Revelation 12
The full text of Revelation 12 in the Trinity Bible Version — clear modern English, translated from the original Greek. Free to read.
1 A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head.
2 She was pregnant and cried out in the pain of childbirth, in agony to give birth.
3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns on its heads.
4 Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child the moment it was born.
5 She gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne.
6 The woman fled into the wilderness, to a place prepared for her by God, where she would be cared 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 the dragon was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven.
9 The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled down to the earth, and his angels with him.
10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:
"Now have come the salvation and the power
and the kingdom of our God,
and the authority of his Messiah.
For the accuser of our brothers and sisters,
who accuses them before our God day and night,
has been hurled down.
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 dwell in them!
But woe to the earth and the sea,
because the devil has come down to you,
filled with fury,
for he knows 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 could fly to the place prepared for her in the wilderness, where she would be cared for 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 flood.
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 furious with the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring—those who keep God's commands and hold to the testimony of Jesus.
Translation notes (13)
- Revelation 12:1a Greek semeion, 'sign', marks this as symbolic vision rather than mere spectacle. The sun, moon, and twelve stars recall Joseph's dream in Genesis 37:9, where they represent Jacob, his wife, and the eleven brothers, suggesting the woman embodies Israel as the covenant people. Her crown is stephanos, 'victor's wreath', not the royal diadema worn by the dragon in the following vision.
- Revelation 12:2a Greek en gastri echousa, 'having in the womb' (ἐν γαστρὶ ἔχουσα), is idiomatic for 'pregnant'. The participles odinousa, 'in labor' (ὠδίνουσα), and basanizomenē, 'tormented' (βασανιζομένη), with krazei, 'cries out' (κράζει), portray ongoing anguish; tekein, 'to give birth' (τεκεῖν), states purpose. The childbirth motif echoes Genesis 3:16 and Isaiah 26:17.
- Revelation 12:4a The image echoes Daniel 8:10, where the little horn casts down some of the stars and tramples them, marking the dragon as heir to that prophetic figure of hostile power. Greek syrei, 'drags' or 'sweeps', is a vivid present tense, and kataphagē, 'devour', carries an intensifying prefix, literally 'eat down', stressing the completeness of the intended destruction.
- Revelation 12:5a The word 'Rule' here translates the Greek word 'poimainein,' which literally means 'to shepherd'; when combined with the image of the iron scepter (Psalm 2:9), it carries the sense of firm, unbreakable rule.
- Revelation 12:6a The 1,260 days match the 42 months of Revelation 11:2-3 and Daniel's 'time, times, and half a time' (Daniel 7:25; 12:7). The Greek has trephōsin, 'they nourish' (τρέφωσιν), an impersonal plural rendered here as 'would be cared for'. The term erēmos, 'wilderness' (ἔρημος), recalls a locus of divine provision.
- Revelation 12:7a Michael, from Hebrew Mikha'el, 'who is like God?', appears in Daniel 10:13 and 12:1 as the angelic prince who champions Israel, a role developed further in Second Temple Jewish angelology. His only other New Testament appearance is Jude 9, where he likewise contends with the devil. The Greek egeneto polemos, literally 'war came to be', marks the sudden outbreak of the conflict.
- Revelation 12:9a The phrase ho ophis ho archaios (ὁ ὄφις ὁ ἀρχαῖος), 'the ancient serpent', explicitly identifies the dragon with the tempter of Genesis 3. The verse pairs the Greek title diabolos, 'slanderer', with Satanas, a Greek form of the Hebrew satan, 'adversary'. The phrase 'the whole world' translates oikoumenē, the whole inhabited earth.
- Revelation 12:10a 'Messiah' renders the Greek word 'Christos,' which means 'the Anointed One' (this is the Greek equivalent for the Hebrew word 'Mashiach').
- Revelation 12:10b 'Brothers and sisters' renders the Greek word 'adelphon'; this term includes the whole community of believers, not men only.
- Revelation 12:11a The Greek phrase ouk ēgapēsan tēn psychēn autōn achri thanatou, 'they did not love their lives unto death,' describes those who did not cling to their lives even when facing martyrdom.
- Revelation 12:14a 'A time, times and half a time' (kairon kai kairous kai hemisy kairou) echoes Daniel 7:25 and 12:7, and is commonly understood as three and a half years.
- Revelation 12:15a The rare Greek adjective potamophoreton, 'carried away by a river' (ποταμοφορητόν), occurs only here in the New Testament. The hostile-river image evokes the Exodus crossing (Exodus 14–15) and the ancient combat with sea and dragon (Psalm 74:13–15; Isaiah 51:9–10).
- Revelation 12:17a 'The testimony of Jesus' (ten martyrian Iesou) can mean either the testimony they bear about Jesus or the testimony that comes from Jesus; the Greek phrase leaves both meanings open.
About this translation
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