God’s Word Translation
Revelation 12:3
3Another sign appeared in the sky: a huge fiery red serpent with seven heads, ten horns, and seven crowns on its 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
1A spectacular sign appeared in the sky: There was a woman who was dressed in the sun, who had the moon under her feet and a crown of 12 stars on her head. 2She was pregnant. She cried out from labor pains and the agony of giving birth. Another sign appeared in the sky: a huge fiery red serpent with seven heads, ten horns, and seven crowns on its heads. 4Its tail swept away one-third of the stars in the sky and threw them down to earth. The serpent stood in front of the woman who was going to give birth so that it could devour her child when it was born. 5She gave birth to a son, a boy, who is to rule all the nations with an iron scepter. Her child was snatched away and taken 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
Words taken from the KJV.
- Andκαίkai · andG2532
- there appearedὁράωhoraō · to see: seeG3708
- anotherἄλλοςallos · anotherG243
- wonderσημεῖονsēmeion · signG4592
- inἐνen · in/on/amongG1722
- heavenὁho hē to · the/this/whoG3588
- heavenοὐρανόςouranos · heavenG3772
- a greatμέγαςmegas · greatG3173
- redπυρρόςpurrhos · fiery redG4450
- dragonδράκωνdrakōn · dragonG1404
- havingἔχωechō · to have/beG2192
- sevenἑπτάhepta · sevenG2033
- headsκεφαλήkephalē · headG2776
- tenδέκαdeka · tenG1176
- hornsκέραςkeras · hornG2768
- crownsδιάδημαdiadēma · diademG1238
- uponἐπίepi · upon/to/againstG1909
- hisαὐτόςautos · it/s/heG846
Cross-references for Revelation 12:3
- Revelation 12:1A spectacular sign appeared in the sky: There was a woman who was dressed in the sun, who had the moon under her feet and a crown of 12 stars on her head.
- Revelation 12:4Its tail swept away one-third of the stars in the sky and threw them down to earth. The serpent stood in front of the woman who was going to give birth so that it could devour her child when it was born.
- Revelation 13:2The beast that I saw was like a leopard. Its feet were like bear’s feet. Its mouth was like a lion’s mouth. The serpent gave its power, kingdom, and far-reaching authority to the beast.
- Revelation 16:13Then I saw three evil spirits like frogs come out of the mouths of the serpent, the beast, and the false prophet.
- Revelation 17:3Then the angel carried me by his power into the wilderness. I saw a woman sitting on a bright red beast covered with insulting names. It had seven heads and ten horns.
- Revelation 20:2He overpowered the serpent, that ancient snake, named Devil and Satan. The angel chained up the serpent for 1,000 years.
- Isaiah 27:1On that day the Lord will use his fierce and powerful sword to punish Leviathan, that slippery snake, Leviathan, that twisting snake. He will kill that monster which lives in the sea.
- Isaiah 51:9Wake up! Wake up! Clothe yourself with strength, O Lord! Wake up as you did in days long past, as in generations long ago. Didn’t you cut Rahab into pieces and stab the serpent?
- Revelation 13:1I saw a beast coming out of the sea. It had ten horns, seven heads, and ten crowns on its horns. There were insulting names on its heads.
- Revelation 17:9“In this situation a wise mind is needed. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is sitting.
- Isaiah 9:15Respected and honored leaders are the head. Prophets who teach lies are the tail.
- Daniel 2:42The toes were partly iron and partly clay. Part of the kingdom will be strong, and part will be brittle.
- Daniel 7:7After this, I saw a fourth animal in my vision during the night. It was terrifying, dreadful, extraordinarily strong, and had large iron teeth. It devoured and crushed its victims and trampled whatever was left. It acted differently from all the other animals that I had seen before. 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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