Commentaries:
Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown
to receive a mark—literally, "that they should give them a mark"; such a brand as masters stamp on their slaves, and monarchs on their subjects. Soldiers voluntarily punctured their arms with marks of the general under whom they served. Votaries of idols branded themselves with the idol's cipher or symbol. Thus Antiochus Epiphanes branded the Jews with the ivy leaf, the symbol of Bacchus (2 Maccabees 6:7; 3 Maccabees 2:29). Contrast God's seal and name in the foreheads of His servants, Revelation 7:3; Revelation 14:1; Revelation 22:4; and Galatians 6:17, "I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus," that is, I am His soldier and servant. The mark in the right hand and forehead implies the prostration of bodily and intellectual powers to the beast's domination. "In the forehead by way of profession; in the hand with respect to work and service" [AUGUSTINE].
Other Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown entries containing Revelation 13:16:
Isaiah 44:5
Ezekiel 9:2
Ezekiel 9:4
1 John 2:18
Revelation 3:12
Revelation 12:6
Revelation 12:11
Revelation 14:9
Revelation 19:18
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