Khải Huyền 12

The woman and the dragon

¹A great sign was seen in the sky: a woman wearing the sun as her clothing, the moon beneath her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. ²She was with child, and she cried out in labor, in agony to give birth.^{a 3}And another sign was seen in the sky: look, a great dragon, red as fire, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven royal crowns. ⁴With his tail he drags away a third of the stars of heaven, and he threw them down to the earth. Before the woman who was about to give birth the dragon stood waiting, ready to devour her child the moment the child was born. ⁵She bore a son, a boy, the one who is to shepherd all the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God, to his throne. ⁶As for the woman, she fled into the wilderness. There God has a place ready for her, where she is to be fed for 1,260 days.

War in heaven

⁷And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels went to battle against the dragon. The dragon and his angels fought back, ⁸but he was not strong enough, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. ⁹Down went the great dragon, cast out: the serpent of old, the one called the devil and Satan, deceiver of the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down along with him.

¹⁰I heard a loud voice in heaven: “The time has come! Salvation is here, and power, and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ; for the one who accused our brothers and sisters, accusing them day and night before our God, has been cast out. ¹¹They have overcome him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not hold their lives dear, even in the face of death. ¹²So rejoice, you heavens, and all who live in them! Woe to earth and sea, because the devil has gone down to you full of fury, knowing that the time left to him is short.”

The dragon pursues the woman

¹³Seeing that he had been thrown down to the earth, the dragon hunted the woman who had borne the boy. ¹⁴The woman was given the two wings of the great eagle to fly to her place in the wilderness, where she is cared for, away from the serpent, for a time, and times, and half a time. ¹⁵Then out of his mouth the serpent poured water after the woman, like a river, to have her carried off by the flood. ¹⁶But the earth came to the woman’s rescue: it opened its mouth and swallowed the river the dragon had poured from his mouth. ¹⁷In his fury against the woman the dragon went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. ¹⁸And the dragon took his stand on the sand of the seashore.^b