Book of Common Prayer

There appeared in heaven a woman clothed with the sun. Michael fights with the dragon, who persecutes the woman.

12 And there appeared a great wonder in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of 12 stars. ² And she was with child and cried out, travailing in birth, and pained, ready to be delivered. ³ And there appeared another wonder in heaven, for behold: a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and crowns upon his heads. ⁴ And his tail drew the third part of the stars and cast them to the earth.

And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to be delivered in order to devour her child as soon as it was born. ⁵ And she brought forth a man child who was to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. And her Son was taken up to God and to his seat. ⁶ And the woman fled into wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there 1,260 days.

⁷ And there was a great battle in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon. And the dragon fought, and his angels, ⁸ but did not prevail; neither was their place found in heaven any more. ⁹ And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the devil and Satan, who deceives all the world. And he was cast into the earth, and his angels were cast out also.

¹⁰ And I heard a loud voice saying, Now in heaven is made salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ. For he is cast down who accused our brethren before God day and night. ¹¹ And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony. And they loved not their lives to the death. ¹² Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! For the devil has come down to you, who has great wrath, because he knows that he has but a short time.

²⁹ Then Jesus went away from there, and came near to the Sea of Galilee, ³⁰ and went up on a mountain and sat down there. And crowds of people came to him, having with them people who were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others, and put them down at Jesus’ feet. ³¹ And he healed them, and the people were in wonderment to see the dumb speak, the maimed whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they glorified the God of Israel.

³² Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, I have compassion on the people, because they have continued with me now for three days, and have nothing to eat. I do not want to let them go away without eating, lest they faint along the road. ³³ And his disciples said to him, Where could we get enough bread in this remote place to feed such a great number of people? ³⁴ And Jesus said to them, How many loaves do you have? And they said, Seven, and a few little fishes.

³⁵ And he directed the people to sit down on the ground, ³⁶ and took the seven loaves and the fishes, and gave thanks, and broke them, and gave them to his disciples; and the disciples gave them to the people. ³⁷ And they did all eat, and were satisfied. And of the pieces left over they took up seven baskets full – ³⁸ and yet those who ate were 4,000 men, as well as women and children.

³⁹ And Jesus sent the people away, boarded the boat, and went to the region of Magdala.