Monster

Most modern translations of the New Testament use the English word “beast” for the Greek word “therion”. A beast is one of the main characters in John’s vision. The problem is that we do not use the word beast much these days. We speak of animals, but we rarely refer to a beast, so it is hard to understand what John is describing.

I recently read a translation of the New Testament (by NT Wright) that translates therion as “monster”. This immediately rang a bell for me. Every child knows about monsters. They know that they are big powerful and terrifying.

In my Notes on Revelation, I refer to a monster rather than a beast. This makes it easier to get a sense of what John saw.