Read the New Testament in 24 Weeks

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:

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.

The wild animal from the sea

13 Then I saw a wild animal that was coming up out of the sea.^[d] It had ten horns and there was a crown on each horn. The animal also had seven heads. On each head there was a bad name that insulted God. ² The wild animal that I saw was like a leopard. But its feet were like a bear's feet and its mouth was like a lion's mouth. The dragon gave his own power and great authority to the wild animal so that it could rule as king.

³ Someone had hurt one of the wild animal's heads with a bad wound. It seemed that it would soon die. But the wound in the animal's head had become well again. This surprised all the people who were living on the earth. As a result, they were ready to obey what the wild animal said. ⁴ People worshipped the dragon because he had given his authority to the wild animal. They also worshipped the wild animal. They said, ‘Nobody is like this animal! Nobody is strong enough to fight against him!’

⁵ The wild animal received authority to rule people for 42 months. It could speak proud words and insult God. ⁶ So it started to speak against God. It insulted God's name and the place where he lives, as well as the people who live there in heaven. ⁷ It received power to fight a war against God's own people and to win against them. It received authority to rule over people from every nation, people from every tribe and people from every language. ⁸ Nearly all the people who live on the earth will worship the wild animal. But those people whose names are in the Lamb's book of life will not worship it.^[e] The Lamb wrote the names of these believers in his book from the beginning of the world. He is the Lamb that people killed as a sacrifice.

⁹ Everyone who can understand should listen carefully to these words:

This means that God's people must be patient and strong. They must continue to trust God.^[f]

The wild animal from the land

¹¹ Then I saw a second wild animal. This one was coming up out of the ground.^[g] It had two horns like a lamb's horns. But it spoke like a dragon. ¹² It worked for the first wild animal and it used the authority of the first wild animal. It made all the people on earth worship the first wild animal. That first animal was the one that someone had hurt very much. It seemed that it would soon die but it had become well again.

¹³ The second wild animal did great miracles. It even caused fire to come down from heaven to the earth, while people watched. ¹⁴ It used the authority of the first wild animal to do many miracles. In that way, it deceived the people who lived on the earth. It told them to make an image of the first wild animal. This was the animal that was still alive after a sword had given it a bad wound. ¹⁵ The second wild animal received power to give life to the image of the first wild animal. As a result, the image could speak. It said, ‘Anyone who refuses to worship me must die!’

¹⁶ The second wild animal also caused everyone to receive a mark. Everyone received a mark on their right hand or on the front of their head. This included important people and ordinary people, rich people and poor people, free people and slaves. ¹⁷ Nobody could buy anything unless they had this mark on them. Nor could they sell anything. This mark shows the wild animal's name or the number of its name.

¹⁸ You must think carefully so that you can understand this number. Anyone who is wise should try to understand what the wild animal's number means. It is a human number. The number is 666.