Why does the oldest known version of the book of Revelation list the Mark of the Beast as 616, rather than 666?

Answer 1

we have been taught to believe that oldest means best. But that is not the case. The Scriptures were copied down with such care and accuracy that when we found the Dead Sea scrolls, nary a thing had changed from the Texus Receptus. The oldest is not the best. The majority is the best. Many of the newer versions of the Bible are based on a minority of Biblical texts from questionable sources. While the old KJV is based on the text that has over 5000 portions and makes up a vast majority of the Biblical texts.

interesting to note.

one of the newer texts that were found and used for translations of the Bible was found in a Monastery about to be burned because it had obvious mistakes in it.

if I were you, I would trust the texts proven and confirmed instead of the questionable ones.

Answer 2

Though you might be looking for a light from Heaven answer, this seems, despite some scholarly argument to be a matter of translation between three languages, Greek, Latin and Aramaic. Let me correct that and add Hebrew. Some languages can't list numbers three times in a row, and some list added numbers to single numbers. Either way it is an issue of numbers adding up to letter/names. (code)