Some ancient texts say 616 instead of 666. Here’s what that means and why it shouldn’t shake your faith in God’s Word.



Canadian biblical scholar and apologist Wesley Huff recently explained that the mark of the beast in the Book of Revelation is not 666, as some of the earliest known manuscripts indicate. The mark of the beast, found in Revelation 13:18, is translated into most translations as "666." Huff, however, noted that some of the earliest known manuscripts, such as Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus, read "616" instead.

Nevertheless, Huff reassured that the discrepancy is nothing to worry about, The Christian Post reports.

Early Church figures, including Irenaeus in the second century, wrote that 666 was more accurate than the variant based on the earliest and most reliable copies available to them.

"In the grand scheme of things, the presence of these types of scribal differences and textual variances ... still has all the evidence on the side of Revelation 13:18 reading '666,'" Huff wrote on X last week.

According to Huff, numbers frequently had symbolic importance in the ancient world. Letters were utilized as numerals in many ancient languages, such as Hebrew and Greek. According to that reasoning, the Hebrew transliteration of the name "Nero Caesar" equals 666, in which 616 is obtained by taking the last "n" out of "Neron."

"Interestingly enough, the variant of '616' does not change this," Huff said. "616 calculated in Greek could also add up to Gaius Caesar written in the style of Caligula."

At the same time, however, Huff warned against overfocusing on numerology.

"These connections ...while interesting, are of course, speculative," he wrote.

Huff contended that the textual tradition's stability reinforces trust in the Bible's reliability despite these variations.

"The fact that we are able to pinpoint, discuss, and interact with these variants in the manuscript tradition — right down to letters and individual words—shows the reliability and confidence we have in the text we render and translate from today," he said.

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