13:12a

And this beast exercised all the authority: Here the word exercised means “used.” The second beast ruled with the same authority that the first beast had. For example:

The second beast uses all the authority (God’s Word)

The beast probably ruled during the whole 42 months. Translate this clause so that it indicates always doing so rather than doing this once.

of the first beast: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as of the first beast is more literally “of the first beast before him.” There are several ways to interpret the phrase “before him.” The main interpretations are:

(1) The Greek phrase means in submission to him or for his benefit. The authority of the second beast came from the first beast, and he worked for the first beast. For example:

on its behalf (New Revised Standard Version)

(2) The Greek phrase means in his presence. The second beast ruled while standing in front of the first beast. For example:

stands before (New Century Version)

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1), because the BDAG supports it.

13:12b

caused the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast: These words indicate that the second beast required people to worship the first beast. If they did not worship it, he would punish them. For example:

It forced the earth and all who live on it to worship the first beast (Good News Translation)

the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast: The phrase the earth and those who dwell in it refers to the people of the earth. They will worship the first beast. Other ways to translate this phrase are:

all the earth and its people (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
all the people of the world worship the first beast and ⌊made⌋ the ⌊things of the⌋ world be used for that worship

worship: This word refers to honoring someone or something as sacred/divine. Other ways to translate this word are:

venerate
-or-
revere

See how you translated this word in 13:4.

13:12c

whose mortal wound had been healed: As 13:3a indicates, one of the first beast’s heads had a fatal wound. But this clause indicates that the wound was healed. Other ways to translate this phrase are:

the one who had been wounded to death but healed
-or-
whose deadly injury had healed (New Jerusalem Bible)

This tells the reader more about the first beast. In some languages a literal translation would wrongly indicate that there were other beasts called “the first beast” and only this one had a fatal wound. If that is true in your language, translate this clause so that it tells more about the first beast. One way to do that is to start a new sentence here. For example:

His mortal wound had been healed

See how you translated a similar clause in 13:3.

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