Revelation 12
EasyEnglish Bible
The woman and the great red snake
12 A very wonderful thing then appeared in the sky. I saw a woman who was wearing the sun like her clothes. The moon was under her feet. A crown of 12 stars was on her head. 2 She was pregnant. She screamed with pain as she tried to give birth to her baby.
3 Then another wonderful thing appeared in the sky. It was a very big red dragon. It had seven heads and ten horns. There was a crown on each head. 4 Its tail beat away a third of the stars from the sky. It threw them down on the earth. Then the dragon stood in front of the woman who would soon give birth to her baby. He was waiting there to eat her child as soon as he was born. 5 The woman gave birth to a son. He was a man who would rule all the nations of the world with strong authority. Then someone quickly took her child away. He went up to God and to his throne. 6 The woman ran away into the wilderness. God had prepared a special place to keep her safe there for 1,260 days.
7 Then a war started in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon and his army of angels fought against Michael and his angels.[a] 8 But the dragon and his army were not strong enough to win the battle. They no longer had a place for themselves in heaven. 9 Michael and his angels threw the great dragon out of heaven. The dragon is called the Devil or Satan. He is the snake who has been there since long ago. He tells lies to deceive the whole world. They threw him down to the earth, together with all his angels. 10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven that said:
‘Now God has saved his people from Satan's power!
God has shown his great power as King.
His Messiah has authority to rule.
Satan said bad things against our people.
He never stopped telling our God that our brothers and sisters are guilty.
But now God has thrown him out of heaven.
11 Our brothers and sisters fought against him and they won.
They could do this because of the death of the Lamb as a sacrifice.
They continued to speak God's true message.
They were also ready to die as God's servants.
That is why they were able to win against Satan.
12 So be happy, everyone who lives in heaven!
But terrible trouble will happen to the earth and the sea.
The Devil has come down to you now and he is very angry.
He knows that he has only a short time to hurt people.’
13 The dragon realized that they had thrown him down to the earth. So he chased after the woman who had given birth to the baby boy. He wanted to catch her. 14 But the woman received the two wings of a very big eagle. Then she could fly to the place in the wilderness that God had prepared for her. In that place God would keep her safe from the big snake. God would take care of her there for a time, times and half a time.[b]
15 Then the dragon poured lots of water out of his mouth like a river. He wanted the river of water to carry the woman away. 16 But a big hole opened in the ground. The river that poured from the dragon's mouth went down into the hole. That helped the woman to escape. 17 As a result, the dragon was very angry with the woman. So he went away to fight a war against her other descendants. Those are the people who obey God's commands. They continue to trust Jesus and to speak his message.[c]
18 After that, the dragon stood on the shore of the sea.
Footnotes
- 12:7 The Bible tells us that the angel Michael is a powerful angel. He is a leader of God's angels. See Jude 1:9 and Daniel 10:13,21; 12:1.
- 12:14 ‘A time, times and half a time’ may mean three and a half years. This is the same as 1,260 days. See Revelation 11:3; 12:6. It is also the same as 42 months. See Revelation 11:2; 13:5. See also Daniel 12:7.
- 12:17 The ‘woman’ is like a picture of God's people. In verses 1-5, perhaps she is Israel's people and the boy that is born is Jesus. In verses 6 and 13-17, she is like all the Christians on the earth. The Devil is the enemy of all Christians.
Revelation 12
Modern English Version
The Woman and the Dragon
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. 2 She was with child and cried out in labor and in pain to give birth. 3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: There was a great red dragon with seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. 4 His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven, and threw them to the earth. The dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as He was born. 5 She gave birth to a male Child, “who was to rule all nations with an iron scepter.”[a] And her Child was caught up to God and to His throne. 6 The woman fled into the wilderness where she has a place prepared by God, that they may nourish her there for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.
7 Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought, 8 but they did not prevail, nor was there a place for them in heaven any longer. 9 The great dragon was cast out, that ancient serpent called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world. He was cast down to the earth, and his angels were cast down with him.
10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying:
“Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God
and the authority of His Christ have come,
for the accuser of our brothers,
who accused them before our God day and night,
has been cast down.
11 They overcame him
by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony,
and they loved not their lives
unto the death.
12 Therefore rejoice, O heavens,
and you who dwell in them!
Woe unto the inhabitants of the earth and the sea!
For the devil has come down to you in great wrath,
because he knows that his time is short.”
13 When the dragon saw that he was cast down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child. 14 The woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is to be nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent. 15 Then the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood. 16 But the earth helped the woman. The earth opened its mouth and swallowed the flood which the dragon spewed out of his mouth. 17 Then the dragon was angry with the woman, and he went to wage war with the remnant of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Footnotes
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The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.