Revelation 12–13

The Woman and the Dragon

12And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman ^eclothed with ^fthe sun, with ^fthe moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. ²She was pregnant and ^gwas crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. ³And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great ^hred dragon, ⁱwith seven heads and ^jten horns, and on his heads ^kseven diadems. ⁴His tail swept down ^la third of the stars of heaven and ^mcast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child ⁿhe might devour it. ⁵She gave birth to a male child, ^oone who is to rule¹ all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was ^pcaught up to God and to his throne, ⁶and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for ^q1,260 days.

Satan Thrown Down to Earth

⁷Now war arose in heaven, ^rMichael and ^shis angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, ⁸but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. ⁹And ^tthe great dragon was thrown down, ^uthat ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, ^vthe deceiver of the whole world—^whe was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. ¹⁰And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now ^xthe salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers² has been thrown down, ^ywho accuses them day and night before our God. ¹¹And ^zthey have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for ^athey loved not their lives ^beven unto death. ¹²Therefore, ^crejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But ^dwoe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because ^ehe knows that his time is short!”

¹³And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued ^fthe woman who had given birth to the male child. ¹⁴But the woman was given the two ^gwings of the great eagle so that she might fly from the serpent ^hinto the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished ⁱfor a time, and times, and half a time. ¹⁵The serpent poured water ^jlike a river out of his mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with a flood. ¹⁶But the earth came to the help of the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured from his mouth. ¹⁷Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off ^kto make war on the rest of ^lher offspring, ^mon those who keep the commandments of God and hold to ⁿthe testimony of Jesus. And he stood³ on the sand of the sea.

The First Beast

13And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, ^owith ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems on its horns and ^pblasphemous names on its heads. ²And the beast that I saw was ^qlike a leopard; its feet were like ^ra bear’s, and its mouth was like ^sa lion’s mouth. And to it ^tthe dragon gave his power and ^uhis throne and great authority. ³One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed, and ^vthe whole earth marveled as they followed the beast. ⁴And they worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, ^w“Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?”

⁵And the beast was given ^xa mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for ^yforty-two months. ⁶It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling,¹ that is, those who dwell in heaven. ⁷Also it was allowed ^zto make war on the saints and to conquer them.² And authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation, ⁸and all ^awho dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in ^bthe book of life of ^cthe Lamb ^dwho was slain. ^9eIf anyone has an ear, let him hear:

^10fIf anyone is to be taken captive,

to captivity he goes;

^gif anyone is to be slain with the sword,

with the sword must he be slain.

^hHere is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.

The Second Beast

¹¹Then ⁱI saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon. ¹²It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence,³ and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, ^jwhose mortal wound was healed. ^13kIt performs great signs, even ^lmaking fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people, ¹⁴and by the signs that it is allowed to work in the presence of⁴ the beast ^mit deceives those who dwell on earth, telling them to make an image for the beast ⁿthat was wounded by the sword and yet lived. ¹⁵And it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast might even speak and might cause those who would not ^oworship the image of the beast ^pto be slain. ¹⁶Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave,^{5 q}to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, ¹⁷so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, ^rthe name of the beast or ^sthe number of its name. ^18tThis calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number ^uof a man, and his number is 666.⁶