Canadian Bible scholar Wes Huff is encouraging Christians to reexamine a widely held assumption about Revelation 13:18—that the number of the beast is definitively 666. According to Huff, some of the earliest and most respected manuscripts suggest a different number altogether: 616.

According to Christian Post, Huff explained that while most modern Bibles read “666,” a handful of early manuscripts—including Papyrus 115 and Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus—record the number as 616. These textual variants have been known since the early centuries of the Church. Huff noted that Church Father Irenaeus was already aware of the 616 reading in the second century, though he ultimately supported 666 as the more accurate version.

The existence of such variations, according to Huff, is not cause for alarm. Rather, it demonstrates the transparency and precision of biblical textual scholarship. As reported by Christian Post, Huff believes the ability to detect and discuss such minor differences underscores the overall reliability of the New Testament manuscript tradition.

According to Huff’s post on X, the variant reading of 616 may be linked to differences in how names were spelled and understood in ancient languages. In particular, the practice of gematria—in which letters correspond to numbers—could account for how the name “Nero Caesar” yields different numerical values depending on whether it is transliterated in Hebrew or Greek. This would explain why some scribes may have preserved 616 rather than 666.

However, Huff cautions against sensational or rigid interpretations of apocalyptic texts. According to his remarks on X, the symbolic nature of Revelation calls for discernment, not obsession. The passage’s instruction to “calculate the number” is, in his view, an invitation to wisdom grounded in biblical and historical context—not numerological speculation.

As Christian Post notes, Huff’s central message is not about replacing one number with another, but about cultivating confidence in Scripture itself. Textual variations like this, he argues, should lead readers to deeper engagement with the biblical text rather than fear or confusion.