New King James Version
Revelation 12:3
3And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems 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 Living Translation (NLT)Then I witnessed in heaven another significant event. I saw a large red dragon with seven heads and ten horns, with seven crowns on his heads.
Context of Revelation 12:3
1Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars. 2Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth. And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. 4His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born. 5She bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and 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 12:1Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars.
- Revelation 12:4His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born.
- Revelation 13:2Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority.
- Revelation 16:13And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.
- Revelation 17:3So he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness. And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
- Revelation 20:2He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years;
- Isaiah 27:1In that day the Lord with His severe sword, great and strong, Will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan that twisted serpent; And He will slay the reptile that is in the sea.
- Isaiah 51:9Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord! Awake as in the ancient days, In the generations of old. Are You not the arm that cut Rahab apart, And wounded the serpent?
- Revelation 13:1Then I stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name.
- Revelation 17:9“Here is the mind which has wisdom: The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits.
- Isaiah 9:15The elder and honorable, he is the head; The prophet who teaches lies, he is the tail.
- Daniel 2:42And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile.
- Daniel 7:7“After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong. It had huge iron teeth; it was devouring, breaking in pieces, and trampling the residue with its feet. 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
New King James Version — © 1982 Thomas Nelson, Inc
Commentaries