The Woman and the Dragon

1 And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman ^eclothed with ^fthe sun, with ^fthe moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. 2 She was pregnant and ^gwas crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. 3 And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great ^hred dragon, ⁱwith seven heads and ^jten horns, and on his heads ^kseven diadems. 4 His tail swept down ^la third of the stars of heaven and ^mcast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child ⁿhe might devour it. 5 She gave birth to a male child, ^oone who is to rule¹ all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was ^pcaught 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 ^q1,260 days.

Satan Thrown Down to Earth

7 Now war arose in heaven, ^rMichael and ^shis 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 ^tthe great dragon was thrown down, ^uthat ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, ^vthe deceiver of the whole world—^whe 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 ^xthe salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers² has been thrown down, ^ywho accuses them day and night before our God. 11 And ^zthey have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for ^athey loved not their lives ^beven unto death. 12 Therefore, ^crejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But ^dwoe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because ^ehe knows that his time is short!”

13 And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued ^fthe woman who had given birth to the male child. 14 But the woman was given the two ^gwings of the great eagle so that she might fly from the serpent ^hinto the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished ⁱfor a time, and times, and half a time. 15 The serpent poured water ^jlike 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 ^kto make war on the rest of ^lher offspring, ^mon those who keep the commandments of God and hold to ⁿthe testimony of Jesus. And he stood³ on the sand of the sea.

The First Beast

1 And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, ^owith ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems on its horns and ^pblasphemous names on its heads. 2 And the beast that I saw was ^qlike a leopard; its feet were like ^ra bear’s, and its mouth was like ^sa lion’s mouth. And to it ^tthe dragon gave his power and ^uhis throne and great authority. 3 One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed, and ^vthe 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, ^w“Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?”

5 And the beast was given ^xa mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for ^yforty-two months. 6 It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling,⁴ that is, those who dwell in heaven. 7 Also it was allowed ^zto make war on the saints and to conquer them.⁵ And authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation, 8 and all ^awho dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in ^bthe book of life of ^cthe Lamb ^dwho was slain. 9 ^eIf anyone has an ear, let him hear:

^hHere is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.

The Second Beast

11 Then ⁱI 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,⁶ and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, ^jwhose mortal wound was healed. 13 ^kIt performs great signs, even ^lmaking 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 of⁷ the beast ^mit deceives those who dwell on earth, telling them to make an image for the beast ⁿthat 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 ^oworship the image of the beast ^pto be slain. 16 Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave,^{8 q}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, ^rthe name of the beast or ^sthe number of its name. 18 ^tThis calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number ^uof a man, and his number is 666.⁹

Come to Our Help

To the choirmaster. ^cA Maskil¹ of the Sons of Korah.