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¹ A spectacular sign appeared in the sky: a woman dressed with the sun, who had the moon under her feet and a victor's crown of twelve stars on her head. ² She was pregnant and was crying out from labor pains and the agony of giving birth.[xr] ³ Then another sign appeared in the sky: a huge red dragon with seven heads, ten horns, and seven royal crowns on its heads.[xr] ⁴ Its tail swept away one-third of the stars in the sky and threw them down to the earth. Then the dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth so that it could devour her child when it was born.[xr] ⁵ She gave birth to a son, a boy, who is to rule[fn] all the nations with an iron scepter. But her child was snatched away and taken to God and to his throne.[xr] ⁶ Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where a place had been prepared for her by God so that she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.[xr] ⁷ Then a war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon and its angels fought back.[xr] ⁸ But it was not strong enough, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. ⁹ The huge dragon was thrown down. That ancient serpent, called devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world, was thrown down to the earth, and its angels were thrown down with it.[xr] ¹⁰ Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say,[xr] "Now the salvation, the power, the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ[fn] have come. For the one accusing our brothers, the one who accuses them day and night in the presence of our God, has been thrown out. ¹¹ They conquered him by the blood of the lamb[xr] and by the word of their testimony, for they did not love their life even in the face of death.

¹² So be glad, heavens, and those who live in them![xr] How terrible it is for the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you with great wrath, knowing that his time is short!" ¹³ When the dragon saw that it had been thrown down to the earth, it persecuted[fn] the woman who had given birth to the boy.[xr] ¹⁴ However, the woman was given the two wings of a large eagle so that she could fly away from the serpent to her place in the wilderness, where she could be taken care of for a time, times, and half a time.[xr] ¹⁵ From its mouth the serpent poured water like a river behind the woman in order to sweep her away with the flood.[xr] ¹⁶ But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had poured from its mouth. ¹⁷ Then the dragon became angry with the woman and went away to do battle against the rest of her children, the ones who keep God's commandments and hold on to the testimony about Jesus.[xr]