The Mystery Explained

Revelation 17:8

In 9 translations

BSB: The beast that you saw—it was, and now is no more, but is about to come up out of the Abyss and go to its destruction. And those who dwell on the earth whose names were not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world will marvel when they see the beast that was, and is not, and yet will be.
KJV: The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.
WEB: The beast that you saw was, and is not; and is about to come up out of the abyss and to go into destruction. Those who dwell on the earth and whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel when they see that the beast was, and is not, and shall be present.TR reads “yet is” instead of “shall be present”
ASV: The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and is about to come up out of the abyss, and to go into perdition. And they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, they whose name hath not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast, how that he was, and is not, and shall come.
LSV: The beast that you saw: it was, and it is not, and it is about to come up out of the abyss, and to go away to destruction, and those dwelling on the earth will wonder, whose names have not been written on the Scroll of Life from the foundation of the world, beholding the beast that was, and is not, although it is.
YLT: 'The beast that thou didst see: it was, and it is not; and it is about to come up out of the abyss, and to go away to destruction, and wonder shall those dwelling upon the earth, whose names have not been written upon the scroll of the life from the foundation of the world, beholding the beast that was, and is not, although it is.
DBY: The beast which thou sawest was, and is not, and is about to come up out of the abyss and go into destruction: and they who dwell on the earth, whose names are not written from the founding of the world in the book of life, shall wonder, seeing the beast, that it was, and is not, and shall be present.
DRC: The beast, which thou sawest, was, and is not, and shall come up out of the bottomless pit, and go into destruction: and the inhabitants on the earth (whose names are not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world) shall wonder, seeing the beast that was, and is not.
GNV: The beast that thou hast seene, was, and is not, and shall ascend out of the bottomles pit, and shall goe into perdition, and they that dwell on the earth, shall wonder (whose names are not written in the booke of life from the foundation of ye world) when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.

Word by word Greek · tap a word

Words in brackets are English the glossers added; the Greek has no word for them, and they can carry a choice of tense or meaning.

Where the editions differ

Editions are published forms of the Hebrew and Greek texts. Meet the editions and sources →

In STEPBible’s comparison, NA28, NA27, Tyndale House, SBLGNT (2010), Westcott–Hort, Tregelles, Byzantine text, Greek reading followed by the King James Version include Τὸ (“The”); Textus Receptus do not include this wording.
NA28, NA27, Tyndale House, SBLGNT (2010), Westcott–Hort read ὑπάγει (“go”); Tregelles, Textus Receptus, Byzantine text read ὑπάγειν (“going”).
NA28, NA27, SBLGNT (2010), Westcott–Hort read θαυμασθήσονται (“will be astonished”); Tyndale House, Tregelles, Textus Receptus, Byzantine text read θαυμάσονται (“will astonish”).
NA28, NA27, Tyndale House, SBLGNT (2010), Westcott–Hort, Tregelles read τὸ (“the”); Textus Receptus, Byzantine text read τὰ (“the”).
NA28, NA27, Tyndale House, SBLGNT (2010), Westcott–Hort, Tregelles read ὄνομα (“name”); Textus Receptus, Byzantine text read ὀνόματα (“names”).
NA28, NA27, Tyndale House, SBLGNT (2010), Westcott–Hort, Tregelles, Byzantine text read βλεπόντων (“seeing”); Textus Receptus read βλεπόντες (“seeing”).
NA28, NA27, Tyndale House, SBLGNT (2010), Westcott–Hort, Tregelles, Byzantine text read ὅτι (“that”); Textus Receptus read ὃ τι (“that one”).
NA28, NA27, Tyndale House, SBLGNT (2010), Westcott–Hort, Tregelles, Byzantine text read καὶ (“and yet”); Textus Receptus read καὶπερ (“though”).
NA28, NA27, Tyndale House, SBLGNT (2010), Westcott–Hort, Tregelles, Byzantine text read παρέσται (“it will exist”); Textus Receptus read ἔστιν (“it is”).

Spelling, punctuation and minor wording (2)

Word order: Byzantine text place ὅτι elsewhere in this verse.
Word order: Byzantine text place ἦν elsewhere in this verse.

SBLGNT apparatus (4)

A comparison of published Greek editions. “Add” means after the SBLGNT wording; “omit” refers to that wording.

SBLGNT: ὑπάγει. Westcott and Hort (1881), Nestle–Aland 28th edition read ὑπάγει; Tregelles, Robinson–Pierpont read ὑπάγειν.
SBLGNT: θαυμασθήσονται. Westcott and Hort (1881), Nestle–Aland 28th edition read θαυμασθήσονται; Tregelles, Robinson–Pierpont read θαυμάσονται.
SBLGNT: τὸ ὄνομα. Westcott and Hort (1881), Tregelles, Nestle–Aland 28th edition read τὸ ὄνομα; Robinson–Pierpont read τὰ ὀνόματα.
SBLGNT: τὸ θηρίον ὅτι ἦν. Westcott and Hort (1881), Tregelles, Nestle–Aland 28th edition read τὸ θηρίον ὅτι ἦν; Robinson–Pierpont read ὅτι ἦν τὸ θηρίον.

Edition differences: STEP Bible, based on work at Tyndale House Cambridge (CC BY 4.0). Names and codes expanded; consecutive words grouped. Comparisons follow the editions used by the source; see version details.

Original-language editions

SBLGNT: τὸ θηρίον ὃ εἶδες ἦν καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν, καὶ μέλλει ἀναβαίνειν ἐκ τῆς ἀβύσσου, καὶ εἰς ἀπώλειαν ὑπάγει· καὶ θαυμασθήσονται οἱ κατοικοῦντες ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, ὧν οὐ γέγραπται τὸ ὄνομα ἐπὶ τὸ βιβλίον τῆς ζωῆς ἀπὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου, βλεπόντων τὸ θηρίον ὅτι ἦν καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν καὶ παρέσται.
RP2018: Τὸ θηρίον, ὃ εἶδες, ἦν, καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν, καὶ μέλλει ἀναβαίνειν ἐκ τῆς ἀβύσσου, καὶ εἰς ἀπώλειαν ὑπάγειν. Καὶ θαυμάσονται οἱ κατοικοῦντες ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, ὧν οὐ γέγραπται τὰ ὀνόματα ἐπὶ τὸ βιβλίον τῆς ζωῆς ἀπὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου, βλεπόντων ὅτι ἦν τὸ θηρίον, καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν, καὶ παρέσται.
TR-Boyd: Θηρίον ὃ εἶδες, ἦν, καὶ οὐκ ἔστι, καὶ μέλλει ἀναβαίνειν ἐκ τῆς ἀβύσσου, καὶ εἰς ἀπώλειαν ὑπάγειν. Καὶ θαυμάσονται οἱ κατοικοῦντες ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, ὧν οὐ γέγραπται τὰ ὀνόματα ἐπὶ τὸ βιβλίον τῆς ζωῆς ἀπὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου, βλέποντες τὸ θηρίον ὅ, τι ἦν, καὶ οὐκ ἔστι, καίπερ ἔστιν.Θηρίον ¦ Τὸ θηρίον, SCR
SCR1894: το θηριον ο ειδες ην και ουκ εστιν και μελλει αναβαινειν εκ της αβυσσου και εις απωλειαν υπαγειν και θαυμασονται οι κατοικουντες επι της γης ων ου γεγραπται τα ονοματα επι το βιβλιον της ζωης απο καταβολης κοσμου βλεποντες το θηριον ο τι ην και ουκ εστιν καιπερ εστιν

In the reference works topics that cite this verse

Whoredom Bottomless, Pit Antichrist Book Horn Ascend Book of Life Pit Abyss Perdition

From public-domain Bible dictionaries and topical indexes (1884–1915).

Cross-references most cited first

Revelation 17:11The beast that was, and now is not, is an eighth king, who belongs to the other seven and is going into destruction.
Revelation 11:7When the two witnesses have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will wage war with them, and will overpower and kill them.
Revelation 19:15–21And from His mouth proceeds a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and He will rule them with an iron scepter. He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. And He has a name…
Revelation 3:10Because you have kept My command to persevere, I will also keep you from the hour of testing that is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.
Revelation 9:1–2Then the fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from heaven to earth, and it was given the key to the pit of the Abyss. The star opened the pit of the Abyss, and smoke rose out of it like the…
John 17:24Father, I want those You have given Me to be with Me where I am, that they may see the glory You gave Me because You loved Me before the foundation of the world.
Revelation 14:8–20Then a second angel followed, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, who has made all the nations drink the wine of the passion of her immorality.” And a third angel followed them, calling out in a loud voice,…
Revelation 13:1–12Then I saw a beast with ten horns and seven heads rising out of the sea. There were ten royal crowns on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads. The beast I saw was like a leopard, with the feet of a bear and the…
Ephesians 1:4For He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless in His presence. In love
Matthew 25:34Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
Revelation 3:5Like them, he who overcomes will be dressed in white. And I will never blot out his name from the Book of Life, but I will confess his name before My Father and His angels.
Daniel 7:11Then I kept watching because of the arrogant words the horn was speaking. As I continued to watch, the beast was slain, and its body was destroyed and thrown into the blazing fire.
Titus 1:2in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began.
Revelation 20:12And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne. And there were open books, and one of them was the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their deeds, as recorded in the books.
Acts 15:18that have been known for ages.’
Revelation 20:10And the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, into which the beast and the false prophet had already been thrown. There they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

From the OpenBible.info cross-reference set (votes from readers; not every link is a quotation or allusion).