Book of Common Prayer
The woman and the dragon
12 Then a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and a crown of twelve stars on her head. 2 She was expecting a child, and she cried out in pain, in the agony of giving birth. 3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: a great fiery-red dragon with seven heads and ten horns. On its heads were seven coronets, 4 and its tail swept a third of the stars out of heaven and threw them down to the earth. The dragon stood opposite the woman who was about to give birth, so that he could devour her child when it was born. 5 She gave birth to a male child, who is going to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. The child was snatched away to God and to his throne; 6 the woman, meanwhile, fled into the desert, where a place has been prepared for her by God, so that she could be looked after there for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.
The dragon is angry
7 Then war broke out in heaven, with Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fighting back. 8 But they could not win, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. 9 So the great dragon was thrown down to the earth—the ancient serpent who is called the devil and the satan, who deceives the whole world. His angels were thrown down with him. 10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, “Now at last has come salvation and power: the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Messiah! The accuser of our family has been thrown down, the one who accuses them before God day and night. 11 They conquered him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony, because they did not love their lives unto death. 12 So rejoice, you heavens and all who live there! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you in great anger, knowing that he only has a short time.”
The feeding of the four thousand
29 Jesus went away from there, and arrived beside the sea of Galilee. He went up the mountain and sat down. 30 Large crowds came to him, with their lame, blind, crippled, mute and many others. They laid them at his feet, and he healed them. 31 When the crowd saw the mute speaking, the crippled made whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing, they were astonished, and they gave praise to the God of Israel.
32 Jesus called his disciples, and said, “I am really sorry for the crowd. They’ve been around me now for three days and they haven’t got anything to eat. I don’t want to send them away hungry; they might faint on the way home.”
33 The disciples said to him, “Where could we get enough bread to feed a crowd this size, out here in the country?”
34 “How many loaves have you got?” asked Jesus.
“Seven,” they replied, “and a few fish.”
35 Jesus told the crowd to sit down on the ground. 36 Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, gave thanks, broke them, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. 37 They all ate and were satisfied. And they picked up seven baskets full of what was left of the broken pieces. 38 There were four thousand men who had eaten, besides the women and children.
39 Jesus sent the crowds away. Then he got into the boat and went over to the Magadan coast.
Scripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.