Read the New Testament in 24 Weeks

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. ² And she was with child, and she *^(E)cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth. ³ 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. ⁴ 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. ⁵ 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. ⁶ 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

⁷ 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, ⁸ and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. ⁹ 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.

The Beast from the Sea

13 And the ^[j]dragon stood on the sand of the ^[k]seashore.

Then I saw a ^(AX)beast coming up out of the sea, having ^(AY)ten horns and ^(AZ)seven heads, and on his horns were ^(BA)ten diadems, and on his heads were ^(BB)blasphemous names. ² And the beast which I saw was ^(BC)like a leopard, and his feet were like those of ^(BD)a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of ^(BE)a lion. And the ^(BF)dragon gave him his power and his ^(BG)throne and great authority. ³ And I saw one of his heads as if it had been ^[l]slain fatally, and his ^(BH)fatal wound was healed. And the whole earth ^(BI)marveled and followed after the beast. ⁴ And they worshiped the ^(BJ)dragon because he ^(BK)gave his authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, “^(BL)Who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with him?” ⁵ And there was given to him a mouth ^(BM)speaking ^[m]great boasts and blasphemies, and authority to act for ^(BN)forty-two months was given to him. ⁶ And he opened his mouth in blasphemies against God, to blaspheme His name and His tabernacle, that is, ^(BO)those who ^[n]dwell in heaven.

⁷ And it was also given to him to ^(BP)make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority over ^(BQ)every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him. ⁸ And all who ^(BR)dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone ^(BS)whose name has not been ^[o]written ^(BT)from the foundation of the world in the ^(BU)book of life of ^(BV)the Lamb who has been slain. ^9 (BW)If anyone has an ear, let him hear. ^10 (BX)If anyone ^[p]is destined for captivity, to captivity he goes; ^(BY)if anyone kills with the sword, with the sword he must be killed. Here is ^(BZ)the perseverance and the faith of the saints.

The Beast from the Earth

¹¹ Then ^(CA)I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had ^(CB)two horns like a lamb and he was speaking as a ^(CC)dragon. ¹² And he ^(CD)exercises all the authority of the first beast ^[q](CE)in his presence. And he makes ^(CF)the earth and those who dwell in it to ^(CG)worship the first beast, whose ^(CH)fatal wound was healed. ¹³ And he ^(CI)does great signs, so that he even makes ^(CJ)fire come down out of heaven to the earth in the presence of men. ¹⁴ And he ^(CK)deceives ^(CL)those who dwell on the earth because of ^(CM)the signs which were given to him to do ^[r](CN)in the presence of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who *had the ^(CO)wound of the sword and has come to life. ¹⁵ And it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would even ^[s]speak and cause ^(CP)as many as do not ^(CQ)worship the image of the beast to be killed. ¹⁶ And he causes all, ^(CR)the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, that they ^[t]be given a ^(CS)mark on their right hand or on their forehead, ¹⁷ and that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the ^(CT)mark, either ^(CU)the name of the beast or ^(CV)the number of his name. ^18 (CW)Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number ^(CX)of man; and his number is ^[u]666.