Revelation 12-14

Complete Jewish Bible

12 Now a great sign was seen in heaven — a woman clothed with the sun, under her feet the moon, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. ² She was pregnant and about to give birth, and she screamed in the agony of labor.

³ Another sign was seen in heaven there was a great red dragon with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven royal crowns. ⁴ Its tail swept a third of the stars out of heaven and threw them down to the earth. It stood in front of the woman about to give birth, so that it might devour the child the moment it was born.

⁵ She gave birth to a son, a male child, the one who will rule all the nations with a staff of iron.^[a] But her child was snatched up to God and his throne; ⁶ and she fled into the desert, where she has a place prepared by God so that she can be taken care of for 1,260 days.

⁷ Next there was a battle in heaven — Mikha’el and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. ⁸ But it was not strong enough to win, so that there was no longer any place for them in heaven. ⁹ The great dragon was thrown out, that ancient serpent, also known as the Devil and Satan [the Adversary], the deceiver of the whole world. He was hurled down to the earth, and his angels were hurled down with him.

¹⁰ Then I heard a loud voice in heaven saying,

¹³ When the dragon saw that he had been hurled down to the earth, he went in pursuit of the woman who had given birth to the male child. ¹⁴ But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle, so that she could fly to her place in the desert, where she is taken care of for a season and two seasons and half a season,^[b] away from the serpent’s presence. ¹⁵ The serpent spewed water like a river out of its mouth after the woman, in order to sweep her away in the flood; ¹⁶ but the land came to her rescue — it opened its mouth and swallowed up the river which the dragon had spewed out of its mouth. ¹⁷ The dragon was infuriated over the woman and went off to fight the rest of her children, those who obey God’s commands and bear witness to Yeshua.

¹⁸ Then the dragon stood on the seashore;

13 and I saw a beast come up out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads. On its horns were ten royal crowns and on its heads blasphemous names. ² The beast which I saw was like a leopard, but with feet like those of a bear and a mouth like the mouth of a lion. To it the dragon gave its power, its throne and great authority. ³ One of the heads of the beast appeared to have received a fatal wound, but its fatal wound was healed, and the whole earth followed after the beast in amazement. ⁴ They worshipped the dragon, because he had given his authority to the beast; and they worshipped the beast, saying,

⁵ It was given a mouth speaking arrogant blasphemies; and it was given authority to act for forty-two months. ⁶ So it opened its mouth in blasphemies against God to insult his name and his Sh’khinah, and those living in heaven; ⁷ it was allowed to make war on God’s holy people and to defeat them; and it was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. ⁸ Everyone living on earth will worship it except those whose names are written in the Book of Life belonging to the Lamb slaughtered before the world was founded. ⁹ Those who have ears, let them hear!

This is when God’s holy people must persevere and trust!

¹¹ Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth. It had two horns like those of a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon. ¹² It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence; and it makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, the one whose fatal wound had been healed. ¹³ It performs great miracles, even causing fire to come down from heaven onto the earth as people watch. ¹⁴ It deceives the people living on earth by the miracles it is allowed to perform in the presence of the beast, and it tells them to make an image honoring the beast that was struck by the sword but came alive again. ¹⁵ It was allowed to put breath into the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast could even speak; and it was allowed to cause anyone who would not worship the image of the beast to be put to death. ¹⁶ Also it forces everyone — great and small, rich and poor, free and slave — to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead ¹⁷ preventing anyone from buying or selling unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name. ¹⁸ This is where wisdom is needed; those who understand should count the number of the beast, for it is the number of a person, and its number is 666.

14 Then I looked, and there was the Lamb standing on Mount Tziyon; and with him were 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads. ² I heard a sound from heaven like the sound of rushing waters and like the sound of pealing thunder; the sound I heard was also like that of harpists playing on their harps. ³ They were singing a new song before the throne and before the four living beings and the elders, and no one could learn the song except the 144,000 who have been ransomed from the world. ⁴ These are the ones who have not defiled themselves with women, for they are virgins; they follow the Lamb wherever he goes; they have been ransomed from among humanity as firstfruits for God and the Lamb; ⁵ on their lips no lie was found — they are without defect.

⁶ Next I saw another angel flying in mid-heaven with everlasting Good News to proclaim to those living on the earth — to every nation, tribe, language and people. ⁷ In a loud voice he said,

⁹ Another angel, a third one, followed them and said in a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives the mark on his forehead or on his hand, ¹⁰ he will indeed drink the wine of God’s fury poured undiluted into the cup of his rage. He will be tormented by fire and sulfur before the holy angels and before the Lamb, ¹¹ and the smoke from their tormenting goes up forever and ever. They have no rest, day or night, those who worship the beast and its image and those who receive the mark of its name.” ¹² This is when perseverance is needed on the part of God’s people, those who observe his commands and exercise Yeshua’s faithfulness.

¹³ Next I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write: ‘How blessed are the dead who die united with the Lord, from now on!’ ‘Yes,’ says the Spirit, ‘now they may rest from their efforts, for the things they have accomplished follow along with them.’”

¹⁴ Then I looked, and there before me was a white cloud. Sitting on the cloud was someone like a Son of Man^[e] with a gold crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. ¹⁵ Another angel came out of the Temple and shouted to the one sitting on the cloud, “Start using your sickle to reap, because the time to reap has come — the earth’s harvest is ripe!” ¹⁶ The one sitting on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested.

¹⁷ Another angel came out of the Temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. ¹⁸ Then out from the altar went yet another angel, who was in charge of the fire; and he called in a loud voice to the one with the sharp sickle, “Use your sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of grapes from the earth’s vine, because they are ripe!” ¹⁹ The angel swung his sickle down onto the earth, gathered the earth’s grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God’s fury. ²⁰ The winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress as high as the horses’ bridles for two hundred miles!