New International Version
Revelation 12:2
2She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give 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.
- English Standard Version (ESV)She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving 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
1A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. 3Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads. 4Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child the moment he was born.
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 12:4Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child the moment he was born.
- Isaiah 53:11After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.
- Isaiah 54:1“Sing, barren woman, you who never bore a child; burst into song, shout for joy, you who were never in labor; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband,” says the Lord.
- Isaiah 66:7“Before she goes into labor, she gives birth; before the pains come upon her, she delivers a son.
- Micah 5:3Therefore Israel will be abandoned until the time when she who is in labor bears a son, and the rest of his brothers return to join the Israelites.
- John 16:21A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world.
- Galatians 4:19My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains 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
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