What Does Revelation 13:11 Mean in the King James?

And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.

Revelation 13:11 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

THE KEY

The horns borrow the Lamb’s appearance, but the voice discloses the nature beneath it.

THE MEANING

A gentle shape does not make a gentle source: the beast resembles a lamb while speaking as a dragon. The verse holds appearance and voice side by side, so the difference is already audible now. A sacred likeness can be borrowed while its underlying nature remains exposed in what it says.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

A gentle or sacred appearance does not prove a gentle nature; the verse shows that likeness can conceal a different source.

THE ROOT

ἀρνίον

arnion

GROWS FROM

ἀρν-

lamb

The Greek word ⁨ἀρνίον⁩ is also the word used for the Lamb in Revelation 5:6. That shared word makes the resemblance precise: the beast bears the Lamb’s likeness, while its voice reveals a different nature.

ALSO GROWS

arēn: lamb

ἀρήν

This older Greek form shares the lamb-word stem behind ⁨ἀρνίον⁩.

arnion: lamb; a diminutive form of ⁨ἀρήν⁩

ἀρνίον

This is the exact word used here for the beast’s lamb-like appearance and for the Lamb in Revelation 5:6.

THE PATTERN

A concealed nature becomes visible through the words and signs that emerge beneath a harmless appearance.

He that hateth dissembleth with his lips, and layeth up deceit within him;

Proverbs 26:24 · KJVThe lips present one thing while what is held within carries another.

Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

Matthew 7:15 · KJVA harmless covering can conceal a nature revealed by what lies beneath it.

And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.

2 Corinthians 11:14 · KJVAn appearance of light can be assumed without changing the nature underneath.

THE THREAD

And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.

Revelation 5:6 · KJV

The Lamb here is ⁨ἀρνίον⁩, the same Greek noun behind the beast’s lamb-like appearance. That shared word makes the imitation precise: the verse gives the beast the Lamb’s outward likeness, then distinguishes it by the dragon’s voice.

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