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 third of 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.”[Psalm 2:9 ] 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 commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus.
NOTES:
12:1–14:20 This central section of Revelation portrays the
power of evil, represented by a dragon, in opposition to God and his people.
First, the dragon pursues the woman about to give birth, but her son is saved
and “caught up to God and his throne” (Rev 12:5). Then Michael and his angels
cast the dragon and his angels out of heaven (Rev 12:7–9). After this, the
dragon tries to attack the boy indirectly by attacking members of his church
(Rev 12:13–17). A beast, symbolizing the Roman empire, then becomes the
dragon’s agent, mortally wounded but restored to life and worshiped by all the
world (Rev 13:1–10). A second beast arises from the land, symbolizing the
antichrist, which leads people astray by its prodigies to idolize the first
beast (Rev 13:11–18). This is followed by a vision of the Lamb and his faithful
ones, and the proclamation of imminent judgment upon the world in terms of the
wine of God’s wrath (Rev 14:1–20).
12:1–6 The woman adorned with the sun, the moon, and the
stars (images taken from Gn 37:9–10) symbolizes God’s people in the Old and the
New Testament. The Israel of old gave birth to the Messiah (Rev 12:5) and then
became the new Israel, the church, which suffers persecution by the dragon (Rev
12:6, 13–17); cf. Is 50:1; 66:7; Jer 50:12. This corresponds to a widespread
myth throughout the ancient world that a goddess pregnant with a savior was
pursued by a horrible monster; by miraculous intervention, she bore a son who
then killed the monster.
12:2 Because of Eve’s sin, the woman gives birth in distress
and pain (Gn 3:16; cf. Is 66:7–14).
12:3 Huge red dragon: the Devil or Satan (cf. Rev 12:9;
20:2), symbol of the forces of evil, a mythical monster known also as Leviathan
(Ps 74:13–14) or Rahab (Jb 26:12–13; Ps 89:11). Seven diadems: these are
symbolic of the fullness of the dragon’s sovereignty over the kingdoms of this
world; cf. Christ with many diadems (Rev 19:12).
12:5 Rule…iron rod: fulfilled in Rev 19:15; cf. Ps 2:9. Was
caught up to God: reference to Christ’s ascension.
12:6 God protects the persecuted church in the desert, the
traditional Old Testament place of refuge for the afflicted, according to the
typology of the Exodus; see note on Rev 11:2.
12:7–12 Michael, mentioned only here in Revelation, wins a
victory over the dragon. A hymn of praise follows.
12:7 Michael: the archangel, guardian and champion of
Israel; cf. Dn 10:13, 21; 12:1; Jude 9. In Hebrew, the name Michael means “Who
can compare with God?”; cf. Rev 13:4.
12:9 The ancient serpent: who seduced Eve (Gn 3:1–6), mother
of the human race; cf. Rev 20:2; Eph 6:11–12. Was thrown down: allusion to the
expulsion of Satan from heaven; cf. Lk 10:18.
12:10 The accuser: the meaning of the Hebrew word “Satan,”
found in Rev 12:9; Jb 1–2; Zec 3:1; 1 Chr 21:1; he continues to accuse Christ’s
disciples.
12:14 Great eagle: symbol of the power and swiftness of
divine help; cf. Ex 19:4; Dt 32:11; Is 40:31.
12:15 The serpent is depicted as the sea monster; cf. Rev
13:1; Is 27:1; Ez 32:2; Ps 74:13–14.
12:17 Although the church is protected by God’s special
providence (Rev 12:16), the individual Christian is to expect persecution and
suffering.
12:18 It took its position: many later manuscripts and
versions read “I took my position,” thus connecting the sentence to the
following paragraph.
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