Revelation 12
New International Version (NIV)
The Woman and the Dragon
12 A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman
clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on
her head. 2 She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was
about to give birth. 3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: an
enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven
crowns on its heads. 4 Its tail swept a thirdof the stars out of
the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the
woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child the
moment he was born. 5 She gave birth to a son, a male child, who
“will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.”[
a] And
her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. 6 The woman
fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be
taken care of for 1,260 days.
7 Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his
angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought
back. 8 But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in
heaven. 9 The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called
the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was
hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.
10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:
“Now have come the salvation and the power
and the kingdom of our God,
and the authority of his Messiah.
For the accuser of our brothers and sisters,
who accuses them before our God day and night,
has been hurled down.
11 They triumphed over him
by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony;
they did not love their lives so much
as to shrink from death.
12 Therefore rejoice, you heavens
and you who dwell in them!
But woe to the earth and the sea,
because the devil has gone down to you!
He is filled with fury,
because he knows that his time is short.”
13 When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to
the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. 14 The
woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to
the place prepared for her in the wilderness, where she would be taken care of
for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent’s reach. 15 Then
from his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river, to overtake the
woman and sweep her away with the torrent. 16 But the earth helped
the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had
spewed out of his mouth. 17 Then the dragon was enraged at the woman
and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring—those who keep
God’s commandsand hold fast their testimony about Jesus.
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