Isaiah 27:1

27:1 At that time ¹  the Lord will punish

with his destructive, ²  great, and powerful sword

Leviathan the fast-moving ³  serpent,

Leviathan the squirming serpent;

he will kill the sea monster. ⁴ 

Revelation 12:9

12:9 So ⁵  that huge dragon – the ancient serpent, the one called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world – was thrown down to the earth, and his angels along with him.

Revelation 20:1-2

The Thousand Year Reign

20:1 Then ⁶  I saw an angel descending from heaven, holding ⁷  in his hand the key to the abyss and a huge chain. 20:2 He ⁸  seized the dragon – the ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan – and tied him up for a thousand years.

¹ tn Heb “in that day” (so KJV).

² tn Heb “hard, severe”; cf. NAB, NRSV “cruel”; KJV “sore”; NLT “terrible.”

³ tn Heb “fleeing” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV). Some translate “slippery” or “slithering.”

⁴ tn The description of Leviathan should be compared with the following excerpts from Ugaritic mythological texts: (1) “Was not the dragon (Ugaritic tnn, cognate with Hebrew תַנִּין [tannin, translated “sea monster” here]) vanquished and captured? I did destroy the wriggling (Ugaritic ’qltn, cognate to Hebrew עֲקַלָּתוֹן [’aqallaton, translated “squirming” here]) serpent, the tyrant with seven heads (cf. Ps 74:14).” (See CTA 3 iii 38-39.) (2) “for all that you smote Leviathan the slippery (Ugaritic brh, cognate to Hebrew בָּרִחַ [bariakh, translated “fast-moving” here]) serpent, [and] made an end of the wriggling serpent, the tyrant with seven heads” (See CTA 5 i 1-3.)

⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the result of the war in heaven.

⁶ tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.

⁷ tn The word “holding” is implied. The two clauses “having the key of the abyss” and “a huge chain in his hand” can be construed in two ways: (1) both are controlled by the participle ἔχοντα (econta) and both are modified by the phrase “in his hand” – “having in his hand the key to the abyss and a huge chain.” (2) The participle ἔχοντα refers only to the key, and the phrase “in his hand” refers only to the chain – “having the key of the abyss and holding a huge chain in his hand.” Because of the stylistic tendency in Rev to use the verb ἔχω (ecw) to mean “hold (something)” and the phrase “in his hand” forming a “bracket” along with the verb ἔχω around both the phrases in question, the first option is preferred.

⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.