Revelation

“ The kingdom of the world has now
become the kingdom of our Lord and
of his Christ.*
And he will rule forever and ever.”
16Then the 24 elders* bowed down on
their faces and worshiped God. These are the
elders who sit on their thrones before God.
17The elders said,
“ We give thanks to you, Lord God
All-Powerful.
You are the one who is and who always
was.
We thank you because you have used
your great power
and have begun to rule.
18 The people of the world were angry,
but now is the time for your anger.
Now is the time for the dead to be judged.
It is time to reward your servants, the
prophets,*
and to reward your holy people,*
the people, great and small, who respect
you.
It is time to destroy those people who
destroy the earth!”
19Then God’s temple in heaven was
opened. The Box of the Agreement a could be
seen in his temple. Then there were flashes
of lightning, noises, thunder, an earthquake,
and a great hailstorm.
The Woman Giving Birth and the Dragon
12 1And then a great wonder appeared in
heaven: There was a woman who was
clothed with the sun, and the moon was under
her feet. She had a crown of twelve stars on her
head. 2She was pregnant and cried out with
pain because she was about to give birth.
3Then another wonder appeared in heaven:
There was a giant red dragon there. The
dragon had seven heads with a crown on each
head. It also had ten horns. 4Its tail swept a
third of the stars out of the sky and threw
them down to the earth. It stood in front of
the woman who was ready to give birth to
the baby. It wanted to eat the woman’s baby
as soon as it was born.
5The woman gave birth to a son, who would
rule all the nations with an iron rod. And her
child was taken up to God and to his throne.
6The woman ran away into the desert to a
place that God had prepared for her. There
she would be taken care of for 1260 days.
7Then there was a war in heaven. Michael b
a 11:19 Box of the Agreement This is like the special
box kept in the Most Holy Place of the Israelite
Holy Tent and, later, the Jerusalem Temple, which
contained “proof” of the agreement between God
and his people. See “Box of the Agreement” in the
Word List.
b 12:7 Michael The archangel—leader of God’s
angels. See Jude 9.
1011
and his angels fought against the dragon.
The dragon and its angels fought back, 8but
they were not strong enough. The dragon
and its angels lost their place in heaven. 9It
was thrown down out of heaven. (This giant
dragon is that old snake, the one called the
devil or Satan, who leads the whole world
into the wrong way.) The dragon and its
angels were thrown to the earth.
10Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say,
“The victory and the power and the kingdom
of our God and the authority of his Christ*
have now come. These things have come,
because the accuser of our brothers and sisters
has been thrown out. He is the one who
accused them day and night before our God.
11They defeated him by the blood sacrifice of
the Lamb* and by the message of God that
they told people. They did not love their lives
too much. They were not afraid of death. 12So
rejoice, you heavens and all who live there!
But it will be terrible for the earth and sea,
because the devil has gone down to you. He
is filled with anger. He knows he doesn’t have
much time.”
13The dragon saw that he had been thrown
down to the earth. So he chased the woman
who had given birth to the child. 14But the
woman was given the two wings of a great
eagle. Then she could fly to the place that
was prepared for her in the desert. There
she would be taken care of for three and a
half years. There she would be away from the
dragon. c 15Then the dragon poured water out
of its mouth like a river. It poured the water
toward the woman so that the flood would
carry her away. 16But the earth helped the
woman. The earth opened its mouth and
swallowed the river that came from the
mouth of the dragon. 17Then
REVELATION 13:4
the dragon was
very angry with the woman. It went away to
make war against all her other children. Her
children are those who obey God’s commands
and have the truth that Jesus taught.
18The dragon stood on the seashore.
The Beast From the Sea
13 1Then I saw a beast coming up out of
the sea. It had ten horns and seven
heads. There was a crown on each of its
horns. It had an evil name written on each
head. 2This beast looked like a leopard, with
feet like a bear’s feet. It had a mouth like a
lion’s mouth. The dragon gave the beast all of
its power and its throne and great authority.
3One of the heads of the beast looked as if
it had been wounded and killed, but the death
wound was healed. All the people in the
world were amazed, and they all followed the
beast. 4People worshiped the dragon because
it had given its power to the beast, and they
also worshiped the beast. They asked, “Who
c 12:14 dragon Here and in verse 15 literally, “snake.”
See verse 9 above.