One of its heads: it must be clear that this refers to the beast; the dragon also had seven heads.

Seemed to have a mortal wound: the meaning is, rather, “had a wound that seemed to be fatal (or, mortal).” The English adjective mortal translates the perfect passive participle of the verb “to kill” (see its use in TEV 5.6: “The Lamb appeared to have been killed”). Here it means that it appeared that one of the heads had been killed, but the text goes on to say that “his deadly wound had healed,” implying that there was a scar that showed how severe the wound had been. Whether or not the wound had been fatal depends on how verse 14 is understood.

The whole earth followed the beast with wonder: the Greek text says “The whole earth marveled after the beast.” The verb means “to wonder,” “to marvel,” “to be amazed.” For the whole earth it is better to say “everyone on earth” or “all the people of the world.”

Alternative translation models for the first part of this verse are:

• On one of the heads of the beast was a scar that seemed to have been the result of a fatal (or, mortal) wound. But the wound had healed.

Or:

• … the scar from a wound that should have killed it (or, caused it to die). But….

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Revelation to John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1993. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .