Revelation 13:18

13:18 This calls for wisdom: ¹  Let the one who has insight calculate the beast’s number, for it is man’s number, ²  and his number is 666. ³ 

Daniel 12:4

12:4 “But you, Daniel, close up these words and seal the book until the time of the end. Many will dash about, ⁴  and knowledge will increase.”

Daniel 12:8-10

12:8 I heard, but I did not understand. So I said, “Sir, ⁵  what will happen after these things?” 12:9 He said, “Go, Daniel. For these matters are closed and sealed until the time of the end. 12:10 Many will be purified, made clean, and refined, but the wicked will go on being wicked. None of the wicked will understand, though the wise will understand.

Hosea 14:9

Concluding Exhortation

14:9 Who is wise?

Let him discern ⁶  these things!

Who is discerning?

Let him understand them!

For the ways of the Lord are right;

the godly walk in them,

but in them the rebellious stumble.

Matthew 13:11

13:11 He replied, ⁷  “You have been given ⁸  the opportunity to know ⁹  the secrets ¹⁰  of the kingdom of heaven, but they have not.

Matthew 24:15

The Abomination of Desolation

24:15 “So when you see the abomination of desolation ¹¹  – spoken about by Daniel the prophet – standing in the holy place (let the reader understand),

[13:18]  ¹ tn Grk “Here is wisdom.”

[13:18]  ² tn Grk “it is man’s number.” ExSyn 254 states “if ἀνθρώπου is generic, then the sense is, ‘It is [the] number of humankind.’ It is significant that this construction fits Apollonius’ Canon (i.e., both the head noun and the genitive are anarthrous), suggesting that if one of these nouns is definite, then the other is, too. Grammatically, those who contend that the sense is ‘it is [the] number of a man’ have the burden of proof on them (for they treat the head noun, ἀριθμός, as definite and the genitive, ἀνθρώπου, as indefinite – the rarest of all possibilities). In light of Johannine usage, we might also add Rev 16:18, where the Seer clearly uses the anarthrous ἄνθρωπος in a generic sense, meaning ‘humankind.’ The implications of this grammatical possibility, exegetically speaking, are simply that the number ‘666’ is the number that represents humankind. Of course, an individual is in view, but his number may be the number representing all of humankind. Thus the Seer might be suggesting here that the antichrist, who is the best representative of humanity without Christ (and the best counterfeit of a perfect man that his master, that old serpent, could muster), is still less than perfection (which would have been represented by the number seven).” See G. K. Beale, Revelation, [NIGTC], 723-24, who argues for the “generic” understanding of the noun; for an indefinite translation, see the ASV and ESV which both translate the clause as “it is the number of a man.”

[13:18]  ³ tc A few mss (̹¹⁵ C, along with a few mss known to Irenaeus {and two minuscule mss, 5 and 11, no longer extant}), read 616 here, and several other witnesses have other variations. Irenaeus’ mention of mss that have 616 is balanced by his rejection of such witnesses in this case. As intriguing as the reading 616 is (since the conversion of Nero Caesar’s name in Latin by way of gematria would come out to 616), it must remain suspect because such a reading seems motivated in that it conforms more neatly to Nero’s gematria.

[12:4]  ⁴ tn Or “will run back and forth”; KJV “shall run to and fro”; NIV “will go here and there”; CEV “will go everywhere.”

[12:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “my lord,” a title of polite address.

[14:9]  ⁶ tn The shortened form of the prefix-conjugation verb וְיָבֵן (vÿyaven) indicates that it is a jussive rather than an imperfect. When a jussive comes from a superior to an inferior, it may connote exhortation and instruction or advice and counsel. For the functions of the jussive, see IBHS 568-70 §34.3.

[13:11]  ⁷ tn Grk “And answering, he said to them.” This construction is somewhat redundant in English and has been simplified in the translation. Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[13:11]  ⁸ tn This is an example of a “divine passive,” with God understood to be the source of the revelation (see ExSyn 437-38).

[13:11]  ⁹ tn Grk “to you it has been given to know.” The dative pronoun occurs first, in emphatic position in the Greek text, although this position is awkward in contemporary English.

[13:11]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “the mysteries.”

[24:15]  ¹¹ sn The reference to the abomination of desolation is an allusion to Dan 9:27. Though some have seen the fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecy in the actions of Antiochus IV (or a representative of his) in 167 b.c., the words of Jesus seem to indicate that Antiochus was not the final fulfillment, but that there was (from Jesus’ perspective) still another fulfillment yet to come. Some argue that this was realized in a.d. 70, while others claim that it refers specifically to Antichrist and will not be fully realized until the period of the great tribulation at the end of the age (cf. Mark 13:14, 19, 24; Rev 3:10).