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The Woman, the Child, and the Dragon

12 And a great (A)sign appeared (B)in heaven: (C)a woman (D)clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. And she was with child, and she *(E)cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth. Then (F)another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red (G)dragon having (H)seven heads and (I)ten horns, and on his heads were (J)seven diadems. And his tail *swept away a (K)third of the stars of heaven and (L)threw them to the earth. And the (M)dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth (N)he might devour her child. And (O)she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to [a](P)rule all the [b]nations with a rod of iron; and her child was (Q)caught up to God and to His throne. Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she *had a place prepared by God, so that there [c]she would be nourished for (R)1,260 days.

War in Heaven

And there was war in heaven, (S)Michael and his angels waging war with the (T)dragon. The dragon and (U)his angels waged war, and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. And the great (V)dragon was thrown down, the (W)serpent of old who is called the devil and (X)Satan, who (Y)deceives the whole [d]world. He was (Z)thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. 10 Then I heard (AA)a loud voice in heaven, saying,

“Now the (AB)salvation, and the power, and the (AC)kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the (AD)accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night. 11 And they (AE)overcame him because of (AF)the blood of the Lamb and because of (AG)the word of their witness, and they (AH)did not love their life even to death. 12 For this reason, (AI)rejoice, O heavens and (AJ)you who [e]dwell in them. (AK)Woe to the earth and the sea, because (AL)the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only (AM)a short time.”

13 And when the (AN)dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted (AO)the woman who gave birth to the male child. 14 But the (AP)two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, so that she could fly (AQ)into the wilderness to her place, where she *was nourished for (AR)a time and times and half a time, from the [f]presence of the serpent. 15 And the (AS)serpent [g]poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, so that he might cause her to be swept away with the flood. 16 [h]But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and drank up the river which the dragon [i]poured out of his mouth. 17 So the dragon was enraged with the woman and went off to (AT)make war with the rest of her (AU)seed, who (AV)keep the commandments of God and (AW)have the witness of Jesus.

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Footnotes

  1. Revelation 12:5 Or shepherd
  2. Revelation 12:5 Or Gentiles
  3. Revelation 12:6 Lit they would nourish her for
  4. Revelation 12:9 Lit inhabited earth
  5. Revelation 12:12 Or tabernacle
  6. Revelation 12:14 Lit face
  7. Revelation 12:15 Lit threw
  8. Revelation 12:16 Lit And
  9. Revelation 12:16 Lit threw

The Dragon and the Child

12 A great sign appeared in the sky: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. She was pregnant, and she cried out in pain and agony as she gave birth.

Another sign also appeared in the sky: There was a huge red dragon that had seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads. His tail swept away a third of the stars in the sky and threw them to the earth. The dragon stood before the woman, who was about to give birth, so that he could devour the child as soon as it was born.

She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will shepherd all the nations with an iron rod. Her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God in order that she might be fed there for 1,260 days.

War in Heaven

There was also a war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought with the dragon. The dragon fought back along with his angels, but he was not strong enough. There was no longer a place for them[a] in heaven. The great dragon was thrown down—the ancient serpent, the one called the Devil and Satan, the one who leads the whole inhabited earth astray—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

10 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 Christ,[b]
because the accuser of our brothers[c] has been thrown down,
    the one who accuses them before our God day and night.
11 They conquered him
    because of the blood of the Lamb and
    because of the word of their testimony.
They did not love their lives in the face of death.
12 For this reason, rejoice, you heavens and those who dwell in them.
Woe to the earth and the sea,
    for the Devil has gone down to you.
    He is full of rage, because he knows that his time is short.

The Dragon Persecutes the Woman

13 When the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman, who had given birth to the male child. 14 Two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman so that she might fly to her place in the wilderness, where she is to be fed for a time, and times, and half a time, away from the presence of the serpent. 15 And the serpent spewed water out of his mouth, like a river, after the woman, in order to carry her away in the flowing water. 16 But the earth helped the woman. The earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river, which the dragon had spewed out of its mouth.

17 The dragon was angry about what had happened to the woman, and he went away to make war against the rest of her children—those who keep the commandments of God and who hold on to the testimony about Jesus.

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Footnotes

  1. Revelation 12:8 Some witnesses to the text read him.
  2. Revelation 12:10 Or Anointed One
  3. Revelation 12:10 When context indicates it, the Greek word for brothers may refer to all fellow believers, male and female.