Revelation 12-13

Tree of Life Version

Mother, Child, Dragon, and War

12 A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. ^{[a] 2} She is pregnant—crying out in birth pains, in agony to give birth.^[b]

³ Then another sign appeared in heaven: a great fiery red dragon that had seven heads and ten horns, and seven royal crowns on his heads. ^{[c] 4} His tail sweeps away a third of the stars of heaven—it hurled them to the earth.^[d] Now the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that whenever she gave birth he might devour her child.

⁵ And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with an iron rod.^[e] And her child was snatched away to God and to His throne. ⁶ Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God so they might take care of her for 1,260 days.

⁷ And war broke out in heaven, Michael and his angels making war against the dragon.^[f] The dragon and his angels fought, ⁸ but they were not strong enough, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. ⁹ And the great dragon was thrown down—the ancient serpent, called the devil and satan, who deceives the whole world.^[g] He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. ^{[h] 10} Then I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Anointed One, for the accuser of our brothers and sisters—the one who accuses them before our God day and night^[i]—has been thrown out. ¹¹ They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives even in the face of death.

¹² Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the earth and the sea, for the devil has come down to you with great rage, knowing that his time is short.

¹³ Now when the dragon saw that he had been thrown to the earth, he stalked the woman who had given birth to the male child. ¹⁴ But the woman was given two wings of the great eagle,^[j] so that she might fly away from the presence of the serpent into the wilderness, to the place where she is taken care of—for a time, times, and half a time.^[k]

¹⁵ And from out of his mouth, the serpent spewed water like a river after the woman, in order to sweep her away with a flood. ¹⁶ But the earth came to the aid of the woman. The earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had spewed from his mouth. ¹⁷ So the dragon became enraged at the woman and went off to make war with the rest of her offspring—those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Yeshua. ¹⁸ And he stood on the shore of the sea.

Two Beasts

13 Then I saw a beast rising out of the sea,^[l] that had ten horns and seven heads. On his horns were ten royal crowns, and upon his heads were slanderous names. ² Now the beast that I saw was like a leopard, his feet like a bear’s, and his mouth like a lion’s. And the dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority. ³ One of his heads seemed to have been slain, but the fatal wound was healed. The whole earth was amazed and followed the beast. ⁴ And they worshiped the dragon, because he had given authority to the beast. They also worshiped the beast, chanting, “Who is like the beast, and who can make war against him?”^[m]

⁵ The beast was given a mouth uttering great boasts and blasphemies. It was given authority to act for forty-two months. ⁶ Then he opened his mouth with blasphemies against God, to slander His name and His tabernacle—that is, those dwelling in heaven. ⁷ He was also permitted to make war against the kedoshim and overcome them, and he was given authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation. ⁸ All who dwell on the earth shall worship him—everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the Book of Life of the Lamb who was slain.

Here is the perseverance and faith of the kedoshim.

¹¹ Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth. He had two horns^[o] like a lamb and spoke like a dragon. ¹² He exercises all the authority of the first beast before him, and he makes the earth and all those who dwell in it worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed. ¹³ He performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven in the sight of men. ^{[p] 14} And he deceives those who dwell on the earth through the signs he is permitted to perform, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image in honor of the beast who has the sword wound yet lived. ¹⁵ The second beast was permitted to give life to the image of the first beast, so that the image of the beast could even speak and cause all who would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. ¹⁶ He also causes all—the small and the great, the rich and the poor, the free and the slave—to receive a mark on their right hand or upon their forehead. ¹⁷ And so no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark—either the name of the beast or the number of his name.

¹⁸ Here is wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is a number of a man, and his number is 666.^[q]