1 Then a great symbol was seen in heaven -- a woman clothed in the sun with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.
2 She was about to become a mother, and she cried out in anguish in giving birth to a child.
3 Another symbol was seen in heaven -- there was a huge dragon, red as fire, with seven heads and ten horns, with seven diadems on his heads.
4 His tail was dragging after it a third part of the stars of heaven and dashed them down upon the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth to a child, in order to devour her child as soon as it was born.
5 She gave birth to a son, a male child who is going to rule all the nations with a scepter of iron; and the child was caught up to God, to His throne.
6 Then the woman fled into the desert, where she had a place of safety made ready by God, so that she might be cared for one thousand, two hundred and sixty days.
7 Then war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels going to war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels fought,
8 but they were defeated, and there was no room for them in heaven any longer.
9 So the huge dragon, the ancient serpent, called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world, was hurled down to the earth, and his angels were hurled down with him.
10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: "The salvation, power, and kingdom of our God, and the sovereignty of His Christ, have already come, because the accuser of our brothers, who always day and night accuses them before our God, has been hurled down.
11 But they have conquered him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the message to which they bore testimony, because they did not cling to life but courted death.
12 So celebrate your triumph, you heavens and you who live in them! Alas for the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you in a great rage, since he knows that his time is short!"
13 When the dragon saw that he had been hurled down to the earth, he started persecuting the woman who had given birth to the male child.
14 But the two wings of a great eagle were given to the woman, so that she could fly to her place in the desert, where she could be taken care of for a time, times, and a half-time, safe from the presence of the serpent.
15 Then the serpent made water, like a river, spout from his mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with its torrent.
16 But the earth helped the woman, for it opened its mouth and swallowed the river which the dragon made to spout from his mouth.
17 So the dragon was enraged against the woman, and he went off to make war with the rest of her descendants, who continue to keep God's commands and to bear testimony to Jesus.