Revelation 12 Contemporary English Version

The Woman and the Dragon

12 Something important appeared in the sky. It was a woman whose clothes were the sun. The moon was under her feet, and a crown made of twelve stars was on her head. ²She was about to give birth, and she was crying because of the great pain.

³^(A) Something else appeared in the sky. It was a huge red dragon with seven heads and ten horns, and a crown on each of its seven heads. ⁴^(B) With its tail, it dragged a third of the stars from the sky and threw them down to the earth. Then the dragon turned toward the woman, because it wanted to eat her child as soon as it was born.

⁵^(C) The woman gave birth to a son, who would rule all nations with an iron rod. The boy was snatched away. He was taken to God and placed on his throne. ⁶The woman ran into the desert to a place that God had prepared for her. There she would be taken care of for 1,260 days.

Michael Fights the Dragon

⁷^(D) A war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels were fighting against the dragon and its angels. ⁸But the dragon lost the battle. It and its angels were forced out of their places in heaven ⁹^(E) and were thrown down to the earth. Yes, that old snake and his angels were thrown out of heaven! That snake, who fools everyone on earth, is known as the devil and Satan. ¹⁰^(F) Then I heard a voice from heaven shout,

“Our God has shown
his saving power,
    and his kingdom has come!
God's own Chosen One
    has shown his authority.
Satan accused our people
in the presence of God
    day and night.
Now he has been thrown out!

¹¹“Our people defeated Satan
    because of the blood^[a]
of the Lamb
    and the message of God.
They were willing
    to give up their lives.

¹²“The heavens should rejoice,
together with everyone
    who lives there.
But pity the earth
    and the sea,
because the devil
was thrown down
    to the earth.
He knows his time is short,
    and he is very angry.”

¹³When the dragon realized it had been thrown down to the earth, it tried to make trouble for the woman who had given birth to a son. ¹⁴^(G) But the woman was given two wings like those of a huge eagle, so she could fly into the desert. There she would escape from the snake and be taken care of for a time, two times, and half a time.

¹⁵The snake then spewed out water like a river to sweep the woman away. ¹⁶But the earth helped her and swallowed the water that had come from the dragon's mouth. ¹⁷This made the dragon terribly angry with the woman. So it started a war against the rest of her children. They are the people who obey God and are faithful to what Jesus did and taught. ¹⁸The dragon^[b] stood on the beach beside the sea.