Revelation 12:14-15

12:14 But ¹  the woman was given the two wings of a giant eagle so that she could fly out into the wilderness, ²  to the place God ³  prepared for her, where she is taken care of – away from the presence of the serpent – for a time, times, and half a time. ⁴  12:15 Then ⁵  the serpent spouted water like a river out of his mouth after the woman in an attempt to ⁶  sweep her away by a flood,

Revelation 20:2

20:2 He ⁷  seized the dragon – the ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan – and tied him up for a thousand years.

Genesis 3:1

The Temptation and the Fall

3:1 Now ⁸  the serpent ⁹  was more shrewd ¹⁰ 

than any of the wild animals ¹¹  that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Is it really true that ¹²  God ¹³  said, ‘You must not eat from any tree of the orchard’?” ¹⁴ 

Genesis 3:4

3:4 The serpent said to the woman, “Surely you will not die, ¹⁵ 

Genesis 3:13

3:13 So the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this ¹⁶  you have done?” And the woman replied, “The serpent ¹⁷  tricked ¹⁸  me, and I ate.”

Isaiah 27:1

27:1 At that time ¹⁹  the Lord will punish

with his destructive, ²⁰  great, and powerful sword

Leviathan the fast-moving ²¹  serpent,

Leviathan the squirming serpent;

he will kill the sea monster. ²² 

Isaiah 65:25

65:25 A wolf and a lamb will graze together; ²³ 

a lion, like an ox, will eat straw, ²⁴ 

and a snake’s food will be dirt. ²⁵ 

They will no longer injure or destroy

on my entire royal mountain,” ²⁶  says the Lord.

[12:14]  ¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present here.

[12:14]  ² tn Or “desert.”

[12:14]  ³ tn The word “God” is supplied based on the previous statements made concerning “the place prepared for the woman” in 12:6.

[12:14]  ⁴ tc The reading “and half a time” (καὶ ἥμισυ καιροῦ, kai {hmisu kairou) is lacking in the important uncial C. Its inclusion, however, is supported by {Ì⁴⁷ א A and the rest of the ms tradition}. There is apparently no reason for the scribe of C to intentionally omit the phrase, and the fact that the word “time” (καιρὸν καὶ καιρούς, kairon kai kairou") appears twice before may indicate a scribal oversight.

[12:15]  ⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.

[12:15]  ⁶ tn Grk “so that he might make her swept away.”

[20:2]  ⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[3:1]  ⁸ tn The chapter begins with a disjunctive clause (conjunction + subject + predicate) that introduces a new character and a new scene in the story.

[3:1]  ⁹ sn Many theologians identify or associate the serpent with Satan. In this view Satan comes in the disguise of a serpent or speaks through a serpent. This explains the serpent’s capacity to speak. While later passages in the Bible may indicate there was a satanic presence behind the serpent (see, for example, Rev 12:9), the immediate context pictures the serpent as simply one of the animals of the field created by God (see vv. 1, 14). An ancient Jewish interpretation explains the reference to the serpent in a literal manner, attributing the capacity to speak to all the animals in the orchard. This text (Jub. 3:28) states, “On that day [the day the man and woman were expelled from the orchard] the mouth of all the beasts and cattle and birds and whatever walked or moved was stopped from speaking because all of them used to speak to one another with one speech and one language [presumed to be Hebrew, see 12:26].” Josephus, Ant. 1.1.4 (1.41) attributes the serpent’s actions to jealousy. He writes that “the serpent, living in the company of Adam and his wife, grew jealous of the blessings which he supposed were destined for them if they obeyed God’s behests, and, believing that disobedience would bring trouble on them, he maliciously persuaded the woman to taste of the tree of wisdom.”

[3:1]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew word עָרוּם (’arum) basically means “clever.” This idea then polarizes into the nuances “cunning” (in a negative sense, see Job 5:12; 15:5), and “prudent” in a positive sense (Prov 12:16, 23; 13:16; 14:8, 15, 18; 22:3; 27:12). This same polarization of meaning can be detected in related words derived from the same root (see Exod 21:14; Josh 9:4; 1 Sam 23:22; Job 5:13; Ps 83:3). The negative nuance obviously applies in Gen 3, where the snake attempts to talk the woman into disobeying God by using half-truths and lies.

[3:1]  ¹¹ tn Heb “animals of the field.”

[3:1]  ¹² tn Heb “Indeed that God said.” The beginning of the quotation is elliptical and therefore difficult to translate. One must supply a phrase like “is it true”: “Indeed, [is it true] that God said.”

[3:1]  ¹³ sn God. The serpent does not use the expression “Yahweh God” [Lord God] because there is no covenant relationship involved between God and the serpent. He only speaks of “God.” In the process the serpent draws the woman into his manner of speech so that she too only speaks of “God.”

[3:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “you must not eat from all the tree[s] of the orchard.” After the negated prohibitive verb, מִכֹּל (mikkol, “from all”) has the meaning “from any.” Note the construction in Lev 18:26, where the statement “you must not do from all these abominable things” means “you must not do any of these abominable things.” See Lev 22:25 and Deut 28:14 as well.

[3:4]  ¹⁵ tn The response of the serpent includes the infinitive absolute with a blatant negation equal to saying: “Not – you will surely die” (לֹא מוֹת תִּמֻתען, lo’ mot tÿmutun). The construction makes this emphatic because normally the negative particle precedes the finite verb. The serpent is a liar, denying that there is a penalty for sin (see John 8:44).

[3:13]  ¹⁶ tn The use of the demonstrative pronoun is enclitic, serving as an undeclined particle for emphasis. It gives the sense of “What in the world have you done?” (see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 24, §118).

[3:13]  ¹⁷ sn The Hebrew word order puts the subject (“the serpent”) before the verb here, giving prominence to it.

[3:13]  ¹⁸ tn This verb (the Hiphil of נָשָׁא, nasha) is used elsewhere of a king or god misleading his people into false confidence (2 Kgs 18:29 = 2 Chr 32:15 = Isa 36:14; 2 Kgs 19:10 = Isa 37:10), of an ally deceiving a partner (Obad 7), of God deceiving his sinful people as a form of judgment (Jer 4:10), of false prophets instilling their audience with false hope (Jer 29:8), and of pride and false confidence producing self-deception (Jer 37:9; 49:16; Obad 3).

[27:1]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “in that day” (so KJV).

[27:1]  ²⁰ tn Heb “hard, severe”; cf. NAB, NRSV “cruel”; KJV “sore”; NLT “terrible.”

[27:1]  ²¹ tn Heb “fleeing” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV). Some translate “slippery” or “slithering.”

[27:1]  ²² 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.)

[65:25]  ²³ sn A similar statement appears in 11:6.

[65:25]  ²⁴ sn These words also appear in 11:7.

[65:25]  ²⁵ sn Some see an allusion to Gen 3:14 (note “you will eat dirt”). The point would be that even in this new era the snake (often taken as a symbol of Satan) remains under God’s curse. However, it is unlikely that such an allusion exists. Even if there is an echo of Gen 3:14, the primary allusion is to 11:8, where snakes are pictured as no longer dangerous. They will no longer attack other living creatures, but will be content to crawl along the ground. (The statement “you will eat dirt” in Gen 3:14 means “you will crawl on the ground.” In the same way the statement “dirt will be its food” in Isa 65:25 means “it will crawl on the ground.”)

[65:25]  ²⁶ tn Heb “in all my holy mountain.” These same words appear in 11:9. See the note there.