the Second Week after Easter
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New King James Version
Revelation 12:2
Bible Study Resources
Concordances:
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- InternationalParallel Translations
She was pregnant and cried out in labor and agony as she was about to give birth.
And shee being with childe, cried, trauailing in birth, and pained to be deliuered.
And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.
and she was pregnant and she cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth.
She was pregnant and cried out with pain, because she was about to give birth.
She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth.
and she was with child; and she cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth.
She was pregnant and crying out in the pain and agony of giving birth.
She was about to give birth, and she was crying because of the great pain.
She was pregnant and about to give birth, and she screamed in the agony of labor.
and being with child she cried, [being] in travail, and in pain to bring forth.
She was pregnant and cried out with pain because she was about to give birth.
And she was with childe, and cried traueiling in birth, and was pained readie to be deliuered.
And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.
She was soon to give birth, and the pains and suffering of childbirth made her cry out.
and who was pregnant and was crying out because she was having birth pains, and was in torment to give birth.
and having a babe in womb. She cries, being in labor, and having been distressed to bear.
She was with child (the Messiah) and she cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth.
and she was with child; and she crieth out, travailing in birth, and in pain to be delivered.
And she was with child; and she gave a cry, in the pains of childbirth.
She was with child. She cried out, laboring and in pain, giving birth.
She was pregnant and was crying out from labor pains and the agony of giving birth.Isaiah 66:7; Galatians 4:19;">[xr]
And having in her womb, she cried, and was in travail, and was pained to give birth.
And, being with child, she cried, and travailed, and had the pangs of bringing forth.
And she was with chylde, and cryed, trauaylyng in birth, and payned redy to be delyuered.
and she was with child: and she crieth out, travailing in birth, and in pain to be delivered.
She was with child. She cried out, laboring and in pain, giving birth.
And being with child she crieth, travailing in birth and pained to be delivered.
and she was crying out in the pains and agony of childbirth.
And sche hadde in wombe, and sche crieth, trauelynge of child, and is turmentid, that sche bere child.
and she was pregnant; and she cries out, travailing in birth, and in pain to be delivered.
And she being with child, cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.
She was pregnant and was screaming in labor pains, struggling to give birth.
She was pregnant, and she cried out because of her labor pains and the agony of giving birth.
She was about to become a mother. She cried out with pain waiting for the child to be born.
She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pangs, in the agony of giving birth.
and she was with child, and crieth out, being in pangs and in anguish to bring forth?
And being with child, she cried travailing in birth: and was in pain to be delivered.
she was with child and she cried out in her pangs of birth, in anguish for delivery.
And she was wt chylde and cryed travayllinge in byrth and payned redy to be delyvered.
and being with child she doth cry out, travailing and pained to bring forth.
And she was with childe, and cryed trauaillinge in byrth, and payned redy to be delyuered.
she was with child, and cried in her labour with the pangs of her delivery.
She cried out with the pain of childbirth as her time was near.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
travailing: Revelation 12:4, Isaiah 53:11, Isaiah 54:1, Isaiah 66:7, Isaiah 66:8, Micah 5:3, John 16:21, Galatians 4:19, Galatians 4:27
Reciprocal: Daniel 11:34 - they shall be Romans 8:22 - groaneth Revelation 12:5 - she
Cross-References
I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."
So Abram departed as the LORD had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.
Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, as far as the terebinth tree of Moreh. [fn] And the Canaanites were then in the land.
And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; there he built an altar to the LORD and called on the name of the LORD.
So Abram journeyed, going on still toward the South. [fn]
Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to dwell there, for the famine was severe in the land.
So it was, when Abram came into Egypt, that the Egyptians saw the woman, that she was very beautiful.
He treated Abram well for her sake. He had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male and female servants, female donkeys, and camels.
But the LORD plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife.
And Pharaoh called Abram and said, "What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife?
Gill's Notes on the Bible
And she being big with child,.... Which may be expressive of the fruitfulness of the church in bearing and bringing forth many souls to Christ, and which were very numerous in this period of time, when it was said of Zion that this and that man was born in her; and particularly of her pregnancy with the kingdom of Christ, to be brought forth, and set up in the Roman empire, under the influence of a Roman emperor: and this being her case, she
cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered; which are metaphors taken from a woman in travail; and may either denote the earnest cries and fervent prayers of the members of the church, and the laborious and painful ministrations of the preachers of the Gospel for the conversion of souls, and especially for the setting up of the kingdom of Christ in the empire of Rome; or else the sore and grievous persecutions which attended the apostles of Christ, and succeeding ministers of the word, throughout the times of the ten Roman emperors, and especially under Dioclesian; when the church was big, and laboured in great pain, and the time was drawing on apace that a Christian emperor should be brought forth, who should be a means of spreading the Gospel, and the kingdom of Christ, all over the empire; see Jeremiah 30:6; so the Targumist frequently explains the pains of a woman in travail in the prophets by עקא, "tribulation"; see the Targum on Isaiah 13:8.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
And she being with child cried, travailing in birth ... - That is, there would be something which would be properly represented by a woman in such circumstances.
The question now is, what is referred to by this woman? And here it need hardly be said that there has been, as in regard to almost every other part of the Book of Revelation, a great variety of interpretations. It would be endless to undertake to examine them, and would not be profitable if it could be done; and it is better, therefore, and more in accordance with the design of these notes, to state briefly what seems to me to be the true interpretation:
(1) The woman is evidently designed to symbolize the church; and in this there is a pretty general agreement among interpreters. The image, which is a beautiful one, was very familiar to the Jewish prophets. See the notes on Isaiah 1:8; Isaiah 47:1; compare Ezekiel 16:0.
(2) But still the question arises, to what time this representation refers: whether to the church before the birth of the Saviour, or after? According to the former of these opinions, it is supposed to refer to the church as giving birth to the Saviour, and the “man child” that is born Revelation 12:5 is supposed to refer to Christ, who “sprang from the church” - κατὰ σάρκα kata sarka - according to the flesh (Prof. Stuart, vol. 2, p. 252). The church, according to this view, is not simply regarded as Jewish, but, in a more general and theocratic sense, as “the people of God.” “From the Christian church, considered as Christian, he could not spring; for this took its rise only after the time of his public ministry. But from the bosom of the “people of God” the Saviour came. This church Judaical indeed (at the time of his birth) in respect to rites and forms, but to become Christian after he had exercised his ministry in the midst of it, might well be represented here by the woman which is described in Revelation 12:0.” (Prof. Stuart). But to this view there are some, as it seems to me, unanswerable objections. For:
(a) there seems to be a harshness and incongruity in representing the Saviour as the Son of the church, or representing the church as giving birth to him. Such imagery is not found elsewhere in the Bible, and is not in accordance with the language which is employed, where Christ is rather represented as the Husband of the church than the Son: “Prepared as a bride adorned for her husband,” Revelation 21:2. “I will show thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife,” Revelation 21:9; compare Isaiah 54:5; Isaiah 61:10; Isaiah 62:5.
(b) If this interpretation be adopted, then this must refer to the Jewish church, and thus the woman will personify the Jewish community before the birth of Christ. But this seems contrary to the whole design of the Apocalypse, which has reference to the Christian church, and not to the ancient dispensation.
(c) If this interpretation be adopted, then the statement about the dwelling in the wilderness for a period of 1260 days or years Revelation 12:14 must be assigned to the Jewish community - a supposition every way improbable and untenable. In what sense could this be true? When did anything happen to the Jewish people that could, with any show of probability, be regarded as the fulfillment of this?
(d) It, may be added, that the statement about the “man child” Revelation 12:5 is one that can with difficulty be reconciled to this supposition. In what sense was this true, that the “man child” was “caught up unto God, and to his throne?” The Saviour, indeed, ascended to heaven, but it was not, as here represented, that he might be protected from the danger of being destroyed; and when he did ascend, it was not as a helpless and unprotected babe, but as a man in the full maturity of his powers. The other opinion is, that the woman here refers to the Christian church, and that the object is to represent that church as about to be enlarged - represented by the condition of the woman, Revelation 12:2. A beautiful woman appears, clothed with light - emblematic of the brightness and purity of the church; with the moon under her feet - the ancient and comparatively obscure dispensation now made subordinate and humble; with a glittering diadem of twelve stars on her head - the stars representing the usual well-known division of the people of God into twelve parts - as the stars in the American flag denote the original states of the Union; and in a condition Revelation 12:2 which showed that the church was to be increased.
The time there referred to is at the early period of the history of the church, when, as it were, it first appears on the theater of things, and going forth in its beauty and majesty over the earth. John sees this church, as it was about to spread in the world, exposed to a mighty and formidable enemy - a hateful dragon - stationing itself to prevent its increase, and to accomplish its destruction. From that impending danger it is protected in a manner that would he well represented by the saving of the child of the woman, and bearing it up to heaven, to a place of safety - an act implying that, notwithstanding all dangers, the progress and enlargement of the church was ultimately certain. In the meantime, the woman herself flees into the wilderness - an act representing the obscure, and humble, and persecuted state of the church - until the great controversy is determined which is to have the ascendency - God or the Dragon. In favor of this interpretation, the following considerations may be suggested:
(a) It is the natural and obvious interpretation.
(b) If it be admitted that John meant to describe what occurred in the world at the time when the true church seemed to be about to extend itself over the earth, and when that prosperity was checked by the rise of the papal power, the symbol employed would be strikingly expressive and appropriate.
(c) It accords with the language elsewhere used in the Scriptures when referring to the increase of the church. “Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child. Who hath heard such a thing? As soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children,” Isaiah 66:7-8. “Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the Lord,” Isaiah 54:1. “The children which thou shalt have, after thou shalt have lost the other, shall say again in thy ears, The place is too strait for me; give place to me that I may dwell,” Isaiah 49:20. The comparison of the church to a woman as the mother of children, is one that is very common in the Scriptures.
(d) The future destiny of the child and of the woman agrees with this supposition. The child is caught up to heaven, Revelation 12:5 - emblematic of the fact that God will protect the church, and not suffer its increase to be cut off and destroyed; and the woman is driven for 1260 years into the wilderness and nourished there, Revelation 12:14 - emblematic of the long period of obscurity and persecution in the true church, and yet of the fact that it would be protected and nourished. The design of the whole, therefore, I apprehend, is to represent the peril of the church at the time when it was about to be greatly enlarged, or in a season of prosperity, from the rise of a formidable enemy that would stand ready to destroy it. I regard this, therefore, as referring to the time of the rise of the papacy, when, but for that formidable, corrupting, and destructive power, it might have been hoped that the church would have spread all over the world. In regard to the rise of that power, see all that I have to say, or can say, in the notes on Daniel 7:24-28.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
NOTES ON CHAP. XII., BY J. E. C.
Verse Revelation 12:2. And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, &c.] This, when taken in connection with the following verses, is a striking figure of the great persecution which the Church of Christ should suffer under the heathen Roman emperors, but more especially of that long and most dreadful one under Diocletian. The woman is represented as BEING with child, to show that the time would speedily arrive when God's patient forbearance with the heathen would be terminated, and that a deliverer should arise in the Christian world who would execute the Divine vengeance upon paganism.
