¹² Then a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and with the moon under her feet, and on her head was a crown of twelve stars. ² She was pregnant and was screaming in labor pains, struggling to give birth. ³ Then another sign appeared in heaven: a huge red dragon that had seven heads and ten horns, and on its heads were seven diadem crowns. ⁴ Now the dragon’s tail swept away a third of the stars in heaven and hurled them to the earth. Then the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child as soon as it was born. ⁵ So the woman gave birth to a son, a male child, who is going to rule over all the nations with an iron rod. Her child was suddenly caught up to God and to his throne, ⁶ and she fled into the wilderness where a place had been prepared for her by God, so she could be taken care of 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 to prevail, so there was no longer any place left in heaven for him and his angels. ⁹ So that huge dragon—the ancient serpent, the one called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world—was thrown down to the earth, and his angels along with him. ¹⁰ Then I heard a loud voice in heaven saying,

“The salvation and the power

and the kingdom of our God,

and the ruling authority of his Christ, have now come,

because the accuser of our brothers and sisters,

the one who accuses them day and night before our God,

has been thrown down.

¹¹ But they overcame him

by the blood of the Lamb

and by the word of their testimony,

and they did not love their lives so much that they were afraid to die.

¹² Therefore you heavens rejoice, and all who reside in them!

But woe to the earth and the sea

because the devil has come down to you!

He is filled with terrible anger,

for he knows that he only has a little time!”

¹³ Now when the dragon realized that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. ¹⁴ But the woman was given the two wings of a giant eagle so that she could fly out into the wilderness, to the place God prepared for her, where she is taken care of—away from the presence of the serpent—for a time, times, and half a time. ¹⁵ Then the serpent spouted water like a river out of his mouth after the woman in an attempt to sweep her away by a flood, ¹⁶ but the earth came to her rescue; the ground opened up and swallowed the river that the dragon had spewed from his mouth. ¹⁷ So the dragon became enraged at the woman and went away to make war on the rest of her children, those who keep God’s commandments and hold to the testimony about Jesus. (12:18) And the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore.

¹³ Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads, and on its horns were ten diadem crowns, and on its heads a blasphemous name. ² Now the beast that I saw was like a leopard, but its feet were like a bear’s, and its mouth was like a lion’s mouth. The dragon gave the beast his power, his throne, and great authority to rule. ³ One of the beast’s heads appeared to have been killed, but the lethal wound had been healed. And the whole world followed the beast in amazement; ⁴ they worshiped the dragon because he had given ruling authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast too, saying: “Who is like the beast?” and “Who is able to make war against him?” ⁵ The beast was given a mouth speaking proud words and blasphemies, and he was permitted to exercise ruling authority for forty-two months. ⁶ So the beast opened his mouth to blaspheme against God—to blaspheme both his name and his dwelling place, that is, those who dwell in heaven. ⁷ The beast was permitted to go to war against the saints and conquer them. He was given ruling authority over every tribe, people, language, and nation, ⁸ and all those who live on the earth will worship the beast, everyone whose name has not been written since the foundation of the world in the book of life belonging to the Lamb who was killed. ⁹ If anyone has an ear, he had better listen!

¹⁰ If anyone is meant for captivity,

into captivity he will go.

If anyone is to be killed by the sword,

then by the sword he must be killed.

This requires steadfast endurance and faith from the saints.

¹¹ Then I saw another beast coming up from the earth. He had two horns like a lamb, but was speaking like a dragon. ¹² He exercised all the ruling authority of the first beast on his behalf, and made the earth and those who inhabit it worship the first beast, the one whose lethal wound had been healed. ¹³ He performed momentous signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people ¹⁴ and, by the signs he was permitted to perform on behalf of the beast, he deceived those who live on the earth. He told those who live on the earth to make an image to the beast who had been wounded by the sword, but still lived. ¹⁵ The second beast was empowered to give life to the image of the first beast so that it could speak, and could cause all those who did not worship the image of the beast to be killed. ¹⁶ He also caused everyone (small and great, rich and poor, free and slave) to obtain a mark on their right hand or on their forehead. ¹⁷ Thus no one was allowed to buy or sell things unless he bore the mark of the beast—that is, his name or his number. ¹⁸ This calls for wisdom: Let the one who has insight calculate the beast’s number, for it is man’s number, and his number is 666.

⁴⁴ For the music director, by the Korahites; a well-written song.

O God, we have clearly heard;

our ancestors have told us

what you did in their days,

in ancient times.

² You, by your power, defeated nations and settled our fathers on their land;

you crushed the people living there and enabled our ancestors to occupy it.

³ For they did not conquer the land by their swords,

and they did not prevail by their strength,

but rather by your power, strength, and good favor,

for you were partial to them.

⁴ You are my king, O God.

Decree Jacob’s deliverance.

⁵ By your power we will drive back our enemies;

by your strength we will trample down our foes.

⁶ For I do not trust in my bow,

and I do not prevail by my sword.

⁷ For you deliver us from our enemies;

you humiliate those who hate us.

⁸ In God we boast all day long,

and we will continually give thanks to your name. (Selah)

⁹ But you rejected and embarrassed us.

You did not go into battle with our armies.

¹⁰ You made us retreat from the enemy.

Those who hate us take whatever they want from us.

¹¹ You handed us over like sheep to be eaten;

you scattered us among the nations.

¹² You sold your people for a pittance;

you did not ask a high price for them.

¹³ You made us an object of disdain to our neighbors;

those who live on our borders taunt and insult us.

¹⁴ You made us an object of ridicule among the nations;

foreigners treat us with contempt.

¹⁵ All day long I feel humiliated

and am overwhelmed with shame,

¹⁶ before the vindictive enemy

who ridicules and insults me.

¹⁷ All this has happened to us, even though we have not rejected you

or violated your covenant with us.

¹⁸ We have not been unfaithful,

nor have we disobeyed your commands.

¹⁹ Yet you have battered us, leaving us a heap of ruins overrun by wild dogs;

you have covered us with darkness.

²⁰ If we had rejected our God,

and spread out our hands in prayer to another god,

²¹ would not God discover it,

for he knows a person’s secret thoughts?

²² Yet because of you we are killed all day long;

we are treated like sheep at the slaughtering block.

²³ Rouse yourself! Why do you sleep, O Lord?

Wake up! Do not reject us forever.

²⁴ Why do you look the other way,

and ignore the way we are oppressed and mistreated?

²⁵ For we lie in the dirt,

with our bellies pressed to the ground.

²⁶ Rise up and help us.

Rescue us because of your loyal love.