³ Then another ·wonder [sign; portent; 12:1] appeared in heaven: There was a giant red dragon with seven heads [^Creminiscent of the many-headed Leviathan representing evil and chaos, here representing Satan; Ps. 74:14; Is. 27:1; Dan. 7:1–9] and seven ·crowns [diadems; royal crowns] on each head. He [or It; ^Cthe Greek masculine pronoun can refer to a person or thing] also had ten horns [^Csymbols of strength and power; Dan. 7:7–8, 20, 24]. ⁴ His tail swept a third of the stars out of ·the sky [or heaven] and ·threw [cast; hurled; Dan. 8:10] them down to the earth [^Crepresenting an early victory against God’s people; 12:1]. He stood in front of the woman who was ready to give birth so he could ·eat [devour] her ·baby [child; ^CJesus the Messiah] as soon as it was born. ⁵ Then the woman gave birth to ·a son [^La son, a male child,] who will ·rule [or shepherd] all the nations with an iron ·rod [sceptre; 19:15; Ps. 2:9]. And her child was ·taken up [or snatched away; ^Cprobably a symbolic reference to the resurrection, where Satan’s victory was thwarted] to God and to his throne.