The Woman and the Dragon
1A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. 2She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. 3Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads. 4Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child the moment he was born. 5She gave birth to a son, a male child, who “will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.”12:5 Psalm 2:9 And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. 6The woman fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.
7Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. 8But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. 9The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.
10Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:
“Now have come the salvation and the power
and the kingdom of our God,
and the authority of his Messiah.
For the accuser of our brothers and sisters,
who accuses them before our God day and night,
has been hurled down.
11They triumphed over him
by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony;
they did not love their lives so much
as to shrink from death.
12Therefore rejoice, you heavens
and you who dwell in them!
But woe to the earth and the sea,
because the devil has gone down to you!
He is filled with fury,
because he knows that his time is short.”
13When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. 14The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the wilderness, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent’s reach. 15Then from his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river, to overtake the woman and sweep her away with the torrent. 16But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. 17Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring—those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus.
婦人與巨龍
1天上出現了一個奇異的景象：有一個婦人，身披太陽，腳踏月亮，頭戴有十二顆星的冠冕。 2她懷孕將產，正因產痛而呼叫。
3這時天上出現了另一個奇異的景象：有一條紅色巨龍出現，牠有七頭十角，每個頭上都戴著冠冕。 4牠的尾巴將天上三分之一的星掃落到地上。巨龍站在那正要生產的婦人面前，等著要吃掉她生下來的嬰孩。 5婦人生下一個男嬰，就是將來要用鐵杖治理萬國的。12·5 詩篇2·9。那男嬰被提到了上帝的寶座那裡， 6婦人則逃到曠野，在上帝為她預備的地方被照顧一千二百六十天。
7天上起了戰爭，米迦勒和他的天使出戰巨龍，巨龍和牠的天使抵抗。 8巨龍落敗，天上再沒有牠們的立足之地， 9牠和牠的天使都一同從天上被摔到地上。巨龍就是那古蛇，又名魔鬼或撒旦，是迷惑天下人的。
10我聽見天上有響亮的聲音說：「我們上帝的救贖、權能、國度和祂所立的基督的權柄現在來臨了。因為那晝夜不停地在我們上帝面前控告我們弟兄的，已經被摔到地上了。 11弟兄們是靠著羔羊的血和自己所見證的道戰勝了牠，他們沒有貪生怕死。 12因此，諸天和其中的居民都要歡欣雀躍！但大地和海洋有禍了，因為魔鬼知道牠的時日不多了，就怒氣沖沖地下到你們那裡。」
13巨龍見自己被摔到地上，就迫害那先前產下男嬰的婦人。 14但那婦人得到一對巨鷹的翅膀，使她能飛到曠野，去上帝為她預備的地方避難，在那裡被照顧三年半。 15古蛇在婦人身後張口吐出大量的水，如同江河一般，要沖走她， 16大地卻幫助她，張口吞了巨龍口中吐出來的大水。 17巨龍大怒，轉而攻擊她的其他兒女，就是那些堅守上帝的命令、為耶穌作見證的人。 18那時巨龍站在海邊的沙地上。
