The Woman and the Dragon

1Then 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.

2She was with child and cried out in the pain and agony of giving birth.

3Then another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great fiery red dragon with seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns on his heads.

4His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and hurled them to the earth. Then the dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he could devour her child.

5She gave birth to a son, a male child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne.

6And the woman fled into the wilderness, where God had a place prepared for her to be nourished for one thousand two hundred sixty days.

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

8But ¹⁸⁴he did not prevail, and no longer was any place found for ¹⁸⁵him in heaven.

9The ¹⁸⁶great dragon was thrown down, the old serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was thrown down to the ¹⁸⁷earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

10Then I heard a loud voice ¹⁸⁸in heaven saying, “The salvation, power, and kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ, have now come. For the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, he who accuses them day and night before our God.

11They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so as to shy away from death.

12Therefore rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to ¹⁸⁹the earth and the sea, for the devil has come down to you with great wrath, because he knows that his time is short.”

13When the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child.

14But the woman was given two wings like those of a great eagle so that she could fly away from the presence of the serpent to her place in the wilderness, ¹⁹⁰to be nourished there for a time, times, and half a time.

15Then out of his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river after the woman, to sweep her away with a flood.

16But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth.

17So the dragon was angry with the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring, those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of ¹⁹¹Jesus.