Revelation 12

A great sign appeared in the sky: a woman wearing the sun like clothing, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head.

1And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:

Note"A great wonder" does not mean a marvel here. The Greek word means a sign, something put on display to be read. The crown on the woman is a stephanos, the wreath given to a victor or worn at a feast, which is a different word from the royal headband worn by the dragon in verse 3. A sun, a moon and stars standing for a family recalls Joseph's dream in Genesis 37:9, where they are his father, mother and brothers.

2She was pregnant, and she cried out in the pain and hard labor of giving birth.

2And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.

3Then another sign appeared in the sky. Look: a huge red dragon with seven heads and ten horns, and seven royal crowns on his heads.

3And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.

NoteThe dragon's "crowns" translate a second Greek word, diadems: the cloth bands tied around the head that marked a king, which is why the rendering calls them royal. Seven heads and ten horns draw on Daniel 7, where horns stand for kings and the kingdoms they rule.

4His tail swept away a third of the stars in the sky and threw them down to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so he could eat her child the moment it was born.

4And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.

NoteKJV "drew" here means dragged or swept along, not attracted.

5She gave birth to a son, a boy, who was going to rule all the nations with an iron rod. And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne.

5And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.

Note"A man child" is the KJV's way of writing a male child. "A rod of iron" quotes Psalm 2:9; the word covers both a shepherd's staff and a ruler's scepter, and the Greek verb behind "rule" literally means to shepherd.

6The woman ran away into the wilderness, to a place God had made ready for her, so she would be fed and cared for there for 1,260 days.

6And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.

Note"Threescore" is sixty, so the number is 1,260 days. Counted on a calendar of thirty day months, that is three and a half years, the same span named another way in verse 14 and taken from Daniel. "Wilderness" means dry, empty, unfarmed country rather than forest, and for Jewish readers it was where the nation lived off food God supplied after leaving Egypt.

7Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back.

7And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,

NoteMichael appears in Daniel 10 and 12 as the angelic prince who stands guard over Israel, and Jude 9 calls him an archangel, meaning a chief among angels.

8But the dragon was not strong enough to win, and there was no place left for him and his angels in heaven.

8And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.

9So the great dragon was thrown out. He is the ancient snake, the one called the devil and Satan, who fools the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

9And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

NoteThree titles are stacked on one figure. "Devil" translates the Greek diabolos, meaning slanderer or accuser, someone who brings a charge. "Satan" is a Hebrew word meaning the adversary or the accuser, used in Job 1 and Zechariah 3 for the figure who presses charges against someone in God's court. "That old serpent" means the ancient serpent, pointing back to Genesis 3; "old" in 1611 English often means long ago rather than elderly.

10Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: "Now the rescue and the strength and the kingdom of our God have come, and the authority of his Christ. The one who accused our brothers and sisters has been thrown down. He accused them in front of our God day and night.

10And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.

NoteThe imagery is a courtroom, continuing from verse 9: "accuser" is the prosecutor's role, and "accused" is the ordinary legal word for pressing a charge against someone. "His Christ" is a title, not a surname. Christ is the Greek for the Hebrew Messiah, the anointed one, a king marked out by having oil poured over his head.

11They defeated him by the blood of the Lamb and by the message they told about him. They did not cling to their own lives, even when it meant dying.

11And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.

Note"The word of their testimony" uses the Greek martyria, the evidence a witness gives in court. The word is the root of the English "martyr," a sense it acquired because so many who gave that evidence were killed for it, which is what the second half of the verse describes.

12So be glad, you heavens, and all who live in them! But it will go badly for the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you. He is full of rage, since he knows his time is short."

12Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.

Note"Woe" is not a curse or an insult. It is the cry a Hebrew prophet used to open an announcement that disaster is on the way.

13When the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he went after the woman who had given birth to the boy.

13And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.

NoteKJV "persecuted" here carries its older and more physical sense: he chased her, went after her in pursuit.

14The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle so she could fly away from the snake, into the wilderness, to her own place. There she is fed and cared for a time, and times, and half a time.

14And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.

Note"A time, and times, and half a time" comes from Daniel 7:25 and 12:7. "Time" means a year and "times" was read as two, so the phrase adds up to three and a half years, the same period as the 1,260 days of verse 6. The eagle's wings echo Exodus 19:4, where God tells Israel he carried them out of Egypt on eagles' wings.

15Then the snake poured water out of his mouth like a river, chasing the woman, to sweep her away in the flood.

15And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.

16But the earth helped the woman. The earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured out of his mouth.

16And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.

17The dragon was furious with the woman. He went off to make war against the rest of her children, the ones who keep God's commands and hold on to what Jesus Christ has shown to be true.

17And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Note"The remnant of her seed" means the rest of her offspring, the children other than the one already born. "The testimony of Jesus Christ" is ambiguous in Greek and can mean either the witness Jesus himself bore or the witness others bear about him; the rendering leaves it open. The chapter also ends differently in different manuscripts: the oldest read "and he stood upon the sand of the sea," making the dragon the one standing, which modern Bibles print as verse 18, while the manuscripts behind the KJV read "and I stood upon the sand of the sea" and attach it to the opening of chapter 13.