The Woman, the Child, and the Dragon
Revelation 12A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She had a child in her womb. She cried out in pain and was tortured in giving birth.
Another sign appeared in heaven. Look! A massive red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns on its heads. Its tail swept one third of the stars from the sky and threw them to the earth. The dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth it could devour her child. She gave birth to a son, a male child, who is going to shepherd all the ethnic groups with a rod of iron. Her child was carried off to God and to his throne. The woman fled into the wilderness where she has a place prepared by God, so she would be nourished there for 1,260 days.
There was war in heaven. Michael and his angels waged war on the dragon, and the dragon and its angels waged war back. But they did not prevail. No place was found for them any more in heaven. The great dragon was thrown down, the old serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the one who deceives the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.
I heard a loud sound in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation, the power, and the empire of our God, and the authority of his Christ has come. For the accuser of our siblings, the one who accuses them day and night before our God, has been thrown down. They conquered him through the blood of the Lamb, and because of the word of their testimony. They didn’t love their life even before death. For this reason, y’all rejoice, O heavens and those who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and to the sea, because the devil has gone down to y’all with great fury, knowing that he has but a short time.”
When the dragon saw that it had been thrown down to the earth, it pursued the woman who gave birth to the male child. The woman was given two wings of a great eagle, so that she could fly to her place in the wilderness, so that she might be nourished for a time, times, and half a time, away from the face of the serpent. The serpent spewed water out of its mouth like a river after the woman to make her be carried away by the waters. The earth aided the woman. The earth opened her mouth and swallowed up the river that the dragon spewed out of his mouth. The dragon became enraged with the woman, and went away to make war with the rest of her offspring, those who keep God’s commandments and hold to the testimony about Jesus. The dragon stood on the sand of the sea.