I had an epiphany. Just replace 'sea' with 'abyss' (because for the Hebrews the sea was the abyss, the unknown), 'dragon' with 'greed and evil', 'first beast' with 'international banking', 'second beast' with 'tax administration', 'number of the beast' with 'tax number', in Revelation 13 and it will make sense.

"The dragon[greed and evil] stood on the shore of the sea [abyss]. And I saw a beast [international banking] coming out of the sea [abyss]. It had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on its horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. 2 The beast [international banking] I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon [greed and evil] gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority. 3 One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was filled with wonder and followed the beast [international banking]. 4 People worshiped the dragon [greed and evil] because he had given authority to the beast [international banking], and they also worshiped the beast [banking] and asked, “Who is like the beast [bankers]? Who can wage war against it?”

5 The beast [international banking] was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise its authority for forty-two months [every three and a half years]. 6 It opened its mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. 7 It was given power to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. And it was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. 8 All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast []international banking]—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world.

...

11 Then I saw a second beast [tax administration], coming out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon. 12 It exercised all the authority of the first beast [international banking] on its behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast [international banking], whose fatal wound had been healed. 13 And it performed great signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to the earth in full view of the people. 14 Because of the signs it was given power to perform on behalf of the first beast [international banking], it deceived the inhabitants of the earth. It ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast [international banking] who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. 15 The second beast [tax administration] was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast [international banking], so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. 16 It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark [tax number] on their right hands or on their foreheads , 17 so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark [tax number], which is the name of the beast [tax administration] or the number of its name [tax number].
18 This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast [tax number], for it is the number of a man. That number is 666."

note:
Vav (ו) is the sixth letter of the Hebrew alphabet
Numerical value: 6
Sound: "V," "OH" and "OO"
Meaning: 1. hook 2. the word “and” 3. in front of a word, transforms past into future or future to past

#BookofRevelation #Revelation13 #greed #evil #money #internationalbanking #taxadministration