English Standard Version
Revelation 12:2
2She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth.
Revelation 12:2 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.
- New International Version (NIV)She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth.
- New King James Version (NKJV)Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth.
- New Living Translation (NLT)She was pregnant, and she cried out because of her labor pains and the agony of giving birth.
Context of Revelation 12:2
1And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. 3And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems. 4His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it.
Read all of Revelation 12Revelation 12:2 word by word
καὶ ἐν γαστρὶ ἔχουσα, καὶ κράζει ὠδίνουσα καὶ βασανιζομένη τεκεῖν.¶Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Revelation 12:2
- Revelation 12:4His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it.
- Isaiah 53:11Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.
- Isaiah 54:1"Sing, O barren one, who did not bear; break forth into singing and cry aloud, you who have not been in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more than the children of her who is married," says the Lord.
- Isaiah 66:7"Before she was in labor she gave birth; before her pain came upon her she delivered a son.
- Micah 5:3Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in labor has given birth; then the rest of his brothers shall return to the people of Israel.
- John 16:21When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.
- Galatians 4:19my little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you!
Commentaries on Revelation 12:2
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 2And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, etc. - This, when taken in connection with the following verses, is a striking figure of the great persecution which the Church of Christ should suffer under the heathen Roman emperors, but more especially of that long and most dreadful one under Diocletian. The woman is represented as Being with child, to show that the time would speedily arrive when God's patient forbearance with the heathen would be…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 2And she being with child cried, travailing in birth - That is, there would be something which would be properly represented by a woman in such circumstances. The question now is, what is referred to by this woman? And here it need hardly be said that there has been, as in regard to almost every other part of the Book of Revelation, a great variety of interpretations. It would be endless to undertake to examine them, and would not be profitable if it…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 2The symbolic woman experiencing the pain of labor represents Christ’s birth. This reflects the biblical theme of Israel’s struggle while waiting for deliverance (see Isaiah 26:16–18; Jeremiah 4:31; Micah 4:9–10; John 16:21).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 22. pained--Greek, "tormented" (basanizomene). De Burgh explains this of the bringing in of the first-begotten into the world AGAIN, when Israel shall at last welcome Him, and when "the man-child shall rule all nations with the rod of iron." But there is a plain contrast between the painful travailing of the woman here, and Christ's second coming to the Jewish Church, the believing remnant of Israel, "Before she travailed she brought forth ... a…Read the comment
Topics related to Revelation 12:2
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
English Standard Version — © 2001 Crossway Bibles
Commentaries