The Fall of Mankind

3 Now ^(A)the serpent was more cunning than any animal of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God really said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” ² The woman said to the serpent, “^(B)From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; ³ but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’” ^4 (C)The serpent said to the woman, “You certainly will not die! ⁵ For God knows that on the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and ^(D)you will ^[a]become like God, knowing good and evil.” ^6 (E)When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took some of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband with her, and he ate. ⁷ Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they ^(F)knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves waist coverings.

⁸ Now they heard the sound of ^(G)the Lord God walking in the garden in the ^[b]cool of the day, ^(H)and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. ⁹ Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “^(I)Where are you?” ¹⁰ He said, “^(J)I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.” ¹¹ And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree from which I commanded you not to eat?” ^12 (K)The man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me some of the fruit of the tree, and I ate.” ¹³ Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” And the woman said, “^(L)The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” ¹⁴ Then the Lord God said to the serpent,

The Woman, Israel

12 A great ^(A)sign appeared ^(B)in heaven: ^(C)a woman ^(D)clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; ² and she was pregnant and she *^(E)cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth.

The Red Dragon, Satan

³ Then ^(F)another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red ^(G)dragon having ^(H)seven heads and ^(I)ten horns, and on his heads were ^(J)seven crowns. ⁴ And his tail *swept away a ^(K)third of the stars of heaven and ^(L)hurled them to the earth. And the ^(M)dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth ^(N)he might devour her Child.

The Male Child, Christ

⁵ And ^(O)she gave birth to a Son, a male, who is going to ^[a](P)rule all the ^[b]nations with a rod of iron; and her Child was ^(Q)caught up to God and to His throne. ⁶ Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she *had a place prepared by God, so that there ^[c]she would be nourished for ^(R)1,260 days.

The Angel, Michael

⁷ And there was war in heaven, ^(S)Michael and his angels waging war with the ^(T)dragon. The dragon and ^(U)his angels waged war, ⁸ and they did not prevail, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. ⁹ And the great ^(V)dragon was thrown down, the ^(W)serpent of old who is called the devil and ^(X)Satan, who ^(Y)deceives the whole ^[d]world; he was ^(Z)thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. ¹⁰ Then I heard ^(AA)a loud voice in heaven, saying,

“Now the ^(AB)salvation, and the power, and the ^(AC)kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the ^(AD)accuser of our brothers and sisters has been thrown down, the one who accuses them before our God day and night. ¹¹ And they ^(AE)overcame him because of ^(AF)the blood of the Lamb and because of ^(AG)the word of their testimony, and they ^(AH)did not love their life even ^[e]when faced with death. ¹² For this reason, ^(AI)rejoice, you heavens and ^(AJ)you who dwell in them. ^(AK)Woe to the earth and the sea, because ^(AL)the devil has come down to you with great wrath, knowing that he has only ^(AM)a short time.”

¹³ And when the ^(AN)dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted ^(AO)the woman who gave birth to the male Child. ¹⁴ But the ^(AP)two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, so that she could fly ^(AQ)into the wilderness to her place, where she *was nourished for ^(AR)a time, times, and half a time, away from the presence of the serpent. ¹⁵ And the ^(AS)serpent hurled water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, so that he might cause her to be swept away with the flood. ^16 [f]But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and drank up the river which the dragon had hurled out of his mouth. ¹⁷ So the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to ^(AT)make war with the rest of her ^[g](AU)children, who ^(AV)keep the commandments of God and ^(AW)hold to the testimony of Jesus.