Some Bible scholars argue that 666 is really 616.
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In 2005, scholars at Oxford University studied the earliest known record of the Book of Revelation that was a 1,700 year old papyrus. The fragment is missing a lot of info, but it gives the Number of the Beast as 616, rather than 666.Â
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Professor David C. Parker, Professor of New Testament Textual Criticism and Paleography at the University of Birmingham, said, “Scholars have argued for a long time over this, and it now seems that 616 was the original number of the beast. It's probably about 100 years before any other version."
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It is thought that 666 encodes the letters of someone’s name identifying the Antichrist.
The hypothesis is that 666 or 616 is a code for a Roman emperor. That has historical support. Both Jews and Christians used numerology, codes and symbols when talking about enemies to avoid persecution.
Most Bible scholars believe that 666 refers to the Roman Emperor Nero. The Greek spelling of his name translates into Hebrew as three words with 6 letters each.
But the Latin title for Nero when translated to Hebrew ends up 616.
Some say they were talking about Caligula. In Hebrew, Gaius Caligula Caesar translates to 616.
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Comments: 48
If you want to hurt your head, read the WHOLE wikipedia article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Number_of_the_Beast
I knew it! I knew it, I knew it, I knew it!!
Kent County, Michigan is EVIL!
(Our area code is 616 haha)
This is fascinating. I guess we will never really know for certain.
I've seen the movie The Omen so I have my opinion !!!
I can't seem to get enough of that Damien, in the original or subsequent movies
He's such a classic "Movie Monster" by now ...
But 666 sounds so much cooler.
I totally agree. Who would go to a 616 movie. 666 has got jazz !!!
Iron Maiden would not have had a hit with "616, the Number of the Beast." It has no heavy metal rhythm.
Yepper, it bothers me! Interesting info & I will read further, but I'll still retain my heebie jeebies over 666. Last year, I was a server at TGIF. I had already clocked out & glanced up at the server screen & it said my shift sales were $666! I immediately told the manager I wanted back on the floor & why. He laughed, but let me have 1 more table so I could change my sales total for the day!
It is my understanding that the number has to do with him appearing at the sixth trump, the sixth vial, and the sixth seal. These are being discussed at great length leading up to that verse . . . and the anti-Christ (meaning; instead of or in the place of Christ) arrives at a very specific point in the sequence of these signs and events. 616 just doesn't fit at all well into the rest of the story being told there . . .
The interpretation for what "The Beast" means has changed dramatically over religious history (for some religions). Lutherans are still very different in that (more traditional) then the Baptists (more new-fangled). The Left Behind books were written by Lutherans who switched theologies, though, for a better novel plot. The Lutheran version would not make a good novel.
I'm safe...585.
I didn't know that.
I am safe too 457
What does "777" mean-- 444, 999? Silly stuff.
Another theory is that the translation from the Greek did not take into account the style of writing, and that 666, rather than being read as six hundred sixty-six, should have been read as (six raised to the sixth power) raised to the sixth power.
Not being mathematically talented by any stretch of the imagination, I don't know the likelihood of that theory being true, but a mistranslation attributed to someone's bad handwriting--I do that all the time at work as I produce finished documents from professional notes (why everything gets thoroughly proofread), and it sounds an eminently reasonable explanation to me.
Actually, it's 999. King James held the papers upside down when he read it the first time. The monks who were transcribing it knew he was holding it wrong but none of them had the guts to tell him. Back then telling the King that his pants and shirt didn't match would get you beheaded. So they said 'Screw it" and wrote it as 666 in deference to the cranky king.
Or something like that.
Well, for starters... it's my (never humble) opinion that the phrase "biblical scholar" is an oxymoron. Secondly, numerology is not quite as scientifically valid as astrology OR alchemy.
You can study the Bible asking "what did it mean then?" and "how did that meaning change over history"... scholar. Or merely "what does it mean today" ... the average pastor in average pulpit.
Numbers are very scientific and probably the very first science, when man said, "I'll trade you two goats for three sheep" that was perhaps the very beginning of numerology?
As opposed to trying to figure out what the planets way up there mean (who the heck knows), or how fermentation happens (the first alchemy?)
If man is number five,
than the Devil is six
and if the Devil is six,
then God is SEVEN
-Pixies
... dogs are number 8, and cats 9 ???
and the perfect 10 have to be those gorgeous perfect giraffes !!!
Perfect? They spit!
goldfish, then ???
my change was once six dollars and sixty six cents. the nice lady offered to give me an extra penny. i thought screwit and told her to keep the penny. she was shocked. i guess she thought i was the antichrist.
just one more reason to burn a redhead at the stake...we used to be witches and warlocks in medieval times, what with our witches marks and all...
222 much for me.
Ha ha ha! Funny!
I think the "number of the beast" is much todo about nothing. Those texts have been translated so many times that the general meaning is very suspect, much less something that specific.
Having said that, my husband enjoys freaking people out. He had me tattoo "666" on his head (I used an animal tattoo gun!) and he enjoyed freaking out the holy rollers at the Post Office where he works.
That's interesting, I'm going to tell my fiance; next time he goes nuts over one of those history channel shows.
Well, this is the fact well known to every Biblical scholar who has the Greek New Testament in his/her home. Only I doubt that it would have any influence on those who're convinced that the Bible is "infallible". :-)
Blessings and best wishes - S.
Soooo ... the Greek/Russian Orthodox version of it all reads 616 ???
I mean the scholarly text of the Greek New Testament, with all the different readings, edited by the United Bible Societies. Some manuscripts have 616; some even 646. :-) BTW, Revelation is the ONLY Biblical book you would NEVER hear being read in the Orthodox churches, even though formally it is included in the Orthodox canon.
Blessings and best wishes in a plenty - S.
Bear in mind that the Bible is The Word of God. It is infallible. Divinely inspired but transcribed by man who, at that time in human history, was still wiping his butt with his hands. It's not the Bible I doubt. I doubt mans interpretation of it.
If the Bible is actually physical parchment that people can look at with their eyes then it is not only fallible (different versions say different things) ... but it's crumbling very badly.
It's all about faith. You either believe or you don't. Whether you do or not is of no consequence to me.
scarily, they still tend to wipe their butts with their hands in that region of the world. why do you think they freak out so much if you use your left hand to eat with?
This is fascinating! I've never paid much attention to negative numbers. I am a fan of the numbers 5 and 7.
Very interesting. After Omen movies it is a popular belief.
To the memories of twelve
speaking of the Bible, did you see bill maher's religulous? it was hilarious.
664... the neighbor of the Beast.
662.99 ... the Walmart price of the Beast
I'm more afraid of the number 13. I have Triscuits desk a phobia!!!
maybe it's not numbers PJS..........
maybe it has been mistranslated or better yet....truth untold......maybe......
maybe it's three skulls......
like the one's I was born with.............
I'll have to listen to Cary Grant's take before I start counting llama.