Parenthesis—partly historical

The woman, the Child, the dragon

1A great sign appeared in the sky: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. ¹⁶⁴

2And being pregnant she was crying out in labor, being in great pain to give birth.

3And another sign appeared in the sky: wow, a dragon, huge, fiery red, having seven heads and ten horns, with seven diadems on his heads.

4And its tail grabbed a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. ¹⁶⁵And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth in order to devour her Child as soon as she gave birth.

5And she bore a Son, a male, ¹⁶⁶who would shepherd all the nations with a rod of iron. ¹⁶⁷And her Child was snatched up to God, even to His throne.

6And the woman fled into the wilderness to where she has a place prepared by God, so that they may nourish her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days. ¹⁶⁸

Satan excluded from heaven

7War was declared in heaven; Michael and his angels were to wage war with the dragon; so the dragon and his angels made war, ¹⁶⁹

8but he was not strong enough; neither was there any place found for him in heaven any more.

9So the great dragon was expelled, that ancient serpent, who is called Slanderer and Satan, who deceives the whole inhabited world; he was thrown into the earth, ¹⁷⁰and his angels were expelled with him.

10And I heard a loud voice in the heaven saying: “Now the salvation and the power have come, ¹⁷¹even the Kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ, because the accuser of our brothers ¹⁷²has been thrown down, who accused them before our God day and night.

11And they conquered ¹⁷³him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not cherish their lives, even up to death.

12Therefore rejoice, O heavens, yes, you who are dwelling in them! ¹⁷⁴Woe to the earth and the sea! Because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has little time.”

Satan persecutes the woman

13So when the dragon perceived that he had been thrown into the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the Male.

14And to the woman were given two wings of the great eagle, so that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, so that she might be nourished there for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent.

15So the serpent expelled water from his mouth after the woman, like a river, so as to cause her to be overwhelmed by the flood.

16But the ground helped the woman; indeed, the ground opened its mouth and drank up the river that the dragon expelled from his mouth.

17So the dragon was furious about the woman and off he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, those who keep the commands of God and hold the testimony of Jesus. ¹⁷⁵