Darby Bible
Revelation 12:3
3And another sign was seen in the heaven: and behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems;
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 was seen in the heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars; 2and being with child she cried, [being] in travail, and in pain to bring forth. And another sign was seen in the heaven: and behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems; 4and his tail draws the third part of the stars of the heaven; and he cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to bring forth, in order that when she brought forth he might devour her child. 5And she brought forth a male son, who shall shepherd all the nations with an iron rod; 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
- signσημεῖονsēmeion · signG4592
- seenὁράωhoraō · to see: seeG3708
- heavenοὐρανόςouranos · heavenG3772
- beholdἰδούidou · look!G2400
- greatμέγαςmegas · greatG3173
- redπυρρόςpurrhos · fiery redG4450
- dragonδράκωνdrakōn · dragonG1404
- sevenἑπτάhepta · sevenG2033
- headsκεφαλήkephalē · headG2776
- tenδέκαdeka · tenG1176
- hornsκέραςkeras · hornG2768
Cross-references for Revelation 12:3
- Revelation 12:1And a great sign was seen in the heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars;
- Revelation 12:4and his tail draws the third part of the stars of the heaven; and he cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to bring forth, in order that when she brought forth he might devour her child.
- Revelation 13:2And the beast which I saw was like to a leopardess, and its feet as of a bear, and its mouth as a lion's mouth; and the dragon gave to it his power, and his throne, and great authority;
- Revelation 16:13And I saw out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits, as frogs;
- Revelation 17:3And he carried me away in spirit to a desert; and I saw a woman sitting upon a scarlet beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
- Revelation 20:2And he laid hold of the dragon, the ancient serpent who is [the] devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
- Isaiah 27:1In that day Jehovah, with his sore and great and strong sword, will visit leviathan the fleeing serpent, and leviathan the crooked serpent; and he will slay the monster that is in the sea.
- Isaiah 51:9Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of Jehovah; awake, as in the days of old, [as in] the generations of passed ages. Is it not thou that hath hewn Rahab in pieces, [and] pierced the monster?
- Revelation 13:1And I stood upon the sand of the sea; and I saw a beast rising out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and upon its horns ten diadems, and upon its heads names of blasphemy.
- Revelation 17:9Here is the mind that has wisdom: The seven heads are seven mountains, whereon the woman sits.
- Isaiah 9:15the ancient and honourable, he is the head; and the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail.
- Daniel 2:42And [as] the toes of the feet were part of iron and part of clay, the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile.
- Daniel 7:7After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and exceeding strong; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and broke in pieces, and stamped the rest with its feet; and it was different from all the beasts that were 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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