Apocalipse 12

ARC · Chapter 12/22

¹E viu-se um grande signal no céu: uma mulher vestida de sol, e a lua debaixo dos seus pés, e uma corôa de doze estrellas sobre a sua cabeça.

²E estava gravida, e com dôres de parto, e gritava com ancias de dar á luz.

³E viu-se outro signal no céu; e eis que era um grande dragão vermelho, que tinha sete cabeças e dez cornos, e sobre as suas cabeças sete diademas.

⁴E a sua cauda levava após si a terça parte das estrellas do céu, e lançou-as sobre a terra; e o dragão parou diante da mulher que havia de dar á luz, para que, dando ella á luz, lhe tragasse o filho.

⁵E deu á luz um filho, um varão que havia de reger todas as nações com vara de ferro; e o seu filho foi arrebatado para Deus e para o seu throno.

⁶E a mulher fugiu para o deserto, onde já tinha logar preparado por Deus, para que lá a mantivessem mil duzentos e sessenta dias.

⁷E houve batalha no céu: Miguel e os seus anjos batalhavam contra o dragão, e batalhava o dragão e os seus anjos;

⁸Mas não prevaleceram, nem mais o seu logar se achou nos céus.

⁹E foi lançado o grande dragão, a antiga serpente, chamada o Diabo, e Satanás, que engana todo o mundo; elle foi lançado na terra, e os seus anjos foram lançados com elle

¹⁰E ouvi uma grande voz no céu, que dizia: Agora chegada está a salvação, e a força, e o reino do nosso Deus, e o poder do seu Christo; porque já o accusador de nossos irmãos é derribado, o qual diante do nosso Deus os accusava de dia e de noite.

¹¹E elles o venceram pelo sangue do Cordeiro e pela palavra do seu testemunho; e não amaram as suas vidas até á morte.

¹²Pelo que alegrae-vos, ó céus, e os que n'elles habitaes. Ai dos que habitam na terra e no mar; porque o diabo desceu a vós, e tem grande ira, sabendo que já tem pouco tempo.

¹³E, quando o dragão viu que fôra lançado na terra, perseguiu a mulher que dera á luz o varão.

¹⁴E foram dadas á mulher duas azas de grande aguia, para que voasse ao deserto, ao seu logar, onde é sustentada por tempo, e tempos, e metade de tempo, fóra da vista da serpente.

¹⁵E a serpente lançou da sua bocca, atraz da mulher, agua como um rio, para que pelo rio a fizesse arrebatar.

¹⁶E a terra ajudou a mulher; e a terra abriu a sua bocca, e tragou o rio que o dragão lançara da sua bocca.

¹⁷E o dragão irou-se contra a mulher, e foi fazer guerra contra os demais da sua semente, que guardam os mandamentos de Deus, e teem o testemunho de Jesus Christo.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

A symbolic vision shows a woman clothed with the sun about to give birth, pursued by a great red dragon that tries to devour her child. The child is taken up to God's throne, the dragon is cast out of heaven by Michael and his angels, and then pursues the woman and the rest of her offspring on earth.

Explanation

The woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars, is interpreted by many scholars as a symbolic representation of the people of God (Israel and later the church), from whom the Messiah is born, rather than an isolated individual historical figure. The seven-headed red dragon is explicitly identified in the text itself as 'that ancient serpent, called the Devil and Satan' (12:9), directly connecting this figure to the serpent of Eden in Genesis 3. The heavenly battle between Michael and the dragon, resulting in Satan's expulsion from heaven to earth, symbolically explains why, though already defeated spiritually, evil still causes intense suffering on earth for the 'short time' left to it. Today's application is that despite the visible and real persecution faced by God's people, the decisive spiritual victory has already been won in heaven.

Fun facts

The identification of the dragon as 'that ancient serpent' (12:9) is one of the most direct connections in the entire Bible between the book of Revelation and the account of Genesis 3, linking the beginning and end of the biblical narrative around the same spiritual antagonist.

Verse-by-verse explanation

Apocalipse 12:1The image of the sun, moon, and twelve stars recalls Joseph's dream about his family in Genesis 37. Christian traditions disagree about exactly who this woman represents - Israel, the church, or Mary - and the text does not settle that question here.
Apocalipse 12:2The woman described in the previous verse is pregnant and in labor, a scene that already announces the conflict of the rest of the chapter: the dragon will try to prevent this birth.
Apocalipse 12:3The book itself identifies this dragon, just a few verses later, as the old serpent, the Devil, and Satan. The same seven heads and ten horns will reappear on the beast of chapter 13, showing that it receives power directly from this dragon.
Apocalipse 12:4The dragon's tail sweeping away a third of the stars probably represents angels swept along in his rebellion (an idea developed further later in the same chapter); he positions himself before the woman with the clear intent to devour the child as soon as it was born.
Apocalipse 12:5The son, described with the same language from Psalm 2 about ruling the nations “with a rod of iron” (already used earlier in the letter to Thyatira, in chapter 2), escapes the dragon by being caught up directly to the throne of God - a reference understood as Christ's ascension.
Apocalipse 12:6The same broken number, three and a half years, used in chapter 11 returns here, marking another limited period - this time of the woman's protection in the wilderness, not of suffering.
Apocalipse 12:7Michael already appears in the book of Daniel as the protecting angel of Israel. This battle describes a spiritual conflict behind the visible events on earth.
Apocalipse 12:8The dragon and his allies lose this heavenly battle and are cast out for good, with no more place in heaven.
Apocalipse 12:9The text openly reveals who this dragon is: the same “old serpent” from the garden of Eden, now called by the names Devil and Satan, cast down to the earth together with his angels.
Apocalipse 12:10A heavenly voice celebrates the casting down of the “accuser,” a role associated with Satan in texts such as the book of Job, who kept accusing the people of God continually; now that role comes to an end.
Apocalipse 12:11This explains how the faithful overcame this accuser: not by their own strength, but by the sacrifice of the Lamb and by the very testimony of their faith, even in the face of possibly dying because of it.
Apocalipse 12:12The heavenly victory comes with a warning: cast out of heaven, the devil comes down to earth with redoubled rage, knowing that his time to act is running out.
Apocalipse 12:13No longer able to attack directly in heaven, the dragon turns his attention to the woman who bore the child, beginning a new persecution on earth.
Apocalipse 12:14Eagle's wings is an image used in Exodus to describe God carrying Israel out of Egypt. The phrase ‘a time, and times,’ that follows is a direct quotation from the book of Daniel for the same period of three and a half years that appears elsewhere in Revelation.
Apocalipse 12:15The serpent tries to drown the woman with a flood coming out of his own mouth, an image of a natural danger being used as a weapon.
Apocalipse 12:16In response, the earth “helps” the woman by swallowing up that flood, an intervention that sounds almost like a miracle of nature on her behalf.
Apocalipse 12:17Frustrated at not being able to strike the woman directly, the dragon changes targets, turning his fury against the rest of her offspring, described as those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus - a description pointing to the persecuted church.