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. ² She was pregnant and cried out in pain^(D) as she was about to give birth.

⁴ Its tail swept a third^(A) of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth.^(B) The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child^(C) the moment he was born. ⁵ She gave birth to a son, a male child, who “will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.”^[a](D) And her child was snatched up^(E) to God and to his throne. ⁶ The woman fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.^(F)

¹³ When the dragon^(A) saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child.^{(B) 14} The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle,^(C) so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the wilderness, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time,^(D) out of the serpent’s reach. ¹⁵ Then from his mouth the serpent^(E) spewed water like a river, to overtake the woman and sweep her away with the torrent. ¹⁶ But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. ¹⁷ Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to wage war^(F) against the rest of her offspring^(G)—those who keep God’s commands^(H) and hold fast their testimony about Jesus.^(I)