12:7 Then 6 war broke out in heaven: Michael 7 and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back.
1 tn Heb “and behold.”
2 tc The Greek version of Theodotion reads “I left him [i.e., Michael] there,” and this is followed by a number of English translations (cf. NAB, NRSV, NLT).
3 tn The word “even” is not in Greek; it is implied by the height of the contrast.
4 sn According to Jewish intertestamental literature (such as 1 En. 20), Michael was one of seven archangels.
5 tn The sentence structure is a bit different in Greek. Literally it reads: “But Michael the archangel, when arguing with the devil and disputing.”
6 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.
7 sn The archangel Michael had a special role in protecting the nation of Israel in the OT (Dan 10:13, 21; 12:1; see also Jude 9).