Revelation 12:4

12:4 Now ¹  the dragon’s ²  tail swept away a third of the stars in heaven and hurled them to the earth. Then ³  the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child as soon as it was born.

Revelation 12:12-13

12:12 Therefore you heavens rejoice, and all who reside in them!

But ⁴  woe to the earth and the sea

because the devil has come down to you!

He ⁵  is filled with terrible anger,

for he knows that he only has a little time!”

12:13 Now ⁶  when the dragon realized ⁷  that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child.

Revelation 12:17

12:17 So ⁸  the dragon became enraged at the woman and went away to make war on the rest of her children, ⁹  those who keep ¹⁰  God’s commandments and hold to ¹¹  the testimony about Jesus. ¹²  (12:18) And the dragon ¹³  stood ¹⁴  on the sand ¹⁵  of the seashore. ¹⁶ 

¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate that this remark is virtually parenthetical.

² tn Grk “its”; the referent (the dragon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.

⁴ tn The word “But” is not in the Greek text, but the contrast is clearly implied. This is a case of asyndeton (lack of a connective).

⁵ tn Grk “and is filled,” a continuation of the previous sentence. Because English tends to use shorter sentences (especially when exclamations are involved), a new sentence was started here in the translation.

⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” because the clause it introduces is clearly resumptive.

⁷ tn Grk “saw.”

⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of the woman’s escape.

⁹ tn Grk “her seed” (an idiom for offspring, children, or descendants).

¹⁰ tn Or “who obey.”

¹¹ tn Grk “and having.”

¹² tn Grk “the testimony of Jesus,” which may involve a subjective genitive (“Jesus’ testimony”) or, more likely, an objective genitive (“testimony about Jesus”).

¹³ tn Grk “he”; the referent (the dragon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁴ tc Grk ἐστάθη (estaqh, “he stood”). The reading followed by the translation is attested by the better mss (Ì⁴⁷ א A C 1854 2344 2351 pc lat sy^h) while the majority of mss (051 Ï vg^mss sy^ph co) have the reading ἐστάθην (estaqhn, “I stood”). Thus, the majority of mss make the narrator, rather than the dragon of 12:17, the subject of the verb. The first person reading is most likely an assimilation to the following verb in 13:1, “I saw.” The reading “I stood” was introduced either by accident or to produce a smoother flow, giving the narrator a vantage point on the sea’s edge from which to observe the beast rising out of the sea in 13:1. But almost everywhere else in the book, the phrase καὶ εἶδον (kai eidon, “and I saw”) marks a transition to a new vision, without reference to the narrator’s activity. On both external and internal grounds, it is best to adopt the third person reading, “he stood.”

¹⁵ tn Or “sandy beach” (L&N 1.64).

¹⁶ sn The standard critical texts of the Greek NT, NA²⁷ and UBS⁴, both include this sentence as 12:18, as do the RSV and NRSV. Other modern translations like the NASB and NIV include the sentence at the beginning of 13:1; in these versions chap. 12 has only 17 verses.