Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared.

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The Woman and the Dragon

12 A great sign(A) appeared in heaven:(B) a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars(C) on her head. She was pregnant and cried out in pain(D) as she was about to give birth. Then another sign appeared in heaven:(E) an enormous red dragon(F) with seven heads(G) and ten horns(H) and seven crowns(I) on its heads. Its tail swept a third(J) of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth.(K) The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child(L) the moment he was born. She gave birth to a son, a male child, who “will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.”[a](M) And her child was snatched up(N) to God and to his throne.

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Footnotes

  1. Revelation 12:5 Psalm 2:9

21 His talk is smooth as butter,(A)
    yet war is in his heart;
his words are more soothing than oil,(B)
    yet they are drawn swords.(C)

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21 “I will give her to him,” he thought, “so that she may be a snare(A) to him and so that the hand of the Philistines may be against him.” So Saul said to David, “Now you have a second opportunity to become my son-in-law.”

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Aram, Ephraim and Remaliah’s(A) son have plotted(B) your ruin, saying, “Let us invade Judah; let us tear it apart and divide it among ourselves, and make the son of Tabeel king over it.” Yet this is what the Sovereign Lord says:(C)

“‘It will not take place,
    it will not happen,(D)

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With cunning they conspire(A) against your people;
    they plot against those you cherish.(B)
“Come,” they say, “let us destroy(C) them as a nation,(D)
    so that Israel’s name is remembered(E) no more.”

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They shoot from ambush at the innocent;(A)
    they shoot suddenly, without fear.(B)

They encourage each other in evil plans,
    they talk about hiding their snares;(C)
    they say, “Who will see it[a]?”(D)
They plot injustice and say,
    “We have devised a perfect plan!”
    Surely the human mind and heart are cunning.

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Footnotes

  1. Psalm 64:5 Or us

    like a lion in cover he lies in wait.
He lies in wait to catch the helpless;(A)
    he catches the helpless and drags them off in his net.(B)
10 His victims are crushed,(C) they collapse;
    they fall under his strength.

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10 Come, we must deal shrewdly(A) with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.”(B)

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15 Then from his mouth the serpent(A) spewed water like a river, to overtake the woman and sweep her away with the torrent.

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Then the chief priests and the elders of the people assembled(A) in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas,(B) and they schemed to arrest Jesus secretly and kill him.(C) “But not during the festival,” they said, “or there may be a riot(D) among the people.”

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10 “‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: On that day thoughts will come into your mind(A) and you will devise an evil scheme.(B) 11 You will say, “I will invade a land of unwalled villages; I will attack a peaceful and unsuspecting people(C)—all of them living without walls and without gates and bars.(D)

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