1A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.
2She was going to have a child. She cried out in the pain of giving birth, in agony to be delivered.
3Another sign appeared in heaven. Look, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns on his heads.
4His tail dragged a third of the stars of heaven and threw them down to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was ready to give birth, so that he could devour her child as soon as it was born.
5She gave birth to a son, a male child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her child was caught up to God and to his throne.
6The woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God. There they would feed her for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.
7There was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon fought back with his angels,
8but he did not win. There was no longer any place for them in heaven.
9So the great dragon was thrown out, that old serpent, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown out with him.
10Then I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, "Now the salvation and the strength and the kingdom of our God have come, and the power of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters has been thrown down, who accused them before our God day and night."
11"They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. They did not love their lives so much that they ran from death."
12"So be glad, you heavens, and you who live in them. But woe to those who live on the earth and on the sea! For the devil has come down to you, and he is full of great anger, because he knows that he has only a short time."
13When the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he chased and persecuted the woman who had given birth to the male child.
14The woman was given two wings of a great eagle, so that she could fly into the wilderness, to her own place. There she is fed for a time, and times, and half a time, away from the face of the serpent.
15The serpent poured water out of his mouth like a river after the woman, to sweep her away with the flood.
16But the earth helped the woman. The earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the river that the dragon poured out of his mouth.
17The dragon was angry with the woman, and he went off to make war with the rest of her children, those who keep the commandments of God and hold the testimony of Jesus Christ.
18And I stood on the sand of the sea.