Revelation 12-13

English Standard Version

The Woman and the Dragon

12 And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman ^(A)clothed with ^(B)the sun, with ^(C)the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. ² She was pregnant and ^(D)was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. ³ And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great ^(E)red dragon, ^(F)with seven heads and ^(G)ten horns, and on his heads ^(H)seven diadems. ⁴ His tail swept down ^(I)a third of the stars of heaven and ^(J)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 ^(K)he might devour it. ⁵ She gave birth to a male child, ^(L)one who is to rule^[a] all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was ^(M)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 ^(N)1,260 days.

Satan Thrown Down to Earth

⁷ Now war arose in heaven, ^(O)Michael and ^(P)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. ⁹ And ^(Q)the great dragon was thrown down, ^(R)that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, ^(S)the deceiver of the whole world—^(T)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 ^(U)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^[b] has been thrown down, ^(V)who accuses them day and night before our God. ¹¹ And ^(W)they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for ^(X)they loved not their lives ^(Y)even unto death. ¹² Therefore, ^(Z)rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But ^(AA)woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because ^(AB)he knows that his time is short!”

¹³ And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued ^(AC)the woman who had given birth to the male child. ¹⁴ But the woman was given the two ^(AD)wings of the great eagle so that she might fly from the serpent ^(AE)into the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished ^(AF)for a time, and times, and half a time. ¹⁵ The serpent poured water ^(AG)like a river out of his mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with a flood. ¹⁶ But 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 ^(AH)to make war on the rest of ^(AI)her offspring, ^(AJ)on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to ^(AK)the testimony of Jesus. And he stood^[c] on the sand of the sea.

The First Beast

13 And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, ^(AL)with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems on its horns and ^(AM)blasphemous names on its heads. ² And the beast that I saw was ^(AN)like a leopard; its feet were like ^(AO)a bear's, and its mouth was like ^(AP)a lion's mouth. And to it ^(AQ)the dragon gave his power and ^(AR)his throne and great authority. ³ One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed, and ^(AS)the whole earth marveled as they followed the beast. ⁴ And they worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, ^(AT)“Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?”

⁵ And the beast was given ^(AU)a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for ^(AV)forty-two months. ⁶ It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling,^[d] that is, those who dwell in heaven. ⁷ Also it was allowed ^(AW)to make war on the saints and to conquer them.^[e] And authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation, ⁸ and all ^(AX)who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in ^(AY)the book of life of ^(AZ)the Lamb ^(BA)who was slain. ^9 (BB)If anyone has an ear, let him hear:

^(BE)Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.

The Second Beast

¹¹ Then ^(BF)I saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon. ¹² It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence,^[f] and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, ^(BG)whose mortal wound was healed. ^13 (BH)It performs great signs, even ^(BI)making fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people, ¹⁴ and by the signs that it is allowed to work in the presence of^[g] the beast ^(BJ)it deceives those who dwell on earth, telling them to make an image for the beast ^(BK)that was wounded by the sword and yet lived. ¹⁵ And it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast might even speak and might cause those who would not ^(BL)worship the image of the beast ^(BM)to be slain. ¹⁶ Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave,^{[h] (BN)}to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, ¹⁷ so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, ^(BO)the name of the beast or ^(BP)the number of its name. ^18 (BQ)This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number ^(BR)of a man, and his number is 666.^[i]