Revelation 12:16-18

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Revelation 12:16 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present here.
2. Revelation 12:16 tn Grk “the earth helped the woman.”
3. Revelation 12:16 tn Grk “the earth opened its mouth” (a metaphor for the ground splitting open).
4. Revelation 12:17 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of the woman’s escape.
5. Revelation 12:17 tn Grk “her seed” (an idiom for offspring, children, or descendants).
6. Revelation 12:17 tn Or “who obey.”
7. Revelation 12:17 tn Grk “and having.”
8. Revelation 12:17 tn Grk “the testimony of Jesus,” which may involve a subjective genitive (“Jesus’ testimony”) or, more likely, an objective genitive (“testimony about Jesus”).
9. Revelation 12:18 tn Grk “he”; the referent (the dragon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
10. Revelation 12:18 tc Grk ἐστάθη (estathē, “he stood”). The reading followed by the translation is attested by the better mss (P⁴⁷ א A C 1854 2344 2351 lat sy^h) while the majority of mss (051 M vg^mss sy^ph co) have the reading ἐστάθην (estathēn, “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.”
11. Revelation 12:18 tn Or “sandy beach” (L&N 1.64).
12. Revelation 12:18 sn The standard critical texts of the Greek NT, NA²⁸ and UBS⁵, 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.