Revelation 12

Berean Standard Bible · Compare translations · AD 68 – AD 96 · Late apostolic age · Tap a verse to copy, share or highlight ·

17 verses · 498 words · ~2 min read · ~3 min listen

The Woman and the Dragon

¹And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed in the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. ²She was pregnant and crying out in the pain and agony of giving birth.

³Then another sign appeared in heaven: a huge red dragon with seven heads, ten horns, and seven royal crowns on his heads. ⁴His tail swept a third of the stars from the sky, hurling them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, ready to devour her child as soon as she gave birth.

⁵And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And her child was caught up to God and to His throne. ⁶And the woman fled into the wilderness, where God had prepared a place for her to be nourished for 1,260 days.

The War in Heaven

⁷Then a war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. ⁸But the dragon was not strong enough, and no longer was any place found in heaven for him and his angels. ⁹And the great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.

¹⁰And I heard a loud voice in heaven saying:

“Now have come the salvation and the power

and the kingdom of our God,

and the authority of His Christ.

For the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down—

he who accuses them day and night before our God.

¹¹They have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb

and by the word of their testimony.

And 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 the earth and the sea;

with great fury the devil has come down to you,

knowing he has only a short time.”

The Woman Persecuted

¹³And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. ¹⁴But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle to fly from the presence of the serpent to her place in the wilderness, where she was nourished for a time, and times, and half a time.

¹⁵Then from his mouth of the serpent spewed water like a river to overtake the woman and sweep her away in the torrent. ¹⁶But the earth helped the woman and opened its mouth to swallow up the river that the dragon had poured from his mouth. ¹⁷And the dragon was enraged at the woman, and went to make war with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.

And the dragon stood on the shore of the sea.

Footnotes (2)

a v5 See Psalms 2:9(see also LXX).
b v17 Literally And he stood on the sand of the sea. BYZ and TR And I stood on the sand of the sea. Some texts number this sentence as verse 18; others include it with Revelation 13:1.

Study notes on this chapter · 2

Prophecy & fulfillmentDebated

A time, times and half a time

Daniel says the holy ones will be handed over to the little horn for 'a time, times and half a time', and Daniel 12 repeats the period. Revelation gives the same span as 1,260 days and 42 months. Interpreters disagree on whether it is three and a half literal years, a symbolic period, or a period of years.

When: Daniel; Revelation, c. AD 90s.

Original passageDaniel 7:25Daniel 12:7

Echoed inRevelation 11:2–3Revelation 12:6Revelation 12:14Revelation 13:5

Ways people read this (4)

Three and a half literal years, as in Antiochus IV's persecution (167–164 BC) or a future tribulation.
A symbolic period for a limited time of persecution, symbolizing half of seven (incomplete, cut short).
1,260 years in some historicist readings, using the day-year principle.
The period of the church's witness between Christ's first and second comings (some amillennial readings).

Editorial note by BibleWay. Interpretations vary; dates are approximate scholarly estimates.

Prophecy & fulfillmentDebated

The woman and the dragon

John sees a woman clothed with the sun who gives birth to a male child destined to rule the nations, while a red dragon waits to devour him. The child is caught up to God and the woman flees to the wilderness. The passage draws on Genesis 3, Joseph's dream and Psalm 2.

When: Revelation, c. AD 90s.

Original passageRevelation 12:1–6Revelation 12:13–17

Echoed inGenesis 3:15Genesis 37:9–10Psalms 2:9

Ways people read this (4)

The woman is Israel (or the faithful remnant), from whom the Messiah came.
The woman is the church, persecuted by Satan, and the child represents Christ or the church's faithful.
The woman is Mary, the mother of Jesus (a common Catholic and Orthodox reading alongside others), with the larger picture being the church.
The woman is a figure for the whole people of God, both Israel and the church, from Eve to the end.

Editorial note by BibleWay. Interpretations vary; dates are approximate scholarly estimates.

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