啟示錄 12

婦人和龍

1 天上出現了一個大兆頭：有一個婦人身披太陽，腳踏月亮，頭戴十二顆星的冠冕； 2 她懷了孕，在生產的陣痛中疼痛地喊叫。 3 天上又出現了另一個兆頭：有一條大紅龍t，有七個頭十個角；七個頭上戴著七個冠冕。 4 牠的尾巴拖拉著天上星辰的三分之一，把它們摔在地上。然後龍站在那將要生產的婦人面前，等她生產後要吞吃她的孩子。 5 婦人生了一個男孩子，就是將來要用鐵杖管轄t萬國的；她的孩子被提到上帝和他寶座那裏去。 6 婦人就逃到曠野，在那裏有上帝給她預備的地方，使她在那裏被供養一千二百六十天。

7 天上發生了爭戰。米迦勒同他的使者與龍作戰，龍同牠的使者也起來應戰， 8 牠們都打敗了，天上再也沒有牠們的地方。 9 大龍就是那古蛇，名叫魔鬼，又叫撒但，是迷惑普天下的；牠被摔在地上，牠的使者也一同被摔下去。 10 我聽見在天上有大聲音說： 「我上帝的救恩、能力、國度， 和他所立的基督的權柄現在都來到了。 因為那個在我們上帝面前、 晝夜控告我們弟兄的， 已經被摔下去了。

11 弟兄勝過那條龍是因羔羊的血， 和因自己所見證的道。 雖然至於死，他們也不惜自己的性命。

12 所以，諸天和住在其中的， 你們都快樂吧！ 只是地和海有禍了！ 因為魔鬼知道自己的時候不多， 就氣憤憤地下到你們那裏去了。」

13 龍見自己被摔在地上，就迫害那生男孩子的婦人。 14 於是有大鷹的兩個翅膀賜給婦人，讓她能飛到曠野，到自己的地方，躲避那蛇。她在那裏受供養一載二載半載。 15 蛇在婦人背後，從口中噴出水來，像河一樣，要將婦人沖走。 16 地卻幫助了婦人，開口吞了從龍口噴出來的水。 17 於是龍向婦人發怒，去與她其餘的兒女作戰，就是與那些遵守上帝命令t、為耶穌作見證的t。 18 那時龍站在海邊沙灘上。

REVELATION 12

The Woman and the Dragon

1 Something important appeared in the sky. It was a woman whose clothes were the sun. The moon was under her feet, and a crown made of twelve stars was on her head.

2 She was about to give birth, and she was crying because of the great pain.
3  t Something else appeared in the sky. It was a huge red dragon with seven heads and ten horns, and a crown on each of its seven heads.

4 t With its tail, it dragged a third of the stars from the sky and threw them down to the earth. Then the dragon turned toward the woman, because it wanted to eat her child as soon as it was born.
5  t The woman gave birth to a son, who would rule all nations with an iron rod. The boy was snatched away. He was taken to God and placed on his throne.

6 The woman ran into the desert to a place that God had prepared for her. There she would be taken care of for 1,260 days.

Michael Fights the Dragon

10 t Then I heard a voice from heaven shout,
“Our God has shown
his saving power,
and his kingdom has come!
God's own Chosen One
has shown his authority.
Satan accused our people
in the presence of God
day and night.
Now he has been thrown out!

11 “Our people defeated Satan
because of the bloodt
of the Lamb
and the message of God.
They were willing
to give up their lives.

12 “The heavens should rejoice,
together with everyone
who lives there.
But pity the earth
and the sea,
because the devil
was thrown down
to the earth.
He knows his time is short,
and he is very angry.”
13 When the dragon realized it had been thrown down to the earth, it tried to make trouble for the woman who had given birth to a son.

14 t But the woman was given two wings like those of a huge eagle, so she could fly into the desert. There she would escape from the snake and be taken care of for a time, two times, and half a time.
15 The snake then spewed out water like a river to sweep the woman away. 16 But the earth helped her and swallowed the water that had come from the dragon's mouth. 17 This made the dragon terribly angry with the woman. So it started a war against the rest of her children. They are the people who obey God and are faithful to what Jesus did and taught. 18 The dragont stood on the beach beside the sea.