¹⁷ ‘The four great beasts are four kings that will rise from the earth.

The Beast out of the Sea

13 The dragon^[a] stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea.^(A) It had ten horns and seven heads,^(B) with ten crowns on its horns, and on each head a blasphemous name.^(C)

⁸ The beast, which you saw, once was, now is not, and yet will come up out of the Abyss^(A) and go to its destruction.^(B) The inhabitants of the earth^(C) whose names have not been written in the book of life^(D) from the creation of the world will be astonished^(E) when they see the beast, because it once was, now is not, and yet will come.