Berean Standard Bible
Revelation 12:3
3Then another sign appeared in heaven: a huge red dragon with seven heads, ten horns, and seven royal crowns on his heads.
Revelation 12:3 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.
- New International Version (NIV)Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads.
- English Standard Version (ESV)And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems.
- New King James Version (NKJV)And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads.
Context of Revelation 12:3
1And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed in the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. 2She was pregnant and crying out in the pain and agony of giving birth. Then another sign appeared in heaven: a huge red dragon with seven heads, ten horns, and seven royal crowns on his heads. 4His tail swept a third of the stars from the sky, hurling them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, ready to devour her child as soon as she gave birth. 5And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And her child was caught up to God and to His throne.
Read all of Revelation 12Revelation 12:3 word by word
Καὶ ὤφθη ἄλλο σημεῖον ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ, καὶ ἰδοὺ δράκων μέγας πυρρὸς ἔχων κεφαλὰς ἑπτὰ καὶ κέρατα δέκα, καὶ ἐπὶ τὰς κεφαλὰς αὐτοῦ ἑπτὰ διαδήματα,Read the interlinear
- Thenκαίkai · andG2532
- anotherἄλλοςallos · anotherG243
- signσημεῖονsēmeion · signG4592
- appearedὁράωhoraō · to see: seeG3708
- inἐνen · in/on/amongG1722
- ·ὁho hē to · the/this/whoG3588
- heavenοὐρανόςouranos · heavenG3772
- ·ἰδούidou · look!G2400
- a hugeμέγαςmegas · greatG3173
- redπυρρόςpurrhos · fiery redG4450
- dragonδράκωνdrakōn · dragonG1404
- ·ἔχωechō · to have/beG2192
- sevenἑπτάhepta · sevenG2033
- headsκεφαλήkephalē · headG2776
- tenδέκαdeka · tenG1176
- hornsκέραςkeras · hornG2768
- royal crownsδιάδημαdiadēma · diademG1238
- onἐπίepi · upon/to/againstG1909
- hisαὐτόςautos · it/s/heG846
Cross-references for Revelation 12:3
- Revelation 12:1And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed in the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head.
- Revelation 12:4His tail swept a third of the stars from the sky, hurling them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, ready to devour her child as soon as she gave birth.
- Revelation 13:2The beast I saw was like a leopard, with the feet of a bear and the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority.
- Revelation 16:13And I saw three unclean spirits that looked like frogs coming out of the mouths of the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet.
- Revelation 17:3And the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, where I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns.
- Revelation 20:2He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.
- Isaiah 27:1In that day the LORD will take His sharp, great, and mighty sword, and bring judgment on Leviathan the fleeing serpent—Leviathan the coiling serpent—and He will slay the dragon of the sea.
- Isaiah 51:9Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD. Wake up as in days past, as in generations of old. Was it not You who cut Rahab to pieces, who pierced through the dragon?
- Revelation 13:1Then I saw a beast with ten horns and seven heads rising out of the sea. There were ten royal crowns on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads.
- Revelation 17:9This calls for a mind with wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits.
- Isaiah 9:15The head is the elder and honorable man, and the tail is the prophet who teaches lies.
- Daniel 2:42And as the toes of the feet were partly iron and partly clay, so this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle.
- Daniel 7:7After this, as I watched in my vision in the night, suddenly a fourth beast appeared, and it was terrifying—dreadful and extremely strong—with large iron teeth. It devoured and crushed; then it trampled underfoot whatever was left. It was different from all the beasts before it, and it had ten horns.
Commentaries on Revelation 12:3
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 3There appeared another wonder - a great red dragon - The dragon here is a symbol, not of the Roman empire in general, but of the Heathen Roman empire. This great pagan power must have, therefore, been thus represented from the religion which it supported. But what is a dragon? An entirely fabulous beast of antiquity, consequently, in this respect, a most proper emblem of the heathen worship, which consisted in paying adoration to numerous imaginary…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 3And there appeared another wonder in heaven - Represented as in heaven. See the notes on Revelation 12:1. That is, he saw this as occurring at the time when the church was thus about to increase. And behold a great red dragon - The word rendered “dragon” - ́ drakōn- occurs, in the New Testament, only in the book of Revelation, where it is uniformly rendered as here - “dragon:” Revelation 12:3-4, Revelation 12:7, Revelation 12:9, Revelation 12:13…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 3-4The large red dragon symbolizes Satan (see Revelation 12:9). seven heads, ten horns: These numbers symbolize a mix of divine and created powers (see Revelation 17:7–14). The historic battle between evil and God's people occurs on a cosmic scale (see Genesis 3:1–7, 14–15; Job 1:9–12). Herod’s wish to kill Jesus showed Satan’s attempt to destroy her baby after birth (see Matthew 2:7–8, 16).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 33. appeared--"was seen." wonder--Greek, "semeion," "sign." red--So A and Vulgate read. But B, C, and Coptic read, "of fire." In either case, the color of the dragon implies his fiery rage as a murderer from the beginning. His representative, the beast, corresponds, having seven heads and ten horns (the number of horns on the fourth beast of Da 7:7; Re 13:1). But there, ten crowns are on the ten horns (for before the end, the fourth empire is divided into…Read the comment
Topics related to Revelation 12:3
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Revelation 12
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Illustrated New Testament
- Burkitt’s Expository Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Family Bible Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- The People’s New Testament
- Robertson’s Word Pictures
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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