Revelation 12

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

³ Then another sign appeared in heaven: a great fiery red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven crowns. ⁴ His tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child. ⁵ She gave birth to a son, a male child — Jesus — who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. But her child was caught up to our Father and to his throne. ^a a v5 The male child destined to rule all the nations with an iron scepter is Jesus — Psalm 2's promised King — and his being caught up to the throne is his ascension to our Father. ⁶ The woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by our Father, to be nourished there for 1,260 days.

⁷ Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. ⁸ But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. ⁹ The great dragon was hurled down — that ancient serpent who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world — he was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.

¹⁰ Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: 'Now the salvation, the power, and the kingdom of our Father have come, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters has been hurled down, who accuses them before our Father day and night.' ¹¹ They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. ¹² Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who live in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you in great fury, knowing that his time is short.

¹³ When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. ¹⁴ The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the wilderness, where she would be nourished for a time, times, and half a time, out of the serpent's reach. ¹⁵ Then from his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river, to overtake the woman and sweep her away with the torrent. ¹⁶ But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. ¹⁷ Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring — those who keep our Father's commandments and hold fast to the testimony of Jesus.