REVELATION 12 [†]And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman  e clothed with  f the sun, with  f the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. 2She was pregnant and  g was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. 3[†]And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great  h red dragon,  i with seven heads and  j ten horns, and on his heads  k seven diadems. 4[†]His tail swept down  l a third of the stars of heaven and  m cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child  n he might devour it. 5[†]She gave birth to a male child,  o one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was  p caught up to God and to his throne, 6[†]and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for  q 1,260 days.

7[†]Now war arose in heaven,  r Michael and  s his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, 8[†]but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. 9And  t the great dragon was thrown down,  u that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan,  v the deceiver of the whole world— w he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. 10[†]And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now  x the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers [1] has been thrown down,  y who accuses them day and night before our God. 11And  z they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for  a they loved not their lives  b even unto death. 12[†]Therefore,  c rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But  d woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because  e he knows that his time is short!”

13And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued  f the woman who had given birth to the male child. 14[†]But the woman was given the two  g wings of the great eagle so that she might fly from the serpent  h into the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished  i for a time, and times, and half a time. 15[†]The serpent poured water  j like a river out of his mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with a flood. 16But the earth came to the help of the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured from his mouth. 17[†]Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off  k to make war on the rest of  l her offspring,  m on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to  n the testimony of Jesus. And he stood [2] on the sand of the sea.