Revelation
Chapter 12
Overview
John’s vision now opens onto a conflict as vast as the sky. A woman about to give birth faces a terrifying dragon determined to destroy her child. The scene then shifts to war in heaven, where Michael and his angels drive the dragon—identified as the Devil and Satan—down to earth. Heaven celebrates, but the struggle below grows fiercer. The dragon attacks the woman and then turns against her other children. This chapter speaks through vivid symbols: crowns, stars, wings, floods, and wilderness. Evil appears powerful, yet its fury is partly the rage of knowing that time is running short.
1A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon beneath her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head.
2She was pregnant. She cried out in labor pains, suffering as she struggled to give birth.
3Then another sign appeared in heaven: a huge fiery-red dragon with seven heads and ten horns. On its seven heads were seven royal crowns.
4Its tail swept away one-third of heaven’s stars and threw them down to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, ready to devour her child as soon as it was born.
5She gave birth to a son, a male child, who is destined to rule all nations with an iron rod. Her child was suddenly taken up to God and to his throne.
6The woman fled into the wilderness, where God had prepared a place for her. There she would be cared for during 1,260 days.
7Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and its angels fought back.
8But the dragon was not strong enough, and no place remained for it or its angels in heaven.
9The great dragon was thrown down—that ancient snake called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world. It was thrown down to the earth, and its angels were thrown down with it.
10Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say, “Now our God has brought rescue and shown his power and his rule, and his Messiah has shown his authority. For the one who accused our brothers and sisters has been thrown down—the one who accused them before our God day and night.
11“They defeated him because of the blood of the Lamb—his sacrificial death—and because of the message they openly declared. They did not cling to their lives, even when facing death.
12“So rejoice, heavens, and all who live there! But disaster is coming upon the earth and the sea, because the Devil has come down to you in great fury. He knows that he has only a short time left.”
13When the dragon saw that it had been thrown down to the earth, it pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child.
14But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle so that she could fly into the wilderness, to her own place. There she is cared for, safely away from the snake, for one period, two periods, and half a period.
15The snake poured water from its mouth behind the woman like a river, hoping the flood would sweep her away.
16But the earth helped the woman. It opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured from its mouth.
17The dragon became furious with the woman. It went away to make war against the rest of her children—those who obey God’s commands and continue to testify about Jesus.
18Then the dragon stood on the seashore.