PMW 2024-063 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.

This is my third study in a brief series on the number 666 found in Revelation 13:18 (and on many cash register receipts found in the pockets of people in emergency rooms, who had a heart attack when they were startled to find their store receipt with this precise figure!)

The Textual Variant 616
If you have a Bible with marginal references you will notice something of interest regarding Revelation 13:18. Your reference may say something to the effect: “Some manuscripts read 616.” The fact is that the number 666 in some ancient versions of Scripture is actually changed to 616. But why? Was it changed accidentally, or on purpose?

It surely was no accident. The numbers 666 and 616 are not even similar in the original Greek — whether spelled out in words or written out as numerals. There is no way a copiest could confuse the two. As textual scholars agree, it must be intentional.[1] But again we ask, Why?

Although we cannot be absolutely certain, a strong and most reasonable case may be made for the following conjecture. John, a Jew, used a Hebrew spelling of Nero’s name in order to arrive at the figure 666. When Revelation began circulating among those less acquainted with Hebrew, a well-meaning copiest might have intended to make the deciphering of the number easier. It surely is no mere coincidence that 616 is the numerical value of “Nero Caesar,” when spelled in Hebrew by transliterating it from its more common Latin spelling.

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Such a conjecture would satisfactorily explain the rationale for the divergence: so that the non-Hebrew mind might more readily discern the identity of the Beast. Even late-date advocate Donald Guthrie, who rejects the Nero theory, grants that this variant gives the designation Nero “a distinct advantage.” [2]

And as renowned Greek scholar Bruce Metzger says:

“Perhaps the change was intentional, seeing that the Greek form Neron Caesar written in Hebrew characters (nrwn qsr) is equivalent to 666, whereas the Latin form Nero Caesar (nrw qsr) is equivalent to 616.” [3]

Such a possibility offers a remarkable confirmation of the designation of Nero.

NOTES
1. Bruce M. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament (London: United Bible Societies, 1971), 751–752.

2. Donald B. Guthrie, New Testament Introduction (3rd ed.: Downer’s Grove, Ill: Inter-varsity Press, 1970), 959.

3. Metzger, Textual Commentary, 752.

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