Everyone knows that 666 has a competing number, 616, right? For the longest time I thought the competing number was 618. Nope. 616. I wonder if ..... of course they have! Here's a paragraph from the Wikipedia article on
The Number of the BEAST.
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Although Irenaeus (2nd century AD) affirmed the number to be 666 and reported several scribal errors of the number, theologians have doubts about the traditional reading because of the appearance of the figure 616 in the Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (C; Paris - one of the four great uncial codices), as well as in the Latin version of Tyconius (DCXVI, ed. Souter in the Journal of Theology, SE, April 1913), and in an ancient Armenian version (ed. Conybeare, 1907). Irenaeus knew about the 616 reading, but did not adopt it (Haer. v.30,3). In the 380s, correcting the existing Latin-language version of the New Testament (commonly referred to as the Vetus Latina), Jerome retained "666".
Fragment from Papyrus 115 (P115) of Revelation in the 66th vol. of the Oxyrhynchus series (P. Oxy. 4499).[16] Has the number of the beast as χιϛ, 616.
Around 2005, a fragment from Papyrus 115, taken from the Oxyrhynchus site, was discovered at the Oxford University's Ashmolean Museum. It gave the beast's number as 616 χιϛʹ. This fragment is the oldest manuscript (about 1,700 years old) of Revelation 13 found as of 2017.
The age of a manuscript is not an indicator of the date of its writing but refers to how old the physical material is. All original biblical manuscripts are non-existent today. As they were held and copied onto new materials, eventually the originals fell apart, leaving fragments for a period and then only the copies. So the oldest texts might actually be found among the newest copies.[citation needed] Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus, known before the P115 finding but dating to after it, has 616 written in full: ἑξακόσιοι δέκα ἕξ, hexakosioi deka hex (lit. "six hundred and sixteen").
Papyrus 115 and Ephraemi Rescriptus have led some scholars to regard 616 as the original number of the beast. According to Paul Louis, "The number 666 has been substituted for 616 either by analogy with 888, the [Greek] number of Jesus (Gustav Adolf Deissmann), or because it is a triangular number, the sum of the first 36 numbers (1+2+3+4+5+6+...+36 = 666)".
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So there's a better graphic on how both numbers are derived... (click it to big it)
So now you have two numbers to worry about. What the hell, let's make it three numbers. 666 + 616 = 1282. No, four numbers! 1282's digits add up to .... 13! OH NO!!
4 comments:
Your number is up.
you have too much time on your hands, LOL ;)
616 seems so ordinary.
I'm happy just with the right Number of the Beast. How like him to deceive us with a misdirection to conceal himself!
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