind of layered cipher: using gematria to convert a name into a numeric value, and also layering it under a different language--a language which we can imagine Christians would have had a better time working with than the Pagan political establishment.

-CryptoLutheran