Revelation 12–13

THE WOMAN, THE CHILD, AND THE DRAGON

12A great sign appeared in heaven:^y a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head.^{z 2}She was pregnant and cried out in labor and agony as she was about to give birth.^{aa 3}Then another sign^D appeared in heaven: There was a great fiery red dragon^ab having seven heads and ten horns,^ac and on its heads were seven crowns.^{E 4}Its tail swept away a third of the stars in heaven and hurled them to the earth.^ad And the dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she did give birth it might devour her child.^{ae 5}She gave birth to a Son, a male who is going to rule^F all nations with an iron rod.^af Her child was caught up to God and to his throne. ⁶The woman fled into the wilderness, where she had a place prepared by God,^ag to be nourished there^G for 1,260 days.^ah

THE DRAGON THROWN OUT OF HEAVEN

⁷Then war broke out in heaven: Michael^ai and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon and his angels also fought, ⁸but he could not prevail,^aj and there was no place for them in heaven any longer.^{ak 9}So the great dragon was thrown out—the ancient serpent,^al who is called the devil and Satan,^am the one who deceives the whole world.^a He was thrown to earth, and his angels with him.^{b 10}Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say,

The salvation and the power

and the kingdom of our God

and the authority of his Christ

have now come,^c

because the accuser^d of our brothers and sisters,

who accuses them

before our God day and night,

has been thrown down.

¹¹They conquered him

by the blood of the Lamb^e

and by the word of their testimony;^f

for they did not love their lives

to the point of death.^g

¹²Therefore rejoice, you heavens,

and you who dwell in them!^h

Woe to the earth and the sea,

because the devil has come down to you

with great fury,

because he knows his time is short.

THE WOMAN PERSECUTED

¹³When the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he persecuted^A the woman who had given birth to the male child. ¹⁴The woman was given two wings of a great eagle,ⁱ so that she could fly from the serpent’s presence to her place in the wilderness, where she was nourished for a time, times, and half a time.^{j 15}From his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river flowing after the woman, to sweep her away with a flood. ¹⁶But the earth helped the woman. The earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the river that the dragon had spewed from his mouth. ¹⁷So the dragon was furious with the woman and went off to wage war^k against the rest of her offspring^Bl—those who keep the commands of God^m and hold firmly to the testimony about Jesus.ⁿ

THE BEAST FROM THE SEA

¹⁸The dragon^C stood on the sand of the sea.

13And I saw a beast coming up out of the sea.^o It had ten horns and seven heads. On its horns were ten crowns,^Ep and on its heads were blasphemous names.^{Fq 2}The beast I saw was like a leopard, its feet were like a bear’s, and its mouth was like a lion’s mouth.^r The dragon gave the beast his power, his throne, and great authority. ³One of its heads appeared to be fatally wounded, but its fatal wound was healed.

The whole earth was amazed and followed the beast.^{s 4}They worshiped the dragon^t because he gave authority to the beast. And they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast?^u Who is able to wage war against it?”

⁵The beast was given a mouth to utter boasts and blasphemies.^v It was allowed to exercise authority^GH for forty-two months.^{w 6}It began to speak^I blasphemies against God: to blaspheme his name and his dwelling—those who dwell in heaven. ⁷And it was permitted to wage war against the saints and to conquer them.^x It was also given authority^y over every tribe, people, language, and nation.^{z 8}All those who live on the earth will worship it, everyone whose name was not written from the foundation of the world in the book^J of life^aa of the Lamb who was slaughtered.^Kab

⁹If anyone has ears to hear, let him listen.^ac

¹⁰If anyone is to be taken captive,

into captivity he goes.

If anyone is to be killed^L with a sword,

with a sword he will be killed.^ad

This calls for endurance^M and faithfulness from the saints.^ae

THE BEAST FROM THE EARTH

¹¹Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth; it had two horns like a lamb,^Aaf but it spoke like a dragon. ¹²It exercises all the authority of the first beast on its behalf and compels the earth and those who live on it to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed. ¹³It also performs great signs,^ag even causing fire to come down from heaven to earth in front of people.^{ah 14}It deceives those who live on the earth^ai because of the signs that it is permitted to perform in the presence of the beast,^aj telling those who live on the earth to make an image^B of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. ¹⁵It was permitted to give breath^C to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast could both speak and cause whoever would not worship the image of the beast to be killed.^{a 16}And it makes everyone—small and great, rich and poor, free and slave—to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead,^{b 17}so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark: the beast’s name or the number of its name.

¹⁸This calls for wisdom:^Dc Let the one who has understanding calculate^E the number of the beast, because it is the number of a person. Its number is 666.^F