Verse 17: He compelled all the subjects of the provinces to bear the mark of the beast by an economic warfare, that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or name of the beast, or the number of his name --the enforcement of a maniacally rigorous interdict, an imperial boycott that would make life impossible for all who refused to wear the stigmatic name of the demonic emperor. By such means the provincial procurators forced all of their subjects into abject submission to the imperial edict of emperor-worship, which was the mark or badge of the Satanic beast-the emperor. Thus the mark of the beast simply meant to yield and bow to the edicts of the Roman emperor to worship his image.