Revelation 12-13

Amplified Bible

The Woman, Israel

12 And a great sign [warning of an ominous and frightening future event] appeared in heaven: a ^[a]woman clothed with the sun, with the moon beneath her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. ²She was with child (the Messiah) and she cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth.^(A)

The Red Dragon, Satan

³Then another sign [of warning] was seen in heaven: behold, a great fiery red dragon (Satan) with ^[b]seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven royal crowns (diadems).^(B) ⁴And his tail swept [across the sky] and dragged away a third of the stars of heaven and flung them to the earth. And the dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child.^(C)

The Male Child, Christ

⁵And she gave birth to a Son, a male Child, who is destined to rule (shepherd) all the nations with a rod of iron; and her Child was ^[c]caught up to God and to His throne.^(D) ⁶Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that she would be nourished there for a thousand two hundred and sixty days (forty-two months; three and one-half years).

The Angel, Michael

⁷And war broke out in heaven, Michael [the archangel] and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels fought, ⁸but they were not strong enough and did not prevail, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven.^(E) ⁹And the great dragon was thrown down, the age-old serpent who is called the ^[d]devil and Satan, he who continually deceives and seduces the entire inhabited world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.^(F) ¹⁰Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying,

“Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom (dominion, reign) of our God, and the authority of His Christ have come; for the ^[e]accuser of our [believing] brothers and sisters has been thrown down [at last], he who accuses them and keeps bringing charges [of sinful behavior] against them before our God day and night.^(G) ¹¹And they overcame and conquered him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, for they did not love their life and renounce their faith even when faced with death.^(H) ¹²Therefore rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them [in the presence of God]. Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you in great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time [remaining]!”^(I)

¹³And when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who had given birth to the male Child. ¹⁴But the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, so that she could fly into the wilderness to her place, where she was nourished for a time and times and half a time (three and one-half years), away from the presence of the serpent (Satan).^(J) ¹⁵And the serpent hurled water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, so that he might cause her to be swept away with the flood. ¹⁶But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the river which the dragon had hurled out of his mouth.^(K) ¹⁷So the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went off to wage war on the rest of her children (seed), those who keep and obey the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus [holding firmly to it and bearing witness to Him].

The Beast from the Sea

13 And the ^[f]dragon (Satan) stood on the sandy shore of the sea.^(L)

Then I saw a [vicious] beast coming up out of the sea with ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten royal ^[g]crowns (diadems), and on his heads were blasphemous names. ²And the beast that I saw resembled a ^[h]leopard, but his feet were like those of a bear, and his mouth was like that of a lion. And the dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority. ³I saw one of his heads which seemed to have a fatal wound, but his fatal wound was healed; and the entire earth followed after the beast in amazement. ⁴They fell down and worshiped the dragon because he gave his authority to the beast; they also worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like (as great as) the beast, and who is able to wage war against him?” ⁵And the beast was given a mouth (the power of speech), uttering great things and arrogant and blasphemous words, and he was given freedom and authority to act and to do as he pleased for ^[i]forty-two months (three and a half years).^(M) ⁶And he opened his mouth to speak blasphemies (abusive speech, slander) against God, to blaspheme His name and His tabernacle, and those who live in heaven.

⁷He was also ^[j]permitted to wage war against the saints (God’s people) and to overcome them, and authority and power over every tribe and people and language and nation.^(N) ⁸All the inhabitants of the earth will fall down and worship him, everyone whose name has not been written since the foundation of the world in the Book of Life of the Lamb who has been slain [as a willing sacrifice]. ⁹If anyone has an ear, let him hear. ¹⁰If anyone is destined for captivity, he will go into captivity; if anyone kills with a sword, he must be killed with a sword. Here is [the call for] the patient endurance and the faithfulness of the saints [which is seen in the response of God’s people to difficult times].^(O)

The Beast from the Earth

¹¹Then I saw ^[k]another beast rising up out of the earth; he had two horns like a lamb and he spoke like a dragon.^(P) ¹²He exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence [when the two are together]. And he makes the earth and those who inhabit it worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. ¹³He performs great signs (awe-inspiring acts), even making fire fall from the sky to the earth, right before peoples’ eyes. ¹⁴And he deceives those [unconverted ones] who inhabit the earth [into believing him] because of the signs which he is given [by Satan] to perform in the presence of the [first] beast, telling those who inhabit the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded [fatally] by the sword and has come back to life.^(Q) ¹⁵And he is given power to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast will even [appear to] speak, and cause those who do not bow down and worship the image of the beast to be put to death.^(R) ¹⁶Also he compels all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead [signifying allegiance to the beast], ¹⁷and that no one will be able to buy or sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name. ¹⁸Here is wisdom. Let the person who has enough insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the [imperfect] number of a man; ^[l]and his number is ^[m]six hundred and sixty-six.

Footnotes

Revelation 12:1 The woman represents the nation of Israel. The sun refers to Jacob (also called Israel, the name divinely bestowed on Jacob at Peniel Gen 32:28), and the moon to Rachel, while the twelve stars refer to the twelve tribes of Israel, originating with the sons of Jacob and Rachel (Gen 37:9-11).
Revelation 12:3 The seven heads and ten horns correspond to the heads and horns of the beast in 17:3 ff, and to those of the beast in Dan 7:7 ff as well. Daniel’s description reveals that the ten horns are ten kings who temporarily reign with the Antichrist during the Great Tribulation (cf 17:12).
Revelation 12:5 This refers to the ascension of Christ to heaven following His death and resurrection.
Revelation 12:9 The Greek for devil is diabolos, which is actually a translation of Satan, a Hebrew word meaning “adversary” or “accuser.” The Greek word additionally carries with it the concept of “slanderer.” See note v 10.
Revelation 12:10 This is the activity of Satan from which he has earned his name (see note v 9). The activity is most clearly seen in Job 1-2 and in Zech 3.
Revelation 13:1 The dragon, who is Satan, stands at the head of an unholy, idolatrous trinity, comprised also of the first beast, who is the Antichrist (vv 1-10) and has a healed wound, and the second beast, who is the false prophet and deceives unbelievers to worship Antichrist through false signs (vv 11-18).
Revelation 13:1 The symbol of political, royal, or military power.
Revelation 13:2 These animals are mentioned in Dan 7:4-6, where the leopard represents Greece, the bear Medo-Persia, and the lion Babylon.
Revelation 13:5 The last half of the Tribulation.
Revelation 13:7 Lit given.
Revelation 13:11 See note v 1.
Revelation 13:18 Regardless of the earthly power of the two beasts (the demonically controlled Antichrist/dictator and his false prophet) described in these verses, they and their mentor, Satan, fall far short of the power, perfection, and majesty of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, whose perfection is represented biblically by the number seven.
Revelation 13:18 This is not actually three sixes (or the equivalent in Greek or Hebrew letters), as commonly represented. Such a combination would not be used; and if it were, the sum would then be only eighteen, because in alphabet-based numbering systems like ancient Hebrew and Greek, place values are not used (10’s, 100’s etc.), but the letters are treated more like Roman numerals. What John is most likely indicating is that the letters of the name will add up to 666 (the best Greek manuscripts have the number spelled out), and there could be many different combinations of letters that would do so. Determining the values of the individual letters is another matter. John probably assumed that the name would be Hebrew or Greek, and in Hebrew vowels for the most part are not represented as letters. Further complications arise when names from other nationalities are considered, and are converted for valuation. For example, at various times it has been argued that the name “Nero Caesar” adds up to 666 when transliterated to Hebrew as NRWN QSR (according to the Greek form); but in the Talmud, the name is transliterated as NYRWN QYSR, which totals 686. Also, the original Latin form of the name (without the second “n”), if converted directly to Hebrew, adds up to 616, and a few ancient manuscripts had that number.